03/28/22 03/28/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: ukine will never be a victory for russia. free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness. for god sake, this man cannot remain in power. amy: president biden calls for russian president vladimir putin to be removed from office. while the white house denied biden was calling for regime

change, many fear bide's remarks could make it harder to reach a diplomatic agreement to end russia's invasion of ukraine. we will speak with congressmember ro khanna and retired army colonel andrew base of age. plus, we will look at the plight of african students who fled russia's war in ukraine only to be detained by european border officials. and we will go to jamaic duke and duchess of cambridge have just wrapped up a weeklong visit to former british colonies and the caribbean. >> i strongly agree with my father, the prince of wales, who said in barbados last year that the of hauling atrocities of slavery forever stains our history. i want to express my profound sorrow. slavery was abhorrent and it never should have happened. amy: the royal visit was met by protests and demands for reparations. we will speak to lisa hanna who says jamaica needs more than

royal regrets over slavery. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the mayor of mariupol is warning the besieged southern port city in ukraine is on the cusp of a humanitarian catastrophe over incessant russian attacks and amid dire shortages of food, water, power, and other essentials. the mayor says 160,000 civilians are trapped and that russian forces are blocking safe exit routes to evacuate them. meanwhile, the u.n. says there is mounting evidence of mass graves in mariupol. on sunday, lifelong resident valentina assessed the situation in the city, which has largely been left in ruins. >> i have lived here since my birth and my husband as well. we got married here and had

babies. what is left for us? i don't want to go anywhere but mariupol but there is nowhere to live here. amy: ukraine's foreign ministry said last week 6000 mariupol residents had been "forcibly deported" and taken to russia as hostages. while speaking at the european council summit last week, president volodymyr zelensky accused russia of kidnapping over 2000 ukrainian children since the start of the war. russian attacks in other parts of ukraine also continued over the weekend, including in the cities on chernihiv and lviv in western ukraine, as president joe biden visited neighboring poland. new talks between ukraine and russia are taking place in istanbul, turkey, this week. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky said nday he is prepared to negotiate a deal with russia that includes some of moscow's demands. >> security guarantees and on nuclear status of our state, we are ready to go for it. this is the most important point. it was the main for the russian

federation as far as i could remember. and if remember coectly, thiss why they started the war. we will not sitown bend the table if we talk about some kind of demilitarization, some kind of denazification. amy: in later comments, president zelensky insisted on the importance of ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity after suggestions he could concede on the status of the eastern donbas region and reports moscow would seek to split the country in two in a "korean scenario." meanwhile, u.s. officials have had to walk back remarks made by president biden during a saturday speech from poland. pres. biden: we will have a brighter future rooted in hope and light with decency and dignity, freedom and possibilities. for god sake, this man cannot remain in power. amy: the white house rushed to do damage control on biden's unscripted comment about putin, saying the u.s. is not seeking

regime change in russia as analysts warned it could derail attempts to negotiate with moscow. on saturday, ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky addressed the doha forum in qatar asking oil and gas-producing countries to up their output to reduce reliance on russian exports. this comes as new data reveals western oil giants including bp, shell, and exxon have poured nearly $100 billion into russian fossil fuel projects since it's 2014 invasion of crimea. the analysis was released by global witness, greenpeace usa and oil change international. young activists from around the world took to the streets in dozens of countries and more than 500 cities friday for the global climate strike. launched by greta thunberg's fridays for future movement, the annual event had taken place virtually for the past two years due to the pandemic. this is german activist luisa

neubauer speaking from berlin. >> now we are in a war being financed by fossil fuels, that we need to be speaking about fossil fuel. today, tomorrow come the day after tomorrow, germany is giving putin millions for its oil and gas. there's no such thing as an isolated crisis. if we want to separate ourselves from the auto ads and live everywhere in peace and freedom and safety, then we need to move away from fossil fuel. amy: scientists have observed the collapse of an ice shelf in eastern antarctica for the first time since satellite images became widely available in 1979. the breakup of the conger ice shelf on march 15 came as the region experienced an unprecedend heat wave, with temperatures soaring by as much as 70 degrees fahrenheit above normal in some areas. meanwhile, marine biologists warn australia's great barrier reef is experiencing another

mass bleaching event after ocean temperatures in the area rose 7 degrees fahrenheit above normal. it's the fourth die-off of coral along the world's largest reef system since 2016. in yemen, at least eight people were killed following overnight air strikes by the saudi-led coalition this weekend. the attacks came just hours after houthi rebels announced a three-day truce and said they would agree to peace talks if saudi arabia stopped its strikes and blockade of yemen and removed foreign forces from the country. on friday, an houthi attack on an oil storage facility in saudi arabia triggered a massive fire in the port city of jeddah. this comes as the u.s.-backed war on yemen is entering its 8th year with residents facing a worsening humanitarian crisis, millions uprooted and on the brink of famine. this is a displaced man speaking from the cap near san'a. >> to begin with, we have no livelihood. we are lost.

people are lost. it is as if we are buried underground, country that cannot bloom. my children and i are destitute. we have no income. we pray to god this war will stop across all of yemen. amy: in pandemic news, chinese authorities have launched a two-part lockdown in its largest city of shanghai, shutting down half of the city at a time for mass covid testing amid an ongoing surge. shanghai is home to 26 million people. in other coronavirus news, the israeli prime minister naftali bennett has tested positive for covid-19 and will work in isolation. the announcement came one day after bennett met with u.s. secretary of state antony blinken, who is in israel for a rare summit with fouarab countries that established diplomatic ties with israel in 2020 -- bahrain, egypt, morocco, and the united arab emirates. on sunday, blinken addressed the iran nuclear deal, saying the u.s. believed a renewal of the landmark 2015 agreement was the

best path to ensure iran does not develop nuclear weapons. the islamic state claimed responsibility for an attack that killed two israeli police officers in the northn city on sunday. el salvador's judicial assembly has approved a 30-day state of exception following reports of at least 62 homicides attributed to gangs saturday, the most violent day in el salvador in decades. another 14 killings were reported friday. salvadoran lawmakers passed the decree after 3:00 in the morning sunday following demands from president nayib bukele, whose government has been accused of use of power and human rights violations. multiple constitutional rights have been suspended, including the right to assembly. the decree also allows for extended administrative detention. the president also ordered a 24/7 isolation and lockdown of accused gang members currently imprisoned. in the united states, immigration and customs enforcement has announced plans

to stop sending immigrants and asylum seekers to two troubled immigration jails -- the etowah county detention center in gadsden, alabama, and the glades county detention center in moore haven, florida. the agency also said friday it would scale back the use of two other facilities in north carolina and louisiana. the move comes after mounting pressure from immigrant justice advocates who for long have helped expose the squalid and dangerous conditions faced by people imprisoned at these ice jas. in more immigration news, salvadoran journalist manuel durán has been granted asylum in the u.s. durán was first arrested in 2018 while covering an immigration rally in memphis. he was detained for over 15 months. durán was released from ice custody in 2019 but continued to face deportation. he's the founder of the spanish-language news site memphis noticias. durán has lived in the u.s. since 2006 after fleeing el salvador.

the white house is unveiling a new tax plan that would establish a minimum 20% tax rate on all u.s. households worth more than $100 million. if approved by congress, the billionaire minimum income tax would apply only to the top one-hundredth of 1% of u.s. tax filers. experts estimate the tax could raise $215 billion from just the 10 wealthiest billionaires over the next decade. a vast trove of leaked irs data recently obtained by propublica shows many of the richest billionaires, including jeff bezos and elon musk, paid little or essentially zero income tax in recent years. amazon warehouse workers in staten island, new york, began casting votes friday in a highly anticipated union election that could result in company's first-ever unionized warehouse in the u.s. voting continues until wednesday. meanwhile, the national labor relations board is starting to

review ballots from the re-do of the bessemer, alabama, amazon union election, which ended last week. and several hollywood stars broke barriers at the 94th academy awards ceremony sunday night. ariana debose won an oscar for best supporting actress for her role in "west side story." she becomes the first openly queer woman of color to win the category. >> you see a queer, openly queer woman of color and afro latino who found her strength and life through art. and i believe that is what we are here to celebrate. [applause] yes. yes. so to anybody who was ever question your identity ever, ever, ever, or find yourself living in the gray spaces, i promise you this, there is indeed a place for us. amy: actor troy kotsur also made history as the first deaf man to

when an ask for for his supporting role in the film "coda." danny glover won the jean hersholt humanitarian award for his decades of activism fighting against war and for social, economic, and racial justice. and in a shocking moment, actor will smith rushed the stage and hit oscars host chris rock in the face after rock joked about the hair of smith's wife jada pinkett smith being bald. it is not clear whether he knew she suffers from alopecia. after the slab, will smith returned to his seat and shouted at rock to "keep my wife's name out of your f-ing mouth." rock said he will not press charges against smith. later in the evening, will smith won the best actor award for his performance in "king richard." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has said he is open to ukraine becoming a neutral country but said such a decision could only be made by a nationwide referendum after russian troops withdraw. ukraine and ssia arexpected to resume talks tuesday in istanbul, turkey. this comes as the united nations reports 3.8 million ukrainian refugees have fled the country since the start of russia's invasion. about 2.2 million of the refugees have gone to poland, where president biden visited over the weekend. in a speech in poland on saturday, biden appeared to endorse regime change in moscow. pres. biden: ukraine will never be a victory for russia, for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness, who will have a different future, brighter future rooted in hope and light, decency and dignity, freedom and possibilities. for god sake, this man cannot

remain in power. amy: the white house quickly tried to walk back biden's remark. in a statement, a white house official said -- "the president's point was that putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. he was not discussing putin's power in russia, or regime change." earlier on saturday, biden also described putin as a butcher when questioned by a reporter. >> dealing every day with vladimir putin after what he has done to these people, doesn't it make you sick? pres. biden: he is a butcher. amy: on sunday, french president emmanuel macron openly warned against the use of using language that could escalate the crisis in ukraine. >> i think we must keep the facts and everything to not escalate things. i would not use this type of wording because i continue to hold discussion with president putin. what we want to do collectively? we want to stop the war russia has launched in ukraine without

escalation and through diplomatic means, the objective is to have a cease-fire with withdrawal of troops. if that is what we want to do, we should not escalate things with words nor actions. amy: we begin today's show with two guests. ro khanna is a democratic congressmember from california. member of the house armed services committee. and andrew bacevich is the president and co-founder of the anti-war think tank quincy institute for responsible statecraft. he is a retired colonel and vietnam war veteran. professor bacevich of international relations and history at boston university and author of several books, including "after the apocalypse: america's role in a world transformed." congressmember ro khanna, your response to president biden's comments? essentially, endorsing regine change for putin. >> let me be very clear, the

united states policy is not a resume change. there is no support in the congress, certainly among democrats, for a policy regime change. many of us have been opposed to those policies and the last 20 years. i think president biden was speaking about the extraordinary frustration with putin's brutal campaign of killing and targeting women and children and he was speaking from the heart. i am glad the white house is supposedly clarified the goal is not -- supposedly clear by the goal is not resume change. amy: he made the comment off script, currently, not in the teleprompter. right after talking about the russian protesters which seem to suggest they should overthrow him. >> he did. i think the president was meeting with ukrainian refugees. i think he is seeing the same horrific images that we are of mayor poll -- mariupol where

they are bombing places that have women and children. i think he was speaking to the crimes that putin is committing against the ukrainian people come against humanity. but that expression should not translate into any role for the united states to affect regime change in russia, and the white house has been crystal clear that is not the united states policy. what we ought to be doing is supporting zelensky in his desire to bring a cease-fire and a negotiation. let me make one point which is i don't think the russians will succeed in annexing ukraine. that does not mean they may not succeed in destroying ukraine and causing loss of life. those who suffer the the most are the ukrainian civilians. we need to do everything we can to protect life and bring the war to an end. amy: secretary of state lincoln attempted to walk back biden's comments sunday. he was speaking in jerusalem. >> the white house made the

point last night that quite simply president putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against ukraine or anyone else stop as you know and as you view -- as you have heard, we do not have a strategy of regime change in russia or anywhere else for that matter. amy: andrew bacevich, your sponse? >> i think i'm am a little less sympathetic president biden is a seasoned statesman. he has been around for quite a while. he should have learned to think before he speaks. i think his comment was reckless and damaging. let's reverse the situation. imagine it president pun said some public event that he inteed to annex all of ukraine and subsequtly to suppoers

try to "walk back that comment." i think u.s. government would y, putin is theuy in charge, his words are authoritative. i think biden -- this war has tond with a negotiated settlement. the terms have to be agreeable to president zelenskyy. we have absolutely no business inserting the u.s. views into what the war's end should look like. we should butt out. amy: you think it is going to make it harder to negotiate? and how central do you think should be biden's role in negotiation toward a cease-fire? we were just speaking with jan's fair caucus last week, the former finance minister of greece, who said, clearly, biden should be playing a key role, could force cease-fire negotiations. >> i am not in agreement.

we are a party to this were only indirectly. there's no question about who is responsible for this catastrophe. there's no question about who is in the right, it seems toe the responsibili to negotiate with the russians to come to a settlement that is agreeable to ukrainians, that belongs to president zelenskyy. there is this notion, again, carried over from probably the end of world war ii that the president of the united states functionas some nd of a global monarch. that kind of thinking is obsolete. i think this episode illustrat the extent to which that kind of obsolete thinking complicates things. biden should stay out and to keep hisouth shut. amy: let's go back to president

biden speaking on saturday. pres. biden: is a criminal wants to portray nato enlargement as an imperial project, aimed at destabilizing russia -- nothing is further from the truth. nato is a defensive alliance. it has never sought to demise of russia. amy: let's go first to congressmember ro khanna on this issue. going back also to the original concerns of russia, of nato's expansion, nearly doubling the promises early on from republican and democratic administrations not to, what, go an inch eastward -- which is really has done since that time. and what -- how this might look in a future cease-fire. >> first, let me just say that the american president does have a leadership role and we should

not outsource diplomacy just a president macron your is theodore roosevelt brought peace between russia and japan. i agree president zelenskyy should have the say in what would be acceptable to the ukrainian people but our involvement is seeking aggressive diplomacy in helping facilitate aggressive diplomacy i think is necessary and welcome. my view on the war business is clearly putin's aggression. he has a view in an essay he published of a greater russia that he thinks ukraine is part of and he thinks ukraine essential to. we can debate at some other point about nato expansion and baker and cannon and others who have a few, but i don't think that debate is healthy now because putin is grasping at straws to justify an invasion that i think was really illegal and does not have to do with

nato, it has to do with his view of a greater rsia. amy: your response to this as well, andrew bacevh? >> certainly, i agree the immediate sense that russia is th aggressor in this war. th started it. there's no getting around that. that said, if we have an interest in understanding how we came to this tragic circumstance, it seems to me we have to acknowledge the recklessness of nato expansion that happened in the wake of the cold war. contrary to promises made by senior american stesman into the face of warnings by other senior american statesman, simply to label nato as a defensive alliance i think is fundamentally misleading. the expansion was aggressive,

was undertaken at russia's expense, and has to be considered as one factor explaining how we got to where we are today. agai to emphasize that is not to justify putin's aggressive actions. but it seems to me if we want to avoid these kinds of mistakes, we should at least try to understand how it got to the present circumstance. amy: ro khanna, the issue of nato, the increasing militarization -- i mean, you for a long time have been a years critic of increasing military budgets, but you seem to have taken a different approach when it comes to ukraine. when you say we have to shore up zelensky right now, explain exactly what you mean. >> i think this is, in my view, a just war. i think ukrainian sovereignty is under attack. putin is clearly

the aggressor. this is not a situation of an unjust or a war that has no purpose. this is the ukrainian people fighting for their rights, for their sovereignty. and i do think supporting ukraine with the military assistance we provided, economic assistance that we provided, and having the punishing sanctions on russia is the best chance to have cease-fire. and that strategy, they have to end in a negotiated settlement. i'm not for a war in any way with russia. i'm not for a no-fly zone. i'm not for escalation with russia. but i think the best chance of getting to a negotiated settlement is to have the ukrainians put up a tough fight, which they are, and have punishing sanctions, not the same time pursue aggressive diplomacy. amy: i want to ask you about u.s. arms transfers to ukraine. in 2018, you helped push congress to pass a bill that included a provision barring

arms, training, or other assistance to the far-right azov battalion, which is now part officially part of ukraine's national guard. at the time you said in a statement -- "white supremacy and neo-nazism are unacceptable and have no place in our world. i am very pleased that the recently passed omnibus prevents the u.s. from providing arms and training assistance to the neo-nazi azov battalion fighting in ukraine. this is just one of many reasons why lawmakers should be concerned about channeling huge amounts of weapons into this volatile conflict zone." that was back in can you talk 2018. about the concerns you had about the azov battalion and how it relates to u.s. policy today. >> i am proud of that work, which was not just progressives, but also moderate. there is no doubt the azov battalion had neo-nazi influences.

it may still have some of those influences. but it is less than 1% of the entire ukrainian army. do i wish that none of the arms that we're supply gets to the azov battalion? of course i do. at the point is right now the most urgent matter is the defense of ukrainian sovereignty, and that is why i support giving the ukrainian people arms, hopefully, and make is to the azov battalion, but that is less than 1%. that should not prevent us from defending zelensky in terms of providing support he needs to defend russia. the world is complex. it is never easy choices. my view right now is the urgency of the defense of ukraine to get to negotiated settlement outlays -- outweighs the risk some of those arms may end up in the hands of the azov battalion. amy: are there any stipulations put into prevent that from happening? >> the 2018 law is still on the books.

i'm sure the administration is taking every precaution to not have that happen, but i think the view is that we have to get in the antitank missile and anti-aircraft missiles that are largely defensive missiles, prevent russia from taking over ukraine and i support the administration in that policy. amy: let me ask andrew base of it of your concern this massive influx of weapons will prolong the war? >> igree with ngressman khanna that we need to support ukraine against russia. without having detailed understanding of the facts on the ground, it appears pretty clear that in addition to ukrainian resolve, the introduction of foreign weapons, particularly antitank and

antiaircraft weapons, have played a key role innsuring that up this point the ukrainian defense effort has been successful. so that is the right policy. now, when we get to matters like the azov battalion, i think what we are bumping into is e reality that even in a war such as this, where the line between good and evil seems to be pretty clear, there are all kinds of complicating factors that has to be acknowledged. and it seems to me, this is where, for example, the ill-advised comments by president biden have to be part of the conversation. this is not simply a black and white war. and we will confront the gray in

between when the war finally end s and we begin sorting through the wreckage caused by this catastroe. in one we then begin to ask more seriously, how did this come about? amy: congress member ro knna, before we go, i wanted to ask you about the big oil windfall profits, tax, the bill you introduce earlier this month, and also president biden's unveiling today this new tax plan that would establish minimum 1% tax rate on all u.s. households worth more than $100 million called the billionaires tax. >> let me say how strongly i support the president's policy of a minimum tax on billionaires. we could even go further -- a lot of the billionaires are in my district. they keep sending my district back to congress and i keep saying, let's raise the taxes here so we can help the rest of

the country which hasn't participated in the prosperity. it is high time people who make billions of dollars pay the same tax as preachers and people who are in service jobs. and this is the first step toward that. i hope it will pass. i don't see why any democrat would not get behind a post of windfall taxes something i don't with senator sheldon whitehouse. -- done with senator sheldon whitehouse. the oil companies are having record high profits. they're putting most of their money into stock buybacks. have given to the shareholders and dividends. what we need to do is have that relief at the pump. they're gng to charge within 66 charles a barrel, -- $66 a barrel, we will send checks and call it an inflation rebate, quarterly checks to the working class americans, those making under $150,000 so they have some

relief for the high gas prices. one final point, if we really care about athe end of the day not being dependent on petro states, weeed to have a moonshot on renewable energy. not just for climate change, but also for national security. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, congressmember ro khanna member , of the house armed services committee. andrew bacevich is the president d co-founder of the anti-war think tank quincy institute for responsible statecraft. next up, we will look at the plight of african students who fled russia's war in ukraine only to be detained by european border officials. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "children of children" by jason isbell. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russia's invasion of ukraine prompted an exodus of nearly 4

million people and an outpouring of supportor many the fugees. but a new report finds some of the non-whe people who fle ukrainare being ld in detention centers in poland and estonia. an investigation by lighthouse reports with the independent, der speigel, radiofrance and others documented how some african students who crossed the border to escape the war and were detained in long-term holding facility outside warsaw. one of the students described his ordeal to an activist. the sound is bad, so listen very carefully. >> i just escaped. ukraine, very, very horrible experience. we are in detention. at the beginning, my papa was kidnapped. am the detaid students as -- "my mental health, i'm just

scared. we escaped ukraine. it was very, very horrible experience. it was the worst week of my life. now we are under detention. at the beginning i thought i was kidnapped." this is the brother of another student who says he was detained when he fled from ukraine to poland. >> he stayed at the border for close to three days. the last day he left the border, get issues with ukrainian police that were ordering them to go back and ukraine to fight. he is not a ukrainian and he doesn't know anything about the country. confrontation, harassment he ran and ran. they took away his bag on the laptop, everything. when he got into poland, he immediately reported himself to the police. i was pretty sure after signing this paper, he would get his freedom, but limited freedom within poland. when he signed the paper, the

only information we got was they were taking him to a camp. amy: polish border police confirmed some 52 ukrainians who fled to poland "were admitted to guarded centers for foreigners." the international organization for migration says non-ukrainians who have fled the war are being detained in at least three facilities in poland. for more, we are joined by maud jullien, investigations editor at lighthouse reports which just published this package of stories last week. we welcome you to democracy now! can you tell us where the students were in ukraine and how you located them in these different attention facilities from estonia to poland? >> so the students that we are aware of that we've been able to confirm are being held in poland currently, there are four of them -- when i say confirmed companies because we have their

student identification but we are aware of six credible cases, actually, and we think are probably a lot more. these students were studying in differencities and ukraine. there were studying telecommunications, management, languages. various fields. there is a total of over 75,000 foreign students in ukraine. we were able to confirmor these four students that i was mentioning that they are held in one long-tm detention facility that is 40 minutes away -- a 40 minute drive from warsaw, the capital of poland. initially what happened is we wereontacte by exus who said they were in touch with foreign students coming to be in detenti. weere givethe addres i went to this detention center and gave the students names. the guard at the detention center told me to wait.

they went in and they came back out and told me, yeah, these four names are inside. actually, there are 20 other young african people who fled ukraine who are in this camp. later on, we managed to obtain an official letter from the polish border guard confirming there were 52 people, third-party nationals who fled the ukrainian conflict in detention. and that was on march 15. they confirmed 52 people. there could be more. we are aware of six people having been recently released. amy: this letter you obtained from poland's border police admitting 50 two thi country nationals from ukraine have been taken to detention facilities in the weeks after russia's invasion, if you can talk more about that? you are in cynical now. where the students from around

africa? are they from senegal? are they from nigeria? >> the students that we are very much aware of -- we've also been speaking to their family members . we have spoken to several of them. they are from cameroon and nigeria. we don't know where the other people being held in the camp are from. what we do know and what i've heard very recently is there is also at lea one african family that was held in one of the long-term detention centers. so that family was a nigerian man, their child, and a companion woman. they have been released as far as we know a few days ago, but that is to say there is reason to believe there may be other families held in detention in long-term detention centers. we have also been speaking to

the cameroonian and the nigerian embassies in poland and in berlin. they are saying they do not know why they're nationals are being detained. there working toward securing the release of their citizens. it seems they have been able to get -- to secure the release of six nigerians so far. amy: can you talk about the temporary protection directive that was invoked by the eu on march 4, what it means and does it apply to students of african origin? >> so the temporary protection directive is historic in the sense that all of the european countries agreed for the first time in 20 years to open their borders and to protect and to great residency, to grant also

allowances to all of the ukrainians fling the conflict. that temporary directive does not lay things out quite as clearly for third-party nationals. it recommends that country should facilitate their passage, their safe passage back to the country of origin if that cotry safe combination provide humanitarian protection. we have been speaking to lawyers about what has been going on and ey have been saying it goes against the law to detain people because the temporary directive does say that countries should facilitate passage, should give humanitarian access, and that holding them in long-term detention facilities where they are not provided with legal help, where they have been made to sign documents they have not been able to understand, and -- these are prisons. this is contrary to eu law, but

this temporary protection directive is not that clear when it comes to the rights of third-party nationals. i think that is also where the issue lies, that it does not guarantee the same rights to these people and it allows european countries to pick and choose who they let in and decide how they treat these people. amy: even austria was holding some of these students? >> yes. the latest information that we have been getting from the nigerian diaspora is in austria, a student was detained. in estonia, student was detained. there is reason to be conrned we will be hearing more and more of these cases because there is a lack of clarity. amy: the contrast between how ukrainians are being treated -- i mean, they're pictures of the kindergarten children going into a school and the whole class standing up and applauding them. president biden going to poland

to applaud the polish government for being so welcoming to millions of ukrainians. have you heard -- if you can comment on that? and finally, the conditions in these jails? >> it is absolutely striking to all of the people who have been working to hel the thousands of people that have been trying to enter the eu for the past years that have been flaying conflict in syria, iraq. there's a difference in treatment. it was interesting in poland, striking in poland especially, to speak with ople who have been assisting refugees from the belarus border. near the belarus border, it is basically a situation where you have polish border guards that are pushing people back into the

belarus, freezing belarus force. last may, there were syrians, iraqis who were pushed back. we note if one person died, at least 20 people have died. the difference in treatment, the double standards based on where people are from, the ukrainian crisis is sort of left a lot of these people breathless. now the fact that people are being treated differently based on where they're from, even if they are fleeing the same exact conflict, just makes these double standards even more obvious. amy: we will continue to follow this. maud jullien is the investigations editor at lighthouse reports. publish this investigation with the independent, der spiegel, mediapart, and radio france about african students fleeing ukraine being detained by european border officials.

maud jullien was speaking to us from senegal. next up, jamaica. the duke and duchess of cambridge have just wrapped up a weeklong visit. the royal visit was met by protest and demands for reparations. we will speak with the jamaican mp. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. this weekend, the duke and duchess of cambridge finished a weeklong visit to the former british empire colonies in the caribbean following last year's move by barbados to cut ties to the monarchy and become a republic. during the so-called charm offensive to the british commonwealth countries, the royals were met with protests calling for reparations for slavery. a government committee in the bahamas urged them to issue "a full and formal apology for their crimes against humanity."

in one meeting, jamaica's prime minister andrew holness told prince william his country too would be "moving on" to become a republic. >> what jamaica is -- a country very proud of our history. we are moving on. we intend to appear in short order [indiscernible] amy: from or we go to to to speak with a member of the jamaican parlient and met the royals during their tour and was accused of snubbing the duchess kate middleton, but says photographs that show her looking away misrepresent their cordial exchange. lisa hanna is a senior member of jamaica's parliament for the opposition and a shadow minister for foreign affairs and foreign trade. she has a new piece in the guardian headlined "i did not

snub kate middleton, but jamaica needs more than royal regrets over slavery." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. can you tell us exactly what happened and what you are calling for? >> the truth is, if you want to know what happened with the meeting or you want to know wh happened with what i'm calling for? amy: both. >> i was at the airport representing the opposition. he met the duchess of cambridge and we let prince william coming off the plane and whad a cordl conversation. i think like with anything else, perhaps there was a moment when a manipulated type of to second video would have appear as if i tried -- turned away from her. there was nothing in which that inter meeting would have given

the impression to her or to anyone else that he had nothing but respectful, cordial, fun-loving conversation. i welcomed her. it was her first time to jamaica. i told her some of the things that she could do a site from what she was doing under the official duties. that is what had happened that i think the british press, rather than looking at the matter at hand which are critical and urgent, chose to use personality to trump the more important issues at hand. subdued issues of reparation -- [indiscernible] we would like to engage united kingdom government on where we need to go as a region.

amy: i am looking at some signs that say "no to the royal family " in all different ways. what are the steps for jamaica to become a republic and remove queen elizabeth as head of state? >> you can either go through a referendum or you can amend the constitution. you can either put into a vote for the country or we can amend the constitution. it is not a difficult thing to do. barbados has done it, as they did it with elegance. i think they were respectful in the way they have done it. we have significantly been calling for jamaica to have its own head of state, removing the monarchy as our head of state -- not only because we believe tha as a nation we have the ability to do it on our own and to chart our own horse into the future, but also because jamaica

benefits from having monarchy as a head of state. ordinary jamaica, very difficult for jamaicans to get a visa to go to the united kingdom. this region, jaicans as well, after world war ii, were part of the generation that was so what happened with any them -- we have a lot of resct around thworld. the beauty of jamaica is we wil te you how we feel. it doesn't mean after that we won't play dominoes or have a drink, but we are unabashed in our resolve to make you understand that there were atrocities, crimes against humanity. stemming injustice and racial indignation that black people feel as a result of 300 years of being bludgeoned by another race. in fact, by the monarchy,

something that just does not go away. a template and looks -- a template plan things we think should come out of reparation. other countries -- can you. kenya. we must look at how colonialism has impacted the inequality, and equity, lack of opportunity, the way there were no health facilities, there were new economic opportunities because what britain did was pay the slave owners and the plantation owners for their losses. if you have that kind of setback from then -- what we are saying and as i said

is this should be useds a tipping point for the royals, the young girls in particular, who said how they see their leadership charting to the future with more enthusiasm -- amy: you mentioned the wind rush generation. if you can explain for the many who are not familiar with the population in britain, that britain actually tried to deport after a period of time. explain who they are. >> the wind rush generation -- thank you for that. the wind rush generation are my grandmother the older generation after world war ii. whenorld war ii ended, the united kingdom called for able-bodied persons from the colonies to come and help build the railroad, the roads, the buildings aft thear.

it was jamaica's honor to rebuild those facilities. they are the ones who rebuilt it. they're the ones who put their sweat and time. what happened, some of them and some of their children were not properly documented. quite recently, many of them were dorted after so many years of being there. it was a scandal in the u.k. and the foreign office had a very, very quickly -- because it was heinous. it was hurtful. was unbelievable certainly too many of us in jamaica and the caribbean who had relatives there from way back as the 1950's and the 1940's to recognize a could actually happen. amy: i want to go back to prince

william speaking in jamaica. >> i strongly agree with my father, the prince of wales, who said in barbados last year that the appalling atrocity of slavery forever stains our history. i want to express my profound sorrow. slavery was abhorrent and it never should have happened. amy: so that is prince william. i'm wondering, lisa hanna, if you had a conversation with him are kate middleton -- but most importantly, of course, what exactly you are calling for? if you could talk about the whole reparations movement, the commission that you are a part of a few years ago. what are we talking about here? >> you would've seen that i said i did not thi with prince we and prince charles were very bold or crageous in what they said becauseondemnation without action is hollow.

so while we appreciate the royal regret, which is what i said, it does not go far enough. what we would like to see is to condemn something. you say sorry for it and you say, here's what we're going to do to right those wrongs of history. what can happen and prince william is in a unique position now with where the world is to look for his leadership of shaping and charting a new world society, especially for black ople. and he would be remembered for that. so he should take up that 10 point reparation plan. just look at it. let us look at the health care suggestion. let us look at the new deals. let us look at the technical transfer. let us look at debt

cancellation. let us look at the fact there's tremendous genocide that was basically perpetrat by the united kingdom on millions of black people whoame to the caribbean. let's start there. it is not only abhorrent, you have to get stronger in your actions. and that is what people want to see. gone are the days when we would just accept a beautiful speech. words without action only offend us. that is what i think you saw when they came. and i think the prince and the duchess need to see it as an portunity, an important trip for them. rather than a turbulent start, is just a s. it is not the end of their journey and they should use this art as a tipping to shape

their ascendancy. amy: lisa hanna, thank you for being with us, senior member of jamaica's parliament. democracy now! has an immediate opening for a news writer producer. visit democracynow.org/jobs to find out more and apply. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who tñ■aa

samantha hawley: it's only a jump across the water from great britain to no, but some wayst's like traveling back in time. after more than 20 years of relative peace, tensions have broken out again. violence not seen for decades is back on the streets. northern ireland should be celebrating its centenary as part of the united kingdom, but people are angry.