01/26/22 01/26/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what we have seen over the last tee years is the collapse of cooperation and solidarity. absolutely no reason why the continent of africa should be back behind having 7% of the population fully immunized, a continent of 1.2 billion people, totally acceptable.

does not what we want to project. amy: as in cases of highly infectious omicron variant continue to climb in unvaccinated parts of the world, we will speak to the head of the africa disease control and prevention about how vaccine inequity will prolong the pandemic everywhere and lead even more variants of the coronavirus. then, to "gangsters of capitalism: smedley butler, the marines, and the making and breaking of america's empire." >> the book tells the story tha most amecans don't know about the way america rose to imperial power in the first decades of the 20th century. a book about how tse wars have been forgotten here, how they are remembered a over the world, andow our ierial dealings have a way of coming back home in the form of fascism

and authoritarianism. amy: we will speak to author jonath kat the making of u.s. empi to topple franklin lano roosevelt's government in 1934 in order to establish a fascist dictatorship. the book also looks at the parallels between the 1934 i came to cuba and the deaf attempt to q and the -- attempted coup and the generous sixth insurrection. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden said he would consider personal sanctions against russian president vladimir putin tuesday amid mounting tensions over ukraine. russia has ordered a series of military drills as the u.s. and nato build up their military presence in the region, and the u.s. announced plans to ensure adequate fuel supplies to europe in the event of a russian embargo. meanwhile, ukrainian leadership is warning against spreading

panic, saying no decisive moves towards an incursion have been made. some 100,000 russian troops have been massed near the ukrainian border for weeks. biden addressed the escalating situation at a press event tuesday. pres. biden: will be enormous consequences if he were to go in and invade as he could the entire country or a lot less than that as well, for russia -- not only in terms of economic consequences and political consequences, but enormous consequences worldwide. this would be the largest -- if you were to move in with all those horses come the largest invasion since world war ii. it would change the world. amy: the intercept is reporting house democrats are planning to fast-track a bill that would increase u.s. military aid to ukraine by $500 million and provide military training to

ukrainian forces. this comes as political advisers from russia, ukraine, france, and germany are holding talks today in paris. germany has been more restrained than some of its european neighbors in response to the crisis, opposing sending weapons to ukraine, and warning against harsh sanctions on russia. at least 23 people on an australian ship carrying aid to tonga have tested positive for covid-19. planes have been used to unload supplies for the volcano-stricken island nation amid fears of spreading the coronavirus. so far, only one confirmed case has been reported in tonga since the start of the pandemic. meanwhile, in australia, health authorities approved the novavax vaccine for adults amid an ongoing surge. it's expected to roll out next month. new zealand has imposed its toughest restrictions yet after at least nine omicron cases were detected. in south korea, covid cases hit

a new daily record of 13,000. china lifted its lockdown in the city of xi'an this week, where 13 million residents had been ordered to stay at home since december 22 as part of the country's zero-covid strategy. beijing continues to report new daily cases, though overall numbers remain low, as the winter olympics are set to kick off at the end of next week. officials have sealed off beijing neighborhoods near the games and have conducted mass testing of some 2 million people in the run-up to the event. dozens of people associated with the olympics have tested positive so far. in the netherlands, officials are loosening restrictions despite record cases, allowing bars, restaurants and theaters to reopen starting today. ireland also recently removed most of its covid curbs, including curfews on hospitality venues and requiring proof of vaccination for patrons. ireland's prime minister credited the high uptake of

boosters for preventing a worse outcome during the omicron sue. in saudi abia, millions of school cldren returned in-person classes this week after nearly two years of remote learning, one of the longest school system shutdowns in the world. cuba has pledged to donate 200 million doses of its homegrown covid-19 vaccine to low-income countries in the global south. the move was announceat talks hosted by the progressive international, was heralded as a possible historic turning point in the pandemic. here in the u.s., nearly 3000, debts were reported with fatalities at the highest level since february 2021. on tuesday, an appeals court judge temporarily stayed a ruling that struck down new york's indoor mask mandate just one day earlier. governor kathy hochul's statewide mask mandate for all indoor public places will remain in effect as new york's attorney

general files a formal appeal of monday's decision. the biden administration is withdrawing its vaccine-or-testing mandate for large companies following a supreme court decision earlier this month that blocked the requirement. businesses will subject to state and local laws on vaccinations, which vary widely across the country. in medical news, pfizer-biontech launched their trial of an omicron-specific vaccine. meanwhile, the fda withdrew emergency use authorizations for covid antibody drugs from regeneron and eli lilly, saying they don't work against omicron. florida governor ron desantis slammed the move, threatening a possible lawsuit, even as the two affected drug companies did not dispute the findings, with eli lilly agreeing with the fda decision. the white house labeled desantis' response as crazy. jailed native american activist leonard peltier has described prison as a torture chamber amid

constant coronavirus lockdowns. peltier, who suffers from multiple health conditions, says he and others held at the florida feral prison havyet to receive their booster shots and describes worsening neglect and uncertainty. in a statement, peltier writes -- "left alone and without attention is like a torture chamber for the sick and old." 77-year-old peltier is the u.s.'s longest-serving political prisoner, convicted of killing two fbi agents on south dakota's pine ridge reservation in 1975. he has long maintained his innocence. in colombia, indigenous leader josé albeiro camayo was assassinated monday in the region of cauca. camayo was a member of the nasa people and one of the founders of the indigenous guard, an unarmed collective of land defenders.

indigenous leaders at group of dissident members of farc opened fire on them after demanding respect for the people and territory. among those involved in the attack is a man accused of murdering a 14-year-old indigenous environmentalist earlier this month. in brazil, indigenous pataxó protesters blocked a railroad tuesday to mark three years since a dam collapsed in the minas gerais state, killing some 270 community members. the dam was owned by the mining company vale. protesters have vowed to continue the blockade until the mining company helps resettle them to a new territory, builds new homes, and starts paying reparations. this is an indigenous pataxó leader. >> we are here on the train tracks claiming our territory. vale has to give us another territory because our village is

polluted. we ask people outside of brazil and the u.n. or justice. please, help us. we're living on the vale company train tracks. we have nowhere to go. amy: at least seven bangladeshi refugees died of hypothermia after attempting to cross the mediterranean on a boat from libya to the italian island of lampedusa. brothers were taken at the hospital to be treatable for hypothermia and severe disorientation. 280 refugees were aboard the boat, most of them from bangladesh and egypt. at least 39 people are missing after their boat capsized off the coast of florida saturday. a man was rescued tuesday after he was seen clinging to the hull of the sinking boat, which had departed from the bahamas. few details about the passengers are known. the bahamas is frequently used as a transition point by migrants who are attempting to reach the united states for safety. environmental groups have condemned a new bill moving through the florida legislature that could effectively kill the state's rooftop solar market by making the sustainable energy

source economically non-viable. the rooftop solar industry, solar panels, currently provides tens of thousands of jobs in florida and brings in billions of dollars. the bill is backed by the state's largest electric utility , florida power and light. in florida, a republican-led state house committee has advanced legislation that would ban all discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. the bill would also allow parents to sue school districts for injunctive relief, damages, attorney fees, and court costs if they believe schools have violated the measure. critics have dubbed the legislation the "don't say gay" bill, saying it will prohibit teachers from speaking about lgbtq+ issues and harm the mental health of lgbtq+

students. in minnesota, the federal civil rights trial of three former police officers involved in the murder of george floyd continues. in opening statements monday, prosecutors argued thomas lane, j. alexander kueng, and tou thao were guilty of ignoring floyd's repeated pleas of "i can't breathe" and failing to provide medical assistance as derek chauvin pressed his knee into floyd's neck for over nine minutes. two of the officers also helped chauvin physically restrain floyd. another officer prevented passersby from hoping. i defense attorney, meanwhile, argued chauvin was the one who called all of the shots. this is george floyd's nephew brandon williams speaking monday. >> it was hard watching that video of my uncle. begging and pleading for his life. instead of raising them up,

turning him over, instead of one of the officers saying "hey, let him up," they ignored and chose to kill him. we need some accountability. amy: the three officers also face a separate state trial for aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter of george floyd. tennessee congressmember jim cooper has become the 29th house democrat to announce tuesday he will not seek reelection in this year's midterms. cooper says he did not see how he could retain his seat after redistricting maps drawn up by state republicans dismembered his nashville hometown. and in related news, a panel of federal judges rejected alabama's redrawn congressional districts this week, saying they discriminate against black voters and violate the voting rights act. alabama's republican attorney general has appealed the decision. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

when we come back, as new cases of the highly infectious omicron variant continue to climb in under vaccinated parts of the world, we will speak with the head of the africa centers for disease control and prevention about how vaccine inequity is prolonging the pandemic. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: 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: global health leaders are

warning that new cases of the highly infectious omicron variant continue to climb in under-vaccinated parts of the world. only about 62% of the world's population has received at least one shot, and the divide between the rich and poor regions remains vast. this is world health organization emergencies director mike ryan speaking virtually at the world economic forum last week. >> we look at africa and african regional office, only 7%. so the reality is that the world is movin toward 70%. the problem is we are leaving huge swaths of the world behind. amy: the world health organization says the wide vaccine gap could set the stage for another dangerous variant to emerge. this comes as top african health officials say nearly 3 million vaccine doses have expired on the continent. they say many of the doses

donated by covax and individual countries had short shelf lives and arrived with short notice. for more, we're joined by dr. john nkengasong, director of the africa centers for disease control and prevention, an institution of the african union. he just wrote an op-ed in "the new york times" headlined "there will be another variant. here's what the world can do now." he last joined us from addis ababa. today he is in washington, d.c. dr., welcome back to democracy now! talk about the state of the world right now, particularly the african continent when it comes to coronavirus, and what can be done now? >> thank you for having me again on the program. 2022 must be the year we completely keep debt tip the balance.

just aut 10% of the population in africa, continent of 1.3 billion people come have been fully immunized. we have a journey to get to the 70% title, which the who has established. this is the year -- if we are to -- we saw what omicron did. omicron taught as a threat anywhere in the world is a threat everywhere in the world. we have to scale up vaccination using all the assets we have. a more deliberate manner with more collaboration across the board. juan: dr. nkengasong,rom the issu of accessibility to the testing infrastructure and vaccine equity, why do these continue to be some of the most pressing demands that we face, especially in areas like africa? >> the first challenge the

continent has was access to vaccines. if you recall, the continent last year had very limited access to vaccines. astrazeneca vaccines or covax because of -- limited vaccines. see a shift in the narrative or more vaccines are arriving in the continent from covax, from other donations -- which the continent is appreciative of that we have to shift our focus now to vaccinating. that is making sure vaccines that arrive at the airport actually get into the arms of the people. 80% of the population in africa -- 80% average. 20% minority that are hesitant. but we can work on that.

let's get the 80% of the polation that is keen to be vaccinated, vaccinated. juan: you also wrote in an op-ed for "the new york times" headlined "there will be another variant. here's what the world can do now." what are some of the steps that need to be taken now? as you say, inevitably, there will be more variants. >> there are a couple of things the world must do and do it collectively, not sequentially. one is to scale up vaccination. second, tests. we need to make sure we centralize testing. third, we need to increase our ability to monitor for these variants so as they emerge, we know what exactly they are, what the properties are come and take action. of course, make sure that is linked to access to new drugs. we have new regiments out there.

we should make sure when people are tested and their positive, they get linked to treatments. lastly, let's not let down our guard on the prevention measures. the prevention measures that we have used -- wearing masks, avoid large gatherings work against all variants. the key thing when he to do in 2022 and do all of it collectively. and if i want to ask about my internist chair who was asked about patents in an interview. >> a lot of people, some people are saying you guys should be giving this technology away, waving your intellectual patents. explain what moderna's position is. you will not enforce patents for as long as covid is around?

>> the first time we spoke was around the year ago when we voluntarily pledged, the only company to have done that, voluntarily pledged against the patents. there habeen no proof the vaccine would work at the time but we thought it was the righ thing to do from a vaccine access standpoint. we believe that has enabled others to make mrna vaccines. if others to that further, that is great. amy: that is moderna's chair and cofounder, but dr. nkengasong, there's a difference between not suing a company for taking the recipe and revealing what that recipe, that formula is so that companies around the world could manufacture it and make it available on the continent of africa, in asia, throughout the world. you have written and spoke about this at the world economic forum last week when you said that

during the pandemic, we have seen a shameful collapse of global solidarity and cooperation. can you talk about what these companies, that have made billions of dollars, paid for and the research for them in the case of moderna by u.s. taxpayers, pfizer because of its profits, paid for by the people but not sharing these formulas? what effect has this had? close we are living in an presidential -- >> we are living in an unprecedented time. the solidarity has to be in play. we need to bring all to the table to enable can irease access vaccine, including transfer of technology and

rights and support for countries and regions to be able to manufacture vaccines so the issue of limited access to vaccines -- let we are encouraged countries like the united states have taken the position that favor that. developed countries we hope to do the same. we are encouraged about 10 countries in africa have now embarked on the journey of producing vaccines in the respective countries, countries like south africa, rwanda, senegal. taking on the responsibility to produce vaccines and africa. that is very welcome and they should be supported. juan: doctor, i went to ask you, this whole issue of the number of shots that would protect one from covid we are nesting in countries like israel now recommending a second booster.

we're talking about four shots in a period of about a year. it is not really logistically possible for the world to keep up this kind of a vaccination program. what is your sense of what needs to be done by the manufacturers of vaccines in the future? >> again, it goes back to the discussion we just had a few seconds ago, which is increase access to vaccines. and hopefuy, the new generation vaccines will enable us to have the need to have the second, third, and fourth dose less. right now, how to even get people -- struggling to get one shot, to get that one shot? and how do we push or enable people that have received the one shot to get there to shots? in africa? the problem needs to be

contextualized so we know exactly just cannot be aiming at the third and fourth shot in africa where you don't even have access to the first shot of the vaccine. so i think that is key. vaccinating at scale, especially in areas where there are limited ask nations. amy: what you know about variants coming out of cameroon that has also affected france, doctor? >> we have limited information on that variant. we have not seen any published data on that, and we hope truly -- we hope that is truly not a variant of concern. amy: can you also talk about the expired vaccines, what it means when you get millions of vaccines in africa -- really, let's look at the numbers. yet npr reporting that you have much of the midsection of africa, including powerful economic and political players

like kenya, nigeria, and senegal all under 2% vaccination rates. away from africa, 10%. people have gotten about 10% coverage like syria come afghanistan, haiti. >> any vaccine that expires is very painful because that is potentially a life saved. but we should go beyond that and say what are the reasons that vaccines are expiring and africa? the first is the vaccines arrived with a very short lifespan cut what you -- vaccines shipped to the continent you have, need a longer expiring date. at least three months to six months so countries can prepare to use the vaccines. overall, about 0.5% of all

vaccines that arrive on the continent have expired. again, i want to be sure i am clear about this, any expired vaccine that are on the continent is painful because that is potentially a life that could be saved. juan: could you talk about what some of the countries in africa have gotten right in their efforts to prevent the spread of covid, especially given experience some had coping with the ebola epidemic in the past? >> the continent has used several previous experiences in fighting the covid pandemic, including mobilizing the continent. at the africa cdc, we have deployed thousands of health-care workers in several countries that do door-to-door engagement, human contact, counseling, and spreading -- contact tracing early on in the pandemic. second in the pandemic.

second, the continent has done very well. they set up testing, which is a great symbol of cooperation, collaboration, which has enabled the continent to secure over 450 million doses of vaccine. that is remarkable. it is the first time in the history of the disease that a continent has come together that much. very strong political leadership of president mariposa. such experience must be maintained and institutionalized so can use those instruments to fight pandemics and at the future and also to fight the existing pandemic. let's not forget malaria, tuberculosis, and hiv are still very serious threats in africa. amy: let's follow up on that, doctor. you're not only the director of the africa centers for disease control and prevention, but you are also nominee by president

biden for ambassador-at-large and coordinator of the u.s. government activities to combat aids/hiv globally. if you can talk about how the pandemic has affected these other diseases and populations dealing with, for example, tb, v/ds, etc. >> thank you. the nomination still has to be confirmed. once the confirmation occurs, speak more to speak about the pandemic of hiv. let me say, the reception covid has had on the continent -- impacted is huge. no doubt about that. we have evidence from the global front that services -- malaria,

tuberculosis, hiv have been erupted. that is what pandemics do. you disrupt supply chain management, there is a lot of severe impact on on covid infections. juan: during the pandemic, wealthier nations like the united kingdom have relied on african doctors and nurses to shore up their health services. yoare calling on many of these doctors had nurses and health workers to return to africa. could you talk about this issue of the brain drain and, basically, the use of medical people trying -- to other countries by wealthier nations? >> lesson we learned during the pandemic, where we set up the african task force for covid response, which is coordinating

the response and reporting to the heads of states. it was interesting so many africans were willing to contributend contributed significantly to the different working groups that were set up within the task force. the african union and african cdc was setting up deliver programs that would enable africans to contribute their experiences on the continent, markable -- remarkable return on investment and enable them to at least help the continent to address the challenges. we're looking into that very seriously. amy: dr. nkengasong, thank you for being with us. you're usually in africa, born in cameroon, but you are in washington, d.c. what do you find coming to the

united states, the difference in how the people of the united states are dealing with -- their attitudes toward, how the government is dealing with omicron, but overall coronavirus -- and the african continent? >> i think we have to admit the omicron variant is truly a lesson that -- difficult virus we are ill lynnwood. a virus that mutates quickly. a virus that if you allow it to separate is going to create mutations and challenge. i think we are very encouraged the role the united states is playing and making vaccines accessible to africa. the united states has donated the most vaccines to africa. i can speak on balf of the african union, we are grateful.

and leadersh. expressed by the united states d soften this problem globally is going to be needed going forward. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. dr. john nkengasong is the director of the africa centers for disease control and prevention, an institution of the african union. recently nomined by present biden for ambassador-at-large and coordinator of the u.s. government activities to combat aids/hiv globally. if confirmed, he would be the first person of african origin to hold the post. we will link to the "new york times" op-ed headlined "there will be another variant. here's what the world can do now." coming up, we will look at both the january 6 house committee and federal prosecutors, what they are finding when it comes to the capitol insurrection and how that relates to a fascinating new book "gangsters of capitalism: smedley butler, the marines, and the making and breaking of america's empire."

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as the january 6 house committee and federal prosecutors continued investigation into last year's deadly insurrection at the u.s. capitol and donald trump's efforts to overturn the election, we turn to look at a largely forgotten effort to topple the u.s. government in the past. it was 1934. some of the nation's most powerful bankers and business leaders plotted to overthrow president franklin deleano roosevelt in order to block the new deal and establish a fascist dictatorship. the coup plotters included the

head of general motors, alfred p. sloan, as well as j.p. morgan, jr. and the former president of dupont, irénée du pont. the men asked the celebrated marine corps officer smedley butler to lead a military coup. but butler refused and revealed what he knew to members of congress. this is a clip of general smedley butler speaking in 1934. >> here before the congressional committee, the highest representation of the american people under subpoena to tell what i knew of activities, which i believe might need to and attempt to set up a fascist dictatorship. the plan outlined to me was to form an organization to use as a buffer to intimidate the government and break down our democratic institutions. the upshot of the whole thing was that i was to post to lead an organization of 500,000 men,

which would be able to take over the functions of government. i lked witan investigator for this committee who came to me with the subpoena on sunday, november 18. he told me they had unearthed evidence linking my name with several such veteran organizations. i felt it was my duty to tell all i knew of such activities to this commiee. my main interest in all this is to preserve our democratic institution. i what to retain the right to vote. the right topeak freely. and the right to write if we maintain these basic principles, our democracy essay. no dictatorship can exist with suffrage, -- amy: at the time, ray major general smedley butler was one of the most celebrated marine officers in the country having played key roles in u.s. invasions and occupations across the globe, including in cuba,

nicaragua, puerto rico, haiti, mexico, and the philippines. but smedley butler later spoke out against u.s. imperialism, famously writing -- "war is a racket. it always has been. it is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. it is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. it is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many." we are joined now by the award-winning author jonathan katz, author of the new book "gangsters of capitalism: smedley butler, the marines, and the making and breaking of america's empire." also the author of "the big truck that went by: how the world came to save haiti and left behind a disaster." welcome back to democracy now! this is a fascinating book. for people who don't know about, for example, this attempted coup of 1934, can you talk more about

exactly how it unfolded? the parallel to these days are quite interesting, but let's start with the original story that took place, what, 90 years ago? >> it starts in 1933. a representative of our prominent wall street brokerage house named gerald macguire starts trying to recruit smedley butler -- starts out as an internal plot to getim to speak against franklin roosevelt taking the dollar off the gold standard at an legion conference in chicago, but it broadens from there. by 1934, maguire is sending butler postcards from the french riviera where he has just arrived from fascist italy, from berlin, and then he comes to butler's hometown of

philadelphia and asks him to lead a column of half-million world war i veterans of pennsylvania avenue for the purpose of intimidating franklin eleanor roosevelt into either resigning outright or handing off all his executive powers to an all-powerful, unelected cabinet secretary who the plotters who are backing macguire were going to name. juan: jonathan, didn't butler also claim in addition to these corporate leaders, there were folks like prescott bush involved in this, the father of george herbert walker bush and grandfather of geor w. bush? >> there is actually a kind of game of broken telephone going on with his name being involved in this. bush was -- prescott bush was too much involved with the actual nazi party in germany to

be involved withhe business plot. he was -- bush was a partner at graham brothers harriman, which is still a major investment bank based in new york, across the street from zoo cardi park headquarters. it was the subject of a different investigation by the same congressional committee because that committee -- and it was to investigate all forms of sort of fascist influence and all attempts to subvert american democracy. and because brown brothers was part of a separate best occasion, they get up sort of in the same -- nash archives and it ends up getting mixed up in a documentary that came out about 10 years ago. that is actually a misunderstanding. butler never brought up prescott

bush's name. because prescott bush was too involved with the actual nazis to be involved in something that was so homegrown as this plot. juan: in terms of why they were recruiting butler, his importance in the mid-20th century as a military hero, could you talk about that as well? >> yes. butler was like the forrest gump of american imperialism in the early 20th century. he joined the marines in 1898. he lied about his age. he was 16 years old. he joined the fight in the spanish-american war against spanish imperialism in cuba but from there, he rides a wave of imperial war and he is everywhere. he is in the philippines. he invades china twice. he helps seize the land for the

panama canal. he overthrows governments in nicaragua, haiti, the dominican republic, etc. he is also a general during world war i. so he had is very, very long and renoed resume in the marine corps. he was twice the recipient of the medal of honor. it made him a big star in america. he had a reputation as being sort of a marines general. he was somebody who had a deep and abiding respect of his enlistment. because of that resume of having overthrown a lot of democracies overseas and also having the loyalty of so many members of the marine corps, the best we can tell is why jerry maguire and probably his boss murphy

went to butler to lead. amy: we went to get into this really history because it is fascinating most of when you mentioned the philippines, cuba, puerto rico -- people are not really aware, most people i think, of what the u.s. role was. i just on this plot in 1934, what did general motors and j.p. morgan have to do with this? what was the liberty league and how far did this go? >> the reason why we know about the liberty league's involvement is because gerald macguire is representative of this wall street firm, tells butler at this meeting in 1934 that very soon an organization is going to emerge to back -- he describes thems been the villagers and the opera, they would be operating by the scenes. a couple of weeks later on the

front page of "the new york times," this new organization is announced, the liberty league, and started by the duponts, offer p sloan come all the people you just mentioned. it is directly connected to macguire, the guy recruiting butler, because his boss grayson m.p. murphy, i think the linchpin of this thing, is the treasurer of the liberty league. what the liberty league was was a consortium of extremely wealthy capitalist industrialists who hated franklin roosevelt and had the involvement of two former presidential candidates who are anti-new deal democrats. basically, there public facing goal -- and they were open about th -- was to dismantle the new deal, which fdr was trying to use to save americans, to put millions of americans back to work and save americans from the

depression. what we don't know is how far maybe the more senior members of the liberty league, like the duponts, had gotten the planning. the reason while we don't know is because the congressional committee that butler testified in front of, which is headed by john w maccormack who goes on to become a longtime speaker of the house, a democrat of new york, day cut their investigation short. the only people who testify are butler, a newspaper reporter butler enlisted as an independent investigation, gerald maguire and a lawyer for one of the maybe lower-level industrialists who is behind the error of the singer sewing wishing fortune. as a more detailed investigation, we just don't know the extent to which the duponts, for instance, were involved in the planning of a

business plot. ey may have been fully involved and just stopped anning once butler blew the whistle or it is possible murphy had not got them involved yet. juan: what was the reaction of the press at the time to the claims of butler? might be instructive given the things that we are going through today. >> it was ridicule. this was big news at the time. the story ran on the front page of "the new york times" but they kind of divided it in half and half of a column on the front, which were these hilarious denials by the accused. "time magazine" which was owned by henry luce, billion air son of missionaries to china, you know, ran sort of a satirical piece mocking butler.

it was basically peals of laughter. a couple of months later, once that committee had issued its final report, again, they did not do a full investigation, but they did enough to say they were able to, in their words, verify all the statements made by general butler and, you know, something was planned, have been put into action as such a time as the plotters, however many there were, saw fit. that conclusion got far, far less attention. to a certain extent, it really -- it severely damaged, i would say, butler's reputation among the establishment, among the american elite. it sort of helped consign the business plot to maybe not the dustbin, but forgot marginalia of american history. amy: this is critical.

they're talking about fighting fdr, calling him a socialist, the new deal, and then chop forward almost a century to today. talk about the parallels you see with the capital insurrection and beyond that. >> the parallels are legion, nope pun intended. one clear set of parallels is gerald macguire, the bond salesman who tries to recruit butler, one of the places he went in europe in 1934 to gain inspiration for the plot -- again, homegrown thing that he was looking for fascist movements in europe for inspiration, was to paris where six weeks before macguire arrived in paris, there was a riot of far right fascist groups. they tried to storm the parliament in paris to prevent

the handover of power to a centerleft prime minister. they were animated by a kind of crazy conspiracy theory, anti-semitic conspiracy theory that desha some who committed suicide -- there was a conspiracy had not really killed himself. one of the groups that participated in that riot called the fiery cross was in macguire 's terms, the exact sort of organization that he wanted butler to lead. you look at that, that is one of the closest historical parallels to what happened on january 6, a motley assortment of groups, some of which hate each other, others were unaligned but also leading together in this effort, to overthrow a democracy, prevent the transfer of power to

a centerleft prime minister who they see as a stalking horse for socialism and, really, i mean, that is 1 -- there are many others, including -- i mean, just the fact it was a fascist coup being plotted in the united states to overthrow american democracy at a time when liberal democracy was seen by a lot of people as being on the way out. we see the same things here today. juan: jonathan, if you could briefly in a few seconds, give us a sense of how butler changed from being a soldier of imperialism to any anti-imperialist? what caused him to have this transformation? >> that was really the central question that i was trying to answer for myself in writing "gangsters of capitalism." i would say there wasn't one

single moment. to a certain extent, he is returning to his roots. among otr fascinating things about the guy, he is a quicker from philadelphia's mainline. he gets into his first war at the age of 16 fighting against imperialism and tear any and to a certain extent, over the course of his career, he sees the primary beneficiaries of his marines interventions are the banks, are wall street, are american politicians. then he sees the way in which, you know, fast tracked imperialism abroad, gets reimported as authoritarianism and fascism at home. that is really what he ends up spending the last 10 years of his life to crying military-industrial complex, writing or is a racket, and trying to ultimately cash trying and failing to prevent the outbreak of world war ii and the united states entry into it. amy: we want to thank you so

much, jonathan katz, for joining us. award-winning journalist, author, his latest book "gangsters of capitalism: smedley butler, the marines, and the making and breaking of america's empire." this writings appear on on theracket.news. before we go, juan, a documentary you are featured in called "takeover" has been short-listed for an academy award. the documentary follows the 12 historic hours on july 14, 1970, when members of the young lords -- which included you at the time -- took over the rundown lincoln hospital in the south bronx. the young lords were a radical group founded by puerto ricans modeled on the black panther party. they drove out the administrative staff, barricaded

the entrances of hospital, and made their cries for decent healthcare known to the world. this is the trailer. listenarefullys if yocan pickut jua's voice. >> perhaps the toughest square-me in theity inhe soh bronx. ♪ >> i wa14 yea old whei joined t youngords. theyere stakinthat bame policizeby thelackanther rt they re a street gg came policized bthe blk pantr party. >> o of r target was in spital >> that budingas conmned years ago condemd. condemd forich people an openedp for pr people. >> iwas a ple at you wt lethe butcr shop.

>> bloodainsn the walls and floors. >> there was aat in th emergey rm. we haveeen chdren get bld poising whil hospalizedt lincn hospal . t is te for usoay h we're goingoesnd tthe killin of our ople. our plawas to te ove lincol hpital. >> whave begino stand u fothe puer rican pple an say ough is eugh. >> we ha beeasking f changeto take place you pay no aention t us. u have call the copon us, soow we e puttinyou out. we havtaken er hospils. were gng to ruit. yoare out. i will wk you toour r. >>e immeately annnced w wereot leavi untilhe cit

made firm comtment to bui a newospital. ♪ >> aut 1000 poli were onhe roof wh highowered rles. >> the police ted the young lords. >>e wereerried. >> t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t theoung lor work ead of r time iterms recogzing at healtcare is right. a chae to theealth stem inhis couny. and still d >> no oppressor is invincible.

amy: that is the trailer for " takeover," dress shortlisted for an academy award. it is up for nomination. juan, we did a segment on this that i encourage people to go to. in these last minute we have, your response to this recognition? it is nominated in the documentary shorts catory. juan: amy, it is clearly great news. i'm still amazed there is been so much interest in what we did as youngsters more than 50 years ago and i hope some of the lessons of what we did right and what we did wrong will resonate with younger people these days. amy: again, congratulations. that film is called "takeover." that does it for today's show. democracy now! has job openings. you can learn more at

democracynow.org for the applications for human resources manager. learn more and apply at democracynow.org. happy birthday to charina nadura! ." democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who

you have of india. it's not the overpopulated and chaotic india here. it's calm, peaceful, very green and somewhat sacred. the religion is still taught and practiced by hundreds of monks in the monasteries they call satras. it's on the northeast part of india, between bhutan, bangladesh and nepal. it's very, very far, and probably the most isolated island i've visited... and definitely the most threatened.