01/10/22 01/10/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i have negotiated with russia before. i know it is possible to make deals with russia. amy: u.s. and russia began talks as nato calls on russia to remove its forces from ukraine and russian troops help suppress daily protests in kazakhstan. we will go to moscow for an update. then to australia where a judge has allowed unvaccinated tennis

star nina khrushcheva -- event took the rich to be released. we will look at how his case has intensified international scrutiny over australia's treatment of refugees jailed in the same rundown hotel he was. hopes to bring attention to our plight? amy: nearly a quarter of u.s. hospitals are reporting critical staff shortages as the omicron coronavirus variant drives and precedented surge in cases. >> some heah care systems are going to collapse and those desperate you've seen are going to get even higher when that happens. when doctors and nurses simply cannot any longer take care of every patient. amy: you speak with reporter ed yong about how hospitals are in

serious trouble. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. at least 19 people, nine of them children, were killed and dozens injured on sunday when a fire spread thick ske through high-rise apartment building in the bronx. new york's fire commissioner said victims suffered from severe smoke inhalation and the fire was triggered from a malfunctioning electric space heater. many of the building's residents are african immigrants. new york mayor eric adams urged victims to come forward regardless of their immigration status. >> if you need assistance, your names will not be turned over to ice or any other institution. we want people to be comfortable and coming forward. amy: the building where sunday's fire took place is owned by an investment group whose

co-founder, rick gropper, served on eric adams's transition team as an adviser on housing issues. it was new york city's deadliest residential fire in decades and came just days after a blaze at a public housing property in philadelphia killed 12 people, including eight children. democratic congressmember ritce torres, whose district includes the bronx building that burned sunday, blamed decades of disinvestment in affordable housing that he said leaves buildings "wide open to catastrophic fires that can cost people their lives." in georgia, the three men who chased down and murdered ahmau arbery were sentenced to life in prison friday. travis mcmichael, who shot arbery three times, and his father gregory mcmichael, a former police officer, will not be eligible for parole. their neighbor, william bryan, will become eligible for parole after 30 years. before announcing the sentences, judge timothy walmsley held a minute of silence representing just a fraction of the time 25-year-old ahmaud arbery ran

from the three killers. outside the courtroom, arbery's family and their supporters celebrated the sentences. this is his father, marcus arbery. >> he brought people together. i'm telling you, he was young but he thought he was old. ahmaud, rest in peace because mom and daddy got it. amy: attorney ben crump also highlighted the significance of the trial's outcome. >> today your son has made history because we have people who are being held accountable for lynching a black man in america. amy: all three of arbery's murderers will also face a federal hate crime trial next month. in news about the pandemic, nearly a quarter of u.s. hospitals are reporting critical staffing shortages as the

omicron drives an unprecedented surge in cases. in chicago, public schools are closed for a fourth day as talks between the teachers' union and mayor lori lightfoot over in-person teaching remain at an impasse. new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez is the latest lawmaker to test positive for covid-19. the new york democrat, who is vaccinated and boosted, said she is symptomatic and recovering at home. in ethiopia, aid groups have suspended their work in parts of the northern tigray region after a deadly air strike on a camp for displaced people killed at least 56 civilians last week. dozens of others were wounded, including children. the attack by ethiopian military forces took place late friday. this comes as tigray's biggest hospital is reporting they're running out of therapeutic foods to treat children with severe malnutrition more than 40% of children under five who arrive at the hospital are malnourished, medics said. the hospital is also facing a shortage of medicines and equipment, with doctors blaming the devastation on a six-month

blockade by government forces that's made it nearly impossible for aid to enter tigray. in burma, aung san suu kyi has been sentenced to another four years in prison after a closed military court found her guilty of possessing walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus measures, in what rights groups say are more trumped up charges. suu kyi was overthrown alongside burma's civilian leadership in last february's deadly military coup. in related news, in neighboring bangladesh, a massive blaze at a rohingya refugee camp has razed the homes of over 5000 people in cox's bazar. destructive fires are not uncommon in the camp, which is home to some 850,000 rohingya muslims, many of whom fled burma following 2017's genocidal campaign. in nigeria, some 200 people were killed in the northwestern state of zamfara last week following a series of reprisal attacks by armed bandits whose hideouts were targeted by military airstrikes.

armed gunmen stormed over a dozen villages in the region, shooting at residents, looting and burning their homes. an estimated 10,000 people were displaced, while others are still missing. an australian judge has reinstated serbian tennis star novak djokovic's visa and released him from immigration detention amid the ongoing controversy over whether his covid vaccine exemption was legitimate. australian government authorities say they could still intervene to revoke the visa and prevent the defending champion from taking part in the australian open, set to start next week. djokovic's case has intensified international scrutiny over the treatment of immigrants and refugees in australia. later in the broadcast, we'll look at the people he leaves behind in the detention center where he was held. we will speak with another man who has been held by australia for eight years. russian and u.s. officials are meeting in geneva today to address the escalating situation in ukraine, where troops have been massing on the border with

russia in recent months. further diplomatic talks are scheduled in europe throughout the week. meanwhile, in kazakhstan, where russian troops have deployed in recent days, officials say over 160 people were killed and 5000 arrested in the past week amid the crackdown on protests. kazakhstan's authoritarian president kassym-jomart tokayev has claimed the recent unrest was an attempted coup d'état. we'll have more on these stories after headlines. outrage is mounting over news that a number of airlines are operating tens of thousands of near-empty flights in europe amid the covid surge in order to retain coveted airport landing slots. climate activists, including greta thunberg, slammed the practice, tweeting sarcastically, "the eu surely is in a climate emergency mode." back in the u.s., california democrats are pushing forward a proposal for statewide universal healthcare. the measure would be funded by new taxes on businesses and individuals with higher incomes. on saturday, the california nurses association held car

caravans in 15 cities across the state, where health and labor advocates joined with elected officials to promote the california guaranteed healthcare for all act, also known as calcare and ab 1400. >> it finally declares health care as a right in california. it injures the elimination of the profit motive in that patit care is the highest priority. >> medicare was called radical, too. the same business groups, the american medical association was agnst it. let's remember tha these battles have been fought and won before. >> i look at my colleagues w tell me they are worried about their family's well-being. we are told, it's too expensive to have a single-payer health care system. that's what? -- guess what? life is priceless.

health is priceless. amy: in new york city chinese , a man who was attacked in an anti-asian hate crime last year has died of his injuries. yao pan ma died on december 31, eight months after he was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked in the head. a representative for ma's family is calling for charges against the suspect to include murder. in other news from new york city, student workers at columbia university have ended their 10-week strike after reaching a tentative agreement with the school to increase wages and improve health benefits. the deal also allows members of the student workers of columbia union to use third-party arbitrators in instances of discrimination or harassment. the vote to ratify the deal is scheduled for later this month. and the pioneering film legend sidney poitier has died at the age of 94. in 1963, poitier became the first african american to win an acady award for best actor. his many films included "lilies

of the field," "a raisin in the sun," which he also performed on broadway, and "in the heat of the night," a story about a black police officer contending with racism in the jim crow south. sydney poitier was active in the civil rights movement. in 1964, he flew with harry belafonte to jackson, mississippi, carrying $70,000 in cash to fund the freedom summer campaign to register black voters. the pair were harassed and chased by armed members of the ku klux klan. dr. martin luther king, jr. said of sidney poitier, "i consider him friend. i consider him a great friend of humanity." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. u.s. and russian military delegations are beginning talks in geneva this week on finding way to ease tensions amid russian military action in eastern ukraine and deadly protests in kazakhstan. the new york times reports russia has about 100,000 troops stationed along russia's order

with ukraine. russia blamed the tension on ukraine over western powers. on friday, the u.s. and nato rejected russian demands that the outlines not admit new members amidst growing concerns that russia may invade ukraine, which seeks to join nato. nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg said today that security negotiations between russia and the west could provide a pathway to avoid further conflict. >> these are important efforts to try to make sure to have a political solution to prevent an armed conflict. therefore we are going into these talks in good faith and ready to address and listen to russia's concerns. i have negotiated with russia before. i know it is possible to make deals with russia. amy: this comes as kazakhstan's authoritarian president

kassym-jomart tokayev has described last week's protests as an attempted coup and defended his call for russian-led troops into the country to put down the unrest. demonstrations were triggered by a rise in fuel prices and widened to broader anti-government protests. over 160 people were killed in the violence, including a four-year-old girl. thousands were detained. tokayev spe todayt a virtual meeting of the russian-led csto military alliance. >> prevent major threads the country security as part of the counterterrorist nation, we are trying to identify people who committed those crimes. we detained around 8000 people and law enforcement officers and special departments are checking their involvement in terrorist acts, murders, looting, and other crimes. amy: a state of emergency and a

nationwide curfew remain in place in kazakhstan. one of the leaders of the opposition movement called democratic choice of kazakhstanis is the country's former energy minister and bank chairman mukhtar ablyazov. he fled to the u.k. in 2009 after he was charged with corruption and embezzling $6 billion as head of kazakhstan's largest bank. he has called on the west to get more involved in responding to the protests. >> if europe and u.s. do not deceive themselves by thinking it is just a small task force, then they will react the right y. if not, kazakhstan will turn into belarus. amy: for more, we are joined in moscow by nina khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at the new school and co-author of "in putin's footsteps: searching for the soul of an empire across russia's eleven time zones." she is also the author of "the lost khrushchev: journey into

the gulag of the russian mind." she is the great-granddaughter of former soviet premier nikita khrushchev. welcome to democracy now! can you first talk about what is happening right now in geneva? the talks between russia and the united states? then talk about what is happening in ukraine. >> thank you, amy. happy new year to all of the listeners. it starts with a very tense environment certainly around russia. what we are told in geneva that we will know the results of the first -- actually, the second day because the first meeting, the preliminary meeting was dinner yesterday. we were told the deputy foreign minister tokayev would be speaking later and explain what happened. so far what i have read is the russians have in saying they're

not going to make any concessions. and if there are any concessions to be made, it should be the americans because according to the russian side, the americans are the ones that are threatening or nato is threatening russian security. so far, we are only hearing diplomacy and conversations are possible, but it does not seem, at least what we're hearing now, there are any breakthroughs. though we were told by both secretary lincoln andhe russian side they're not expecting the breakthrough immediately or maybe even later on but we will see. as for ukraine, it is a little bit of a complicated story because it is very clear exactly what the russian idea is to have all of the troops on the border with ukraine.

i am not of a school of thought -- i know it is prevalent in the united states that putin is going to invade ukraine. think it is a bit of an information attack as the united kingdom -- united states cap saying, quoting victoria nuland saying if and so and we think they will invade and therefore we will punish them ivery severe manners, russia has been keeping the troops, from my point of view, as they say, to prevent potential ukraine government encouraged by the west in the western military support from trying to take the territories annexed in 2014 by force. i am actually tending to trust putin on that because i do not think he wants large bloodshed.

i don't think he wants to take he have as many analysts -- kiev as many american analyst have been suggesting. for him, being russia it should be -- his own information and kinds of psychological mean that if the west, are not listening to us, we have other options to consider. unfortunately, it can be military one. amy: explain the history. the u.s. promises to russia around the not expanding nato. >> there's a lot of debate going on about this. baker in 1990 talkin with then foreign minister did say that russia would push one inch beyond the current borders. then the question -- they were talking about germany and

unification of germany in 1989 -- amy: your saying that nato would not push one inch. >> sorry, yes, nato would not push one inch. but they were talking about east germany, the date would not go further. germany keeps that promise. it is questionable -- they may have made the whole nato expansion, but maybe they only meant germany. i think the more important part is the conversation between bill clinton's secretary of state warren christopher and vice yeltsin when it certainly was a promise that it would in, at least not in yeltsin's time, as clinton put it to yeltsin. as we know in 1998, there was a decision by u.s. congress that

the expansion would happen yet once again, clinton said it is not going to happen in your time. so that is why the russians now when their calling for the arrangement of 1997, they talked about that very moment in 1998 when the u.s. congress decided nato could expand. amy: let me go to secretary state tony blinken speaking to abc news saying he does not expect progress as long as tensions on the ukraine border remain high. >> if are going to make progress in these talks starting next week, but i don't think we will see any breakthroughs, we will listen to their concerns and they will listen to ours. we will see if there are grounds for progress. to make actual progress, it is hard to see that happening when there is an ongoing escalation, when russia has i go to the head of ukraine.

-- has a gun to the head of ukraine. if we are seeing a reduction intentions, that is the kind of environment in which we come april august and address concerns, reasonable concerns on both sides. amy: professor, president biden has made cle to president putin makes any more moves and goes into ukraine, russia will pay a heavy price. they have talked about a very high-level sanctions. what would those sanctions be? do you think these threats are productive? >> i think threats are never productive. i think sec. blinken, interestingly, is undiplomatic when it comes to russia. i understand there angry because they were in charge in 2014, in charge of preventing russian annexaon of crimea and they really did not do such a good job in stopping putin than.

in many ways, it is a little bit of a payback. do not think threats are useful. putinputin at least's messages, stop telling us and talk to us. that is why he has the troops around the ukrainian border. if you're not understanding it and the other way, this is how we are going to make ourselves heard. i do not know ifp's techniques are -- if putin's techniques are useful either, but it is compared to the cuban missile crisis when two sides were giving each of the ultimatums and the expectation was who would blink first. so far, i am not seeing either site is ready to blank because putin is not going to take off, at least not in large numbers, to take down the troop location around ukraine until he hears

something from america. and america is not going to do anything until putin does something to reduce the troop levels. these sanctions could be insane and dramatic. that is why another thing i don't believe putin wants to escalate that much. i believe -- it is not that he wants to take more territory, i think he wants to get heard. in fact, the director of the center here in moscow wrote a really interesting and very levelheaded article in foreign affairs, which i invite the listeners to look into. so far the russians are being threatened with taking it down maybe close bders, maybe stop -- the russian flights to the united states. maybe -- oh, sanctions, not just

the putin environment people, give them very, very tough sanctions, but the whole industry so they will not be functional. the damage can be dramatic, for sure. and that is why i think both sides for now are staring at each other and waiting for whoever blinks first. amy: i want to turn to kazakhstan. over 160 protesters have been killed. the president there tokayev calls them terrorists. many are being held ght now. can you explain what is happening and then russia's involvement? >> that is such a complicated story. i also want to say, unfortunately, once again, when it comes to russia -- the immediate russian territory, most reporting shorthand

because, first of all, tokayev -- it is an authoritarian system but tokayev was secondhand to the previous president who left some years ago. basically, -- it was reported correctly there were gas prices that shot up, especially in the north of the country, and that is where oil and gas offices -- not offices, but production systems are in place. so people really went out with economic demands, but also political demands. they were not protesting against tokayev, they were protesting against -- his family runs everything. they were screaming, "old man go

away." that was used by forces close to nazarbayev. tokayev was forced or decided or maybe was advised to invite the russian peacekeeping because when the russian troops would go in and we have not had reports the russian troops were doing any military exercises but they were heavy -- kind of a heavy message that if the country does not come down, then the russians would get involved. so far, we are told they would stay there for a week or a little longer. so does not seem putin, although a very lucky man come he clearly did not plan it, but suddenly, he is something that everybody says he wants to have, that is

all influence that the soviet union used to have. it just happened this way. what i think would happen is the russian troops will probably get out but tokayev, it looks like you might keep in power for some time, probably will be somehow in depth of putin and putin may have position to decide or help decide certain moves in kazakhstan. amy: how are u.s. oil companies like chevron and exxon mobil able to gain so much influence on the post-soviet state of kazakhstan, making the country one of the largest oil producers in the region and what power do they have now? >> i am not an expert on kazakhstan. i can only talk about putin,

more oless, confidently. what i know -- one of the reasons probably very unfortunate moment for the west because from the numbers i had, i looked about 350 billion invested in those industries, so if putin has a political and onomic saying in kazakhstan, then evidently difficult for them to -- infinitely difficult for them to function and not take russia into account. one of the things about nazarbayev, and that is why said those reports in russia kazakhstan or was the russian backed president, it is not true. one of the things that nazarbayev was able to do is create his ownpace, his own country and eve time when putin would say, well, you did

not even exist before the soet union, nazarbayev responded this is our country, you don't have a say in it. so he kept russia at bay and he was welcoming all of the investments in the past. so the question now is how is the investment going to play out in the future. amy: i want to thank you for joining us nina khrushcheva, , professor of international affairs at the new school. she is the co-author of "in putin's footsteps: searching for the soul of an empire across russia's eleven time zones." and "the lost khrushchev: journey into the gulag of the russian mind." she is the great-granddaughter of the former soviet premier. next up, we go to australia where the judge has allowed the unvaccinated tennis star djokovic to be released from immigration detention. we will look at that detention solidity where he was -- facility where he was held and

what has happened to the refugees that lived there. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "war and peace" by the kazakh musician dimash kudaibergen. his instagram was taken down last week after publishing a

post sympathizing with protesters. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to australia, where a judge has reinstated serbian tennis star novak djokovic's visa and released him from immigration detention. australian government authorities say they could still intervene to revoke the visa and prevent the defending champion from taking part in the australian open, set to start next week as the country faces as record-breaking covid surge. djokovic's case has intensified international scrutiny on the treatment of immigrants and refugees in australia. today we look at the people he leaves behind in the facility where he was detained. many are wondering if they will ever leave the rundown park hotel in melbourne that has been holding about 30 refugees for at least a year. this is refugee mohammed joy in

the park hotel speaking to protesters on sunday. >> my name is joy. i am from bangladesh. i am one of three men living in the center. novak djokovic came to join us in our prison. we are told -- [indiscernible] bring attention to our plight. he is just a human being like us. mr. djokovic, will you speak out for us when you're released? will you tell the world how we have been at the mercy of australian immigration system for 10 years?

amy: well, for more, we are joined by two guests. in melbourne at the park so-called hotel, we're joined by mehdi ali, an iranian refugee who has been held in detention by australian authorities for over nine years. he is currently there at the hotel and tweeted last friday on his 24th birthday -- "it's so sad that so many journalists contacted me yesterday to ask me about djokovic. i've been in a cage for nine years, i turn 24 today, and all you want to talk to me about is that. pretending to care by asking me how i am and then straight away asking questions about djokovic." also with us is craig foster, a former australia national team soccer player who advocates on behalf of asylum seekers. we welcome you both to democracy now! mehdi, i'm not going to ask you about djokovic. i would ask about you and how you ended up at the park hotel. you're only 24.

you have been in 24 for almost, what, nine years? tell us how you ended up there. >> thank you for giving me the opportunity. i had a really long journey. a tragedy. lots of trauma, madness. i had such a sad journey since i came to australia. the first day i arrived july 2013 and basically they gave me a number and that was my idtity until now. i have been in detention in a processing center. amy: for people who don't understand when he say offshore processing center, expla what happens in australia. where the islands refugs like u are kept. >> the offshore processing

center was a policy made by the authority to send people o come by bt after 2013, they send them to offshore processing center. though the majority of people, i could say 90% of people come that came about after july 2013, settled in australia. dozens of us are left, which were so in detention and we don't know why. it could be for the sake of policies so they can point their fingers at us as sacrifices and knowing give us a deadline or telling us when we get out of this indefinite attention. amy: how long have you been there at the park hotel? >> a couple of months. amy: let me ask craig foster why

you have taken of this issue of asylum refugees. your former footballer, soccer player. you are front and center right now in seeing this is what has to be focused on. >> if there's any positive, if you like, from the saga djokovic has just been through is there has been more scrutiny around the world but as importantly, actually in australia, it is incredible to think any australians can still say they did not know. people here in hotels right in the heart of our capital cities. mehdi's like wishing in melbourne -- languishing in melbourne in one of our key inner-city suburbs but our second-largest city right now come has been there for months. many for years. there heading in july to the

anniversary of nine years of being detained. they are refugees. that means their status has been recognized through what is it terribly onerous system, particularly in australian given the politicization, and it is horrific what has occurred to them. e-sports starving in town, being in the same hotel, at least provided some visibility. why i advocated? it is an outrage. in the last three or four days with novak djokovic just highlights the privilege tha many have including famous tennis stars or athletes of all kinds, the difference in the treatment they have and the lack of authority that australian ports have to let mehdi simple because the strong and government has politicized him

and other so badly. they stripped the courts of all rights under the immigration act. amy: mehdi was not there last year when the facility gained notoriety and looking at any al jazeera piece: a fire forced asylum-seekers to be released, maggots allegedly found in the food. talk about this place that the media will no longer focus on because djokovic has left. >> exactly. essentially what has occurred is particularly this group -- immigrants and refugees over the last nine years and even previous to that come australia as i was had a very complicated immigration history. on a number of occasions, whether it is immigration ministers, governments, and ministers including the current, have used different groups, different cultural groups through the decades and in disrespect asylum use, to aack

them to trigger a section of the australian community simply for the purchasing of votes through the degradation of innocent lives. we have had run 13 of these men who have died. one of whom self immolated on the pacific island which australia uses as an offshore prison. there was a medevac act which was instituted against the government's wishes some years ago at meant who were in immediate and grave need of medical treatment -- this is how that it has become here in australia in relation to mehdi and his cohorts. grave need a medical treatment, severe physical and particularly psychological mental health issues as you would imagine being in prison on an island for so very, very long, that they had to be brought to australia in front of a medical panel that

said the treatment was necessary. the kind of associations with what novak djokovic has just endured, many, including how politicized his case has also become, but also because of this issue of medical treatment -- they were then brought to australia essential because the australian government had said they would never settle here for political reasons, they have set about mistreating them for the maximum degree they possibly can in order to try to force them home. they offered the money to go. that means if the refugees go home, they will be persecuted and many would die. the australian government and most shrines are not concerned about that and therefore you're are talking about horrible food and no medical treatment. we are seeing people with abscesses in their teeth, in their stomach, massive mental health epidemic among these cohorts. there simply told to move on and are not allowed out of the

hotel. they are locked up 23 hours a day. even protesters were outside trying to raise the voice, relatively small numbers given we have 26 million people here, so the australian government came and put black cellophane on the outside of mehdi's and others window so the protesters can't see them. another hotel in brisbane, the government actually built a wall so the protesters could not see the refugees and vice versa. two in turn prison -- cussing taxpayers heavily dollars a year. if mehdi and others who present no risto anyone route 9 a community, 20 thousand to 30,000 australia dollars. that is the price of the political votes and the use of mehdi and others that been going

on here for a very considerable amount of time. amy: mehdi, you have black sullivan over your window right now? can you talk about what your demands are come and what would happen if you were returned to iran, why you insist on leaving? >> i get early tellou -- i can't really tell you about the reasons i can't go back but i can tell you i have a refugee status with the u.n. that cell. i came when i was 15 years old. i tolerate torture, tolerat r misery, no education, no proper health care [indiscernible] amy: you witnessed, burning himself aive? >> he waon fire.

i saw him. he ended up in the hospital and he died. another friend of mine, he committed suicide. a woman got raped. amy: what gives you hope to go on? you have been in australian detention now for nine years, as you said there in the so-called hotel, the detention facility in melbourne. what are you hoping for? >> my hope is a survivalist me, personally, i was about to die on my journey a few times. i was really close to dying. and i did not. the hope is, like, i think when i die, the ones loving me will miss me.

amy: are you going to court? you're seeking political asylum. you are refugees seeking political asylum in australia? >> i am not filing for asym. i am a refugee already. i am granted status. i am a refugee. and by u.n. itself, our case is different. we are offshore. we are a political sacrifice. [indiscernible] for the sake of politicians, for the sake of policy, for private companies who are making so much money now. and for other reasons, they're keeping us here without no

explanation. amy: i want to thank you for taking this time. we will continue to follow what happens to refugees in australia, not to mention what happens to asylum-seekers in the united states and around the world. mehdi ali is an iranian refugee detained at the park hotel in melbourne, australia. he has been detained offshore for nine years. he came to australia when he was 15 years old. craig foster, a former australia nation team soccer player who advocates on behalf of asylum seekers. thank you both so much for being with us. tomorrow, the 20th anniversary of the opening of the guantánamo prison and we will speak with a former prisoner. next up, we will talk to pulitzer prize-winning reporter ed yong, science writer at the

atlanta, about how hospitals are in serious trouble as omicron drives an unprecedented surge of infections. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "love waltz" performed by our previous guest, mehdi ali, and susie bishop. mehdi did his recording his

while in detention in melbourne, australia. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. here in the united states, nearly a quarter possible reporting prickle staff shortages -- you're the a quarter of hospitals are reporting critical staff shortages will chicago schools are closed for four day. for more, we're joined by ed yong, science writer at the atlantic. he won the pulitzer prize for explanatory reporting for his coverage of the pandemic. yong's most recent piece is tilted "hospitals are in serious trouble." omicron is our past pandemic mistakes on fast-forward we've been making the same errors for nearly two years now. let's start with the hospitals. explain the serious trouble our hospitals are in.

>> there at a breaking point. it is hard how badly hospitals are faring right now. even before the omicron way. they were already in trouble because some health care workers had left because of the collected traumas the last two years of the pandemic. and now live a delta wave and a omicron on top of that. huge volumes of patients are flooding hospitals and while omicron is less severe than previous variants, it is so contagious that the sheer number of those patients is so high there is still a lot of very sick people and their a lot people -- there inundating hospitals at a time when there are fewer health care workers. they are exhausted. a lot of them areut sick because th have breakthrough infections of omicron. all of this means that hospitals

-- i really struggle to use the words like "crumbling" because i don't want to over exaggerate the risk, but that is what i am hearing people all around the country. people are waiting for six to 12 hours to get seen for any kind of emergency procedure. people in the er are on ventilators wedding to get into icu's, which are full. the entire system is clogged up and it is not just about covid anymore. this now means medical care for basically anything is worse than it was two years ago because the system is just so completely flooded and unable to cope with the volume of patients right now. amy: the national nurses united said going to work should not mean putting your life and the lives -- and the lives of your loved ones in danger. her group of nurses union and the afl-cio have demanded the federal government enact permanent rules to ensure workplace safety saying all

frontline health workers should be guaranteed personal protective equipment, exposure notification, ventilation systems, and other lifesaving measures. can you talk about this kind of organizing that is going on? >> i think a lot of health care workers are fed up. there is social contract in medicine that you sacrifice yourself for the sake of your patient. while that contract means the rest of us get decent medical care when we expected, it also creates a condition where health care workers are very easily exploited by society at large as we are seeing now and by their own particular institutions. it is no surprise after two years of this, after feeling betrayed, they are starting to organize. there is more movement toward unions, more of a sense of we just cannot take this anymore. i commended that. i do think that is necessary.

i worry there are a lot of people who, rather than fighting come have decided very recently to stop, to leave their jobs or the profession. i heard so many. in the ranks of those left behind to take care of the rest of us and whose jobs are now that much harder. honestly, if so much of society has pretended the pandemic is over and long to get back to normal, can you really blame health care workers for wanting to do the same? this is the cost of two years. without our health care system, there might not be a normal to get back to. amy: last week, president biden reiterated his support for keeping schools open during the covid surge. pres. biden: we know our kids can be safe while in school, by

the way. that is why i believe schools should remain open. amy: i wento get your response to this. chicago schools are closed because the teachers union says they will not expose their teachers in this way. other schools that remain open around the country, like in new york, are vectors for infection. >> i sympathize with everye on this debate. on the one hand, parents are scared about putting their children in these conditions where this extremely transmissible virus is going everywhere. i sympathize for parents who cannot handle remote school income who do not have the option to do that. i sympathize with teachers who don't feel they can put themselves at risk anymore. i think, though, we have input in a position where we are having to take sides between people who are all in the right. this should not be a debate in the way it is framed. the judge of the federal

government should have been to control transmission of this virus, control pandemic to an extent where this should not have even been an issue. and summative the measures that were necessary -- the rollout of rapid tests, mask mandates, all of these things, if anything, pulled back the federal and state level. there is not been enough done to control the pandemic for two years now. last year really wasn't that much different. because our policymakers had made bad decisions, puts individual schools, teachers, parents in an impossible position and sets them against each other. when in fact, my main problem is the policies that should protect all of us have not been put in. amy: let's talk about those policies. you pointed out, for example, that when i was the politicians that want to put this behind them so talking about masking,

the fact there are not tests available now, though president biden said he is going to get half a billion out to the country, and the fact avid, which makes one of the tests, destroyed millions of those tests. >> right, because we keep treating this like a short-term problem. we keep assuming we're going to get back to normal and at some point in the near future without actually doing the work to get to that point. rapid tests are a clear example. why do we not have them deployed on a mass scale? biden talks about deployment number of tests to people. it is like 1.5 tests per person. i want to talk about the social measures that should have been put in place right from the start. we know a pandemic is a social problem, not just aiomedical one. yes, vaccine and therapeutics and tests are great, but we need

things that allow people to protect their livelihoods and our lives at the same time. paid sick leave is a great example of this. it seems like a weird measure to be talking about in the context of a pandemic, but you cannot take the time off to isolate or take care of yourself if you are exposed, if your work conditions don't allow you to do that. and how are you going to stop this from spreading this disease? we know these things actually matter and have an immediate impact, but they don't seem to be part of the package measures that we have been talking about. people gravitate between going on completely as normal or going to a strict lockdown. there's so many things in the middle. we talked about masking and rapid tests and paid sick leave, ventilation, having a place for people to isolate. these measures going on in part of the country but not everywhere, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of federal push to make them everywhere, to

pressure states into putting them in place. that is part of the problem. that is why we are in the state where we are having these horrendous discussions about schools and looking at health care system that is collapsing because of the sheer weight of infection. amy: do you think this could lead to medicare for all? it has exposed their fracture of the entire system from a system that was broken already in terms of who gets health care and who doesn't i this country. now it is who dies and who doesn't. >> people who are unvaccinated are actually the - uninsured -- i'm saying this terribly. a lot of people are vaccinated are also uninsured. ss of think about the medical system. the tendency to paint vaccinated people as antagonistic anti-vaxxers.

i would he the lessons from these two years are that inequities harm us. you cannot fight a vaccine -- you cannot fight a pandemic properly and grossly unequal society such as what we currently live in. but that does not seem to be the lesson that is being learned. we have had lipservice paid to the need to focus on inequities but even from the public health voices, seems to be a thing that is readily forgotten. and that is -- that is part of what we are where we are now. unless we actually make efforts to protect the most vulnerable, to help people on low incomes, marginalized groups, disabled communities -- unless we stop treating them like disposable commodities, we're going to end up back in the situation we currently find ourselves. america supreme court hearing oral arguments around biden's

vaccine mandates. your thoughts? >> i worry that we are instead of learning the lessons that you have just talked about, that would make us better prepared for the next one, that we are setting the go precedents in place that would make us more wonderful the next time around. there are many different examples of this. state legislatures around the country have put in orders that make it more difficult for people to put in saint mask mandates or quarantine orders. that contributes to how hard it is to fighsomething like omicron. is going to make more difficult to deal the next variant, the next pandemic i guarantee we will face. worry -- amy: we have to leave it there but i want to wish a happy 40th birthday. i know it was very difficult. he wrote a piece talking about canceling your 40th birthday

because of omicron. thank you so much for being with us. ed yong, science writer at the atlantic. he won the pulitzer prize for his reporting on the pandemic. that does it for our show. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

■ún the diterranean, and when the sea is calm, it becomes europe's deadliest crossing. albert roma: sit down. sit down, everyone. eric: tens of thousands fleeing africa for a better life. male: you find god. you find solution, or you die. eric: italy wants to stop the boats, even if it costs lives. savvas kourepinis: i am in the sea trying to keep the people alive, and you tell me to call malta. eric: we join a rescue group saving boats in defiance of italy. so they see you as the enemy? gerard canals: absolutely, yes. eric: and we follow migrants on their perilous path to europe. ♪♪♪