04/05/22 04/05/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the national assembly -- speakers today rejected a move for regime change thatas been planned from abroad against 220 million people. there was a foreign agenda behind it. today the speaker has rejected the no-confidence move. .

meiko pakistan is facing a constitutional crisis after prime minister imran khan dissolved pakistan's national assembly and called for new elections in an effort to block an attempt to remove him. pakistan's supreme court is now hearing a case that could decide if khan remains in power. who will go to islamabad for the latest. then to el salvador, where the government has arrested over 6000 people since a 30-day state of emergency was imposed following a wave of violence. >> if you are in the poor neighborhoods, low income neighborhoods, some 6000 arrests and while the government says all of them were gang members, there are a lot of people o are claiming they are protesting are people who are not related to gangs. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russia faces growing global outrage as mounting documentary evidence reveals war crimes committed by russian troops in ukraine. on monday, ukrainian officials said the mayor of the town near the capitol keep was tortured and summarily executed by russian soldiers, along with her husband and son. local residents had the victims bodies were discovered bound and blindfolded in a pit. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is addressing the united nations security council today as members review allegations that russian troops intentionally murdered civilians in the town of bucha, northwest of kyiv. >> for now, only in bucha, the

number of casualties will probably be much higher when the entire town is checked. this is only one town, one of many ukrainian communities which the russian forces managed to capture. amy: that was the grading president zelenskyy who was addressing the u.n. security council today. zelenskyy and other ukrainian officials said images out of bucha showing russian atrocities could be just the tip of the iceberg. meanwhile, kremlin officials have rejected accusations that russian soldiers killed civilians in northern ukraine, saying images of graves and corpses had been manufactured in order to smear russia. russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said monday u.s. leaders should examine their own consciences before accusing russian president vladimir putin of war crimes. >> first of all, what about those many american politicians who originated the iraq war who

also ruined libya together with nato partners, who invaded syria -- not all is well with the conscience of those politicians. amy: lavrov's comments came as diplomatic ties between russia and nato members continued to deteriorate. german officials on monday declared 40 russian diplomats undesirable persons, effectively expelling them from germany. france announced a similar move targeting 35 russian diplomats. meanwhile, the united states is seeking to have russia removed from the u.n.'s human rights council. on monday, president biden promised to impose additional sanctions on russia as he doubled down on his previous statement calling vladimir putin a war criminal. pres. biden: he is a war criminal. we have to gather the information, we have to continue to provide ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight, and we have to gather all the details so this can be -- actually have a war crimes

trial. this guy is brutal. what is happening in bucha is outrageous and everyone sees it. amy: biden's national security advisor jake sullivan said monday the u.s. may help build a war crimes case against putin at the international criminal court in the hague. like russia and ukraine, the united states has not ratified the rome statute, which created the icc. the united nations warned monday humanity has less than three years to slash greenhouse gas emissions nearly in half in order to prevent the most catastrophic effects of the climate crisis. in a major new report, scientists with the u.n.'s intergovernmental panel on climate change found that without immediate dramatic action, it will be impossible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres said the report documented a litany of broken

climate promises by nations. >> it is the file of shame, cataloging the empty pledges that put us firmly on track toward an unlivable world. we are on a fast-track to climateisaster. terrifying storms, widespread water shortages, extinction of a million species of plant and animals. this is not fiction or exaggeration. it is what science tells us will resultrom our current energy policies. amy: the world health organization warned monday 99% of the world's population breathes air that exceeds safe limits for air pollution, including fine particulates that can penetrate deep into the lungs. the who called on nations to slash fossil fuel use, saying the same pollution that's triggering the climate emergency

is responsible for most of the 7 million premature deaths each year due to indoor and outdoor air pollution. in brazil, hundredsf indigenous leaders arrived in the capital monday to begin a 10 day protest camp demanding the government protect indigenous land rights. it would allow more mining and oil extraction on indigenous lands. this is an indigenous pataxó leader. >> we are here gether with other indigenous people to fight to defend our people and for equality among our nations, to make it known that week, the indigenous people, for the first inhabitants of resilience a we are here to show brazil and the world that we are not dead and that we are living history. we are a living book. amy: this comes as resilient -- resulting -- the destructive

practice contaminates the soil and rivers with mercury, destroys plants, and disrupts the ecosystem triggering ideal conditions for the spread of mosquito borne diseases. despite this, the far right brazilian president bolsonaro continues to encourage mining and protected areas of the amazon rain forest. iranian officials say the united states is responsible for a delay in talks with world powers aimed at restoring the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which was abandoned by ex-president trump. a foreign ministry spokesman said monday talks in vienna are deadlocked over a few outstanding issues, including washington's designation of iran's islamic revolutionary guard as a terrorist organization. >> we are at a point where the united states must decide whether it wants to uphold trump's legacy just as it has done so far or if it wants to act as a semi-responsible. it is not fully responsible government. and have the agreement happened.

amy: the u.s. state department said last week only a small number of outstanding issues remain in the talks, which would lift harsh sanctions in exchange for guarantees that iran will not pursue nuclear weapons. more than 90 refugees drowned in the mediterranean sea over the weekend after their overcrowded boat capsized. the refugees had departed from libya last week as they hoped to reach europe for safety. only four people survived. the humanitarian aid group doctors without borders urged for the survivors not to be returned to libya, where they likely face detention and abuse. between january and the end of march, some 300 refugees died attempting to cross the mediterranean according to the international organization for migration. for more on this story, go to democracynow.org. back in the united states, immigration and customs enforcement has ordered its lawyers to close cases that are considered low priority according to the agency's enforcement guidelines. it's a move that could potentially clear out hundreds

of thousands of deportation and asylum cases pending in immigration courts. there is currently a backlog of some 1.7 million cases. this comes as three states -- missouri, arizona and louisiana -- have sued the biden administration over its plan to terminate the contested title 42 policy in may. under the trump-era measure, asylum seekers at the u.s.-mexico border are quickly expelled without due process or a review of their asylum claims. the senate has advanced the nomination of judge ketanji brown jackson to the supreme court. three republicans joined all 50 members of the senate democratic caucus in a procedural vote monday evening that sets up a final vote on jackson's confirmation by the end of the week. this comes despite 11 republicans on the senate judiciary committee voting earlier on monday against recommending jackson's confirmation. democrat cory booker had this response for his republican colleagues. >> how?

how qualified you have to be -- double harbor -- how qualified yet to be -- clerking at all levels of the federal judiciary? how qualified do you have to be -- returns confirmed by the senate in a bipartisan manner? amy: romney and murkowski and collins have joined with their democratic colleagues in support of the confirmation of ketanji brown jackson. the senate judiciary debate on ketanji brown jackson came on the 54th anniversary of the assassination of dr. martin luther king, jr. if confirmed, judge jackson will become the first black woman to serve as a supreme court justice. the 2022 izzy award for outstanding achievement in independent media will be shared between the nonprofit newsrooms the city in new york and chicago's better government association and block club chicago. they one for "exposing corruption that harmed low-income residents of those

cities." independent journalist jenni monet is also being recognized for her weekly newsletter "indigenously: decolonizing your newsfeed." and the international consortium of investigative journalists won for its pandora papers investigation exposing how the world's richest hide their money and avoid paying taxes. the award is named for legendary dissident journalist i.f. stone. and in washington d.c., hundreds of protesters led a march to the education department for a national day of action demanding the biden administration cancel all student debt. this is braxton brewington, press secretary at the debt collective. >> i have tens of thousands of dollars worth of student loan debt. my motr has student loan debt. my father has student loan debt. my brother has student loan debt. my sister has student loan debt. my aunts have studt loan debt.

this is a systemic problem. black folks are bearing the burden of student loan debt. women are bearing the burden of student debt. amy: to watch our interview with braxton brewington and astrid taylor, go to democracynow.org. this is astrid taylor. we can see our debts are a source of power. individually, they overwhelm us. together, wean wieldhat power as leverage to push for a better system, to fight for the abolition of unjust debt, and the provision of the things that we need to survive to thrive. amy: the debt collective is demanding president biden fulfill a campaign promise to cancel student debt before federal student loan payments restart in may. debt cancellation would give relief to some 45 million borrowers who owe nearly $1.8 trillion in student debt. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, we look at pakistan's constitutional crisis. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "na ja balam" by arooj aftab. 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: pakistan is facing a constitutional crisis after prime minister imran khan dissolved pakistan's national assembly and called for new elections in an effort to halt an attempt to remove him from power. opposition mp's were planning to hold a no-confidence vote in parliament, but khan's allies blocked the vote from happening. opposition lawmakers have accused imran khan of carrying out an "open coup against the country and the constitution."

pakistan's supreme court is now weighing whether khan's moves were legal. imran khan has defended his actions saying they blocked what he described as a plot by the united states to remove him from power. this is khan speaking last week. >> this is a big conspiracy, not against imran con, but against pakistan itself. so the people decided a conspiracy is taking place in it has been hatching since october by these traitors that have been robbing the country for the past 35ears. redoing it in league with external forces. let me openly take t name of america.

this conspiracy has been carried out in connivance witamerica. i want to know, what does america have against me? i have never been anti-american. amy:akistanirime minister imran khan speaking last week. the biden administration has denied the allegations. we go now to islamabad, where we are joined by munizae jahangir. a journalist and the host of a political talk show on pakistan's leading news network. also editor-in-chief of the digital media platform voicepk.net. she is the daughter of the pioneering pakistani human rights activist and lawyer asma jahangir, who died in 2018. munizae is on the board of the asma jahangir foundation and a council member of the human rights commission of pakistan. munizae jahangir, welcome back to democracy now! it is an honor to have you with us. can you start off by laying out, especially for an audience not friendly with pakistani politics, how significant what

is happening in pakistan is right now? >> first, thank you for having the on your show. it is an honor to be here. to tell you exactly what is happening in pakistan, difficult to describe to people what is happening in pakistan. khan was elected in 2018, widely viewed by the opposition at that time. we called him the selected prime minister because it was an action the military brought. during that time he has been in power, 13% to 50% [indiscernible] what he has done is has corruption cases against him. most of his opponents. none of the disruptions could be in a way that went to court.

when the corruption cases went to court, they could not really prove these people had committed corruption. therefore, the cases just remained there. during this time, the opposition got together and got the allies of imran khan's government together as well because he was not having such a smooth relationship with his allies. cobbled together with different allies. the allies came with the opposition and designed a vote of no confidence, emotion -- a vote of no-confidence. after that, this feature about the vote of no confidence to move forward but from that day of the voting, the speaker did not appear in the national assembly -- which is our main house, like congress -- and it was the deputy speaker who came in and said all who are in the opposition and there were 198 of

them that they had been deployed to the state of pakistan and voted article five and -- the prime minister talked about what had been received by the pakistani ambassador in washington, saying they had a meeting with u.s. secretary of state in which he said if imran khan wins the no-confidence motion, then there will be dire consequences for pakistan. therefore, imran khan went on and said to the public there is an american conspiracy against my government -- [indiscernible] after having said that, the assembly was dissolved by the prime minister. now the entire issue has gone to

the supreme court of pakistan. the question before the court, whether it was -- of the speaker to firstly reject theotion of no-confidence, how can you reject the notion of no-confidence when it was there to be voted upon with yes or no? secondlywhether the prime minister in fact enjoyed the confidence of the very house that it dissolved. that is really the question before the supreme court today. juan: munizae jahangir, in terms of the role of the military, the military in pakistan has always played an outsized role, often intervening in the political life of the country, if you are saying he was perceived as a candidate of the military, where does the military stand right now? >> well, it is very interesting.

one of the things the opposition kept saying when they were removing the vote of no-confidence, even before they moved the vote of no-confidence, they kept saying the allies came to us with -- will back us once the military becomes neutral. do not know whether the military in fact has been neutral or has not been neutral, but it is very certain those allies who have always aligned with the military had now joined the opposition. and the military is now being seen by the opposition as being neutral. on the other hand, the court in our country has a very terrible history. they have always sided with the military. there has been a rubber stamp on all kinds of dictatorship and military in pakistan, except for the same us case you mentioned my mother where one of the military dictators was declared -- therefore, whatever came

later was considered legal, whatever he did was legal. that is considered the glorious moment of the supreme court. but if you step that aside and look at the history of the court in pakistan, they traditionally have sided with the establishment. therefore, all eyes are now on supreme court of what the supreme court decides, whether it will restore the similes -- assemblies and allow a vote of no-confidence motion to go through, that is something we will have to wait and see. certainly, the constitution of pakistan is very clear, which is the prime minister, who does not have the majority in the house -- lost the majority in the house, he does not command the majority of the house in which case they have 198 legislators that went agait him when in fact they only needed 172. juan: you mentioned the

political role of the court. on monday, imran khan named the former chief justice for the office of caretaker prime minister. what is behind that action of his? >> well, i think this is an outgoing chief justice he named and he probably wanted to have some kindf influence with the supreme court. therefe, he mentied one of the outgoing supreme court judges. i think that is the reason why he named that particular chief justice. and that is how it is being seen here. but having said that, there is talk of a technocratic government in paktan, that politicians would be pushed out and there would be a technocratic government in pakistan. people in pakistan are very skeptical of what is really going to happen, whether there will be early elections, whether

the assumed will be restored, or set up that will be a technocrat. amy: can you talk about pakistan's relations with russia? the prime minister imran khan met with vladimir putin on february 24 in moscow at the kremlin on the same day russia launched its invasion of ukraine. talk about the significance of this and the fact that all this is taking place against this backdrop of russia's war on ukraine. >> absolutely. that is one of the things prime minister imran khan has said, he said the reason i'm being ousted is because the americansre upset th the way my country has aligned itself with china, the way my foreign-policy has aligned itself with russia, therefore, i am being ousted and with the collaboration of the conspiracy othe opposition come the americans are moving

for no-confidence motion, even went to say the dissidents deflected to the opposition have met people within the american embassy. he is building the narrative that he is anti-america, that he is pro-russia, that he is pro-china, that he is aligning closer to these powers and, therefore, his country -- his government is being voted out. regarding the meeting, he said something very important as well. he said we have discussed this, very close to the military. he says, i have discussed my military pakistan -- civilian side and military side both agreed this is the right time to go to russia. and after that is when i went to moscow. so he says he got the green light from the military to travel to moscow at the time he did. juan: i wanted to ask you, last

august after the taliban overthrew the u.s.-backed government in afghanistan, imran khan said the change in regime had "broken the shackles of slavery." what did hmean? can you talk a little bit about the tortured relationship and the mercury -- regulation ship between the taliban and afghanistan throughout the period of the war in afghanistan? >> i think one of the things perhaps imran khan and the military agree with and their thinking is around the same, is that they do believe the television of afghanistan -- taliban of afghanistan is seen as legitimate political entity and afghanistan, and the americans are seen as invaders. imran khan has always seen it that way. now that the americans have

gone, the taliban have moved in -- taking control from the western foreign invaders. that is why he said that. there has been -- i know pakistan has been accused of having links with the taliban and that had those -- [indiscernible] imran khan's reasoning is if everyone is talking to the taliban, why should we not say these are legitimate rulers of afghanistan? i think he is saying it in that context, but to give you a little bit of background, imran an has always been accused of opponents by being -- [indiscernible] has provided justification for the violence they have leached out in our country, in pakistan.

he is seen to be conservative minded. he is seen to be somebody who is supported the right-wing agenda in pakistan. and he is seen to be somebody who has always talked about more and more about islam in the state. he talked about islam and politics. the reason he talks about islam in politics and refers to all kinds of islamic injunctions when giving a speech, therefore, he is somebody seem to be more right-wing. amy: the last minute we have with you, if you can talk about what you predict will happen most of the supreme court adjourned until wednesday, the hearing to decide the legality of the prime minister's blocking of the opposition ousting him, a dispute that has led to political turmoil in our

country, in the nuclear armed pakistan -- either way it goes, what will happen? >> it is very, very difficult to predict what is going to happen in pakistan. having said that, i would like to add one more thing. imran khan's views of women are similar to those of the taliban. he does believe most of the things the taliban say about women and we've seen that if the station, we have seen that. but coming back to what is going to happen in pakistan, well, if they follow the law in the constitution, then what the speaker did, throughout the motion for a vote of no-confidence, would be deemed illegal and unconstitutional, in which case the assumed will be restored. he will go back to the situation which was the vote of no-confidence was summative before the house.

that is one scenario. the second scenario really is they will take a middle ground. they will say what he did was illegal and unconstitutional but they will move toward election and allow the country to have an election and not think anything about what would happen to the assembly. of course the third is they say whatever the speaker did was part of -- was allowed under jurisdiction and therefore move toward elections. either way, we are looking at elections in the next cole of months. in pakistan, there was discussion before the vote of no-confidence was thrown out that it would be an interim set up. after that, caretaker and then election. in the interim set up, there would be -- except for imran khan's party.

they would make some electoral reforms that are necessary to hold elections in pakistan and then move on to a caretaker and -- it is anybody's guess what happens. amy: munizae jahangir, thank you so much for explaining it, journalist and host of political talk show on pakistan's leading news network. also editor-in-chief of the digital media platform voicepk.net. she also serves on the human rights commission of pakistan. this is democracy now! as we turn now to el salvador, where concerns about human rights violations are growing as the governnt enforces a brutal 30-day state of emergency that temporarily suspends several constitutional protections. salvadoran president nayib bukele said monday that in the first nine days of the emergency police have arrested more than 6000 people accused of being in gangs.

salvadorans have taken to the streets to protest police abuse. >> it is a great and justice. in the case of my family, it was my niece who was taken from her home because supposedly she is the partner of a gang member. amy: el salvador's judicial assembly approved a 30-day state of emergency, or state of exception, following reports of at least 62 homicides attributed to gangs on one saturday alone at the end of march, the most violent day in el salvador in decades. salvadoran lawmakers passed the decree around 3:00 a.m. following demands from president bukele, whose government has been accused of abuse of power and human rights violations. this is salvadoran humanights activist celia medrano. >> this is an narrative typical of authoritarian governments who tries to deceive us and convince

us that filing human rights of others is the only thing that guarantees that some good salvadorans can live in peace. amy: multiple constitutional rights have been suspended under the state of emergency, including the right to assembly. the decree also allows for extended administrative detention, increasing the period of detention without cause from 72 hours to 15 days. the president also ordered a 24/7 isolation and lockdown of accused gang members currently in prison. for more, we go to san salvador to speak with nelson rauda, reporter for the award-winning central american independent online newspaper el faro. welcome to democracy now! can you describe the state of emergency and what is happening in the streets right now? >> thank you for having me on the show. it really depends on where you are in el salvador. it has become a tale of two cities. for one, presidential campground

or apartment or your own vehicle, you might go about as if nothing is happening. restaurants are open [indiscernible] on the other hand, for the majority of the country which comes from the lower income population, it has been difficult. military checkpoints and police checkpoints. 6000 detainees in the last nine days, which will soon create huge bottleneck in the judiciary system. it is not a judiciary system that is large or as random capabilities. -- random capabilities. we have four public defenders for every -- eight judges and eight prosecutors.

this will eventually create a bottleneck but it also will retain a lot of people to remain in prison if the haven't had anything. we have scores of people on the streets looking for relatives, looking for them in places where police have taken them. a lot of them say my family member is now a member of a gang were organized crime. how can he know? well, that is how democracy should work. you have a judge, you have an opportunity to present your case is, of the right to the defender. the rights are suspended right now in el salvador. it means the majority or nobody of the 6000 persons have access to an attorney or lawyer. they have not been presented to a judge, which the constitution

demands. as you said, the assembly passed a law 3:00 a.m. on sunday. we had hundreds of -- it is a reaction from the government to what is probably been the worst violence crisis under bukele's term since 2019, but also the response that goes back to what mostly every salvadoran has done sie the end of the war, the massive detentions of people and huge bottlenecks in the judiciary system, and increasing of the incarcerated population -- which so far has never solved el salvador's problem of violence, which will for 2019, the president himself believed --

[indiscernible] showing his tougher site so far. juan: nelson, this is not the fit wave of major violence in el salvador. in 21, el lvador had the highest homicide rate in of the world. back then, former governments instituted the strong hand policy, cracking down on these gangs -- any of which were actually traced their roots to the united states because for a long period of time, the united states deported about 300,000 people to the northern triangle countries who have been convicted of crimes here in the united states. i'm wondering, what is different about this particular situation and the way that bukele is attacking the rise of violence? >> it is different -- there's no difference, ironic to say the

least, because there's nothin new about bukele's ideal. this is the same policies that have been implemented -- a little history lesson. civil war that ended in 1992. when that happened, the clinton administration in the united states started deporting gang members from l.a., california. they were sent to a country -- [indiscernible] those gang members came from the united states. it worsened because all of the governments in el salvador were able to see what this would become. the gangs were not only a crime problem, they were social problem. the official number 160,000 gang

members -- you have to think about the families and relatives, the people who depend on them. this is a social problem in el salvador. there is nothing new about this idea. every country come every government has implemented some sort of -- some sort of death squad. in the turn-of-the-century. than same advertising policy which didn't really solve any of the problems. then a truce with the gangs,

which finally exploded in 2015 where -- [indiscernible] try to solve with gasoline. increasing violence. we have documented the negotiations between bukele's government and the gangs, but this is what is happening when those negotiations go sideways, we don't know why or what went wrong. something had to have gone wrong. juan: nelson, i wanted to ask you in terms of bukele himself, he has been portrayed as a maverick, as a populist, is a right-wing populist similar to

dutere in the philippines. how popular is he in the population with these policies? >> extremely popular. 40% of salvadoreans in 2017 support torture as a way of obtaining information from criminals, allegedly. this is not a popular measures. you have to understand gangs are social problem, but have cost a lot of pain, but to people, in a way, they like to see the police manhandling criminals. recently, video about some policeman or soldiers with their boots on the neck -- it is not an outrage for the majority

of the population. they think it is ok. this is ingrained in the culture. the violence. so this is popular. but with the arbitrary detentions and this kind of thing, i think he's doing some kind of damage to his base. he has always been popular with -- neighborhood. i think some of that will change or at least with some people because they are saying -- seeing this is the same crackdowns we saw in this governments and they didn't really do something -- amy: nelson, as we wrap up, bukele is expected to be in miami this weekend attending a bitcoin conference. bitcoin is a form of currency, legal currency in el salvador.

can you talk about the president's commitment to prioritizing bitcoin and investing in as opposed to other social issues, what this has meant for el salvador and how it relates to the state of emergency? >> it would definitely be interesting to see how bukele redeeming the crackdown while removing himself -- champion of freedom for bitcoin. it is strange [indiscernible] freedom and separating money from the state to be so encouraged and enthusiastic about a government, a state. yeah, i think bukele -- piquant implementation -- bitcoin

implementation. he is really at odds with the biden administration that he does not get a loan from the imf. [indiscernible] trying to find a way to finance without the imf, without the biden administration, without making compromises to things like democracy and human rights. for some billionaires, this is not as important most is trying to appeal to that crowd. i think will be interesting. a sales pitch to try to appeal to this particular demographic.

amy: thank you for being with us. nelson rauda is a journalist at the award-winning central american independent online newspaper el faro. speaking to us from el salvador, the capital san salvador. when we come back, a new report from the poor people's campaign called the poor people's pandemic report that shows poor people died from covid at twice the rate of wealthy americans. 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 united states nears 1 million deaths from covid-19, those living in poor and low income communities suffer twice as many deaths as wealthier

counties. that's the finding of a new report by the poor people's campaign and economists at the u.n. sustainable development solutions network. this is dr. sharrelle barber, director of ubuntu center at drexel dornsife school of public health, announcing the report monday at the national press club in washington, d.c. she is the daughter of the poor people's campaign founder bishop william barber. >> this poverty and pandemic, painful. invisible fires has proven to us we are caught up in inescapable network that has shown us with vivid detail the deadly consequences of systemic poverty and systemic racism in our nation. but even more troubling is our inhumane acceptance of mass deaths. amy: the poor people's pandemic report draws on testimony from

members of the poor people's campaign. this is tyrone gardner and fred womack in mississippi, followed by jessica jimenez, a single mother of three who lives with both her parents in the bronx. >> i do have a health concern. i have an autoimmune disease. i was stricken with covid. my wife has lupus. she was also contracted covid. because i don't have money, it was 17 days before they even told me i had covid. >> coronavirus hit real hard here in mississippi, especially in the central aa. we went through a periods where we lost three or four family members at a time. having four funerals in one day. >> not being able to pay my rent and bills on time was one of my biggest worries. i was scared not being able to have a home for my children.

not having a rent controlled apartmt, not getti any help to pay bills. it was either pay my bills or havingo spend that money on food and things that were necessary for my children. amy: for more, we're joined by the cochair of the poor people's campaign. she is joining us from martinsburg west virginia where they are launching a protest against senator joe manchin, which we will talk about in minute. welcome back. can you lay out the findings of the poor people's pandemic report, which was released on the 54th anniversary of dr. martin luther king's assassination in memphis, tennessee, where he was fighting for the rights of low-wage sanitation workers. >> good morning. thank you for having as on today. we are not celebrating this report. we are deeply morning the fact that the extents shown in

this poor people's pandemic report is overall in the pandemic, twice the number of poor people died from covid and in various ways of the pandemic, up to five times the number of people in poor counties and in richer counties died. so the report -- there is an interactive map, a storyboard, really encourage folks to go to poorpeoplescampaing.org to check it out. it looks at about 3200 counties across the country and look at income levels in those counties, look at health care coverage and those counties, look at racial demographics and other demographics in those counties. clearly shows that after that

first wave of when covid hit in early 2020, really the mask deaths and loss has been amongst poor people. and that -- vaccination status does not expend this alone. there are counties that we explore in this that are highly vaccinated. there is double boosted, counties with lower vaccination rates in all income areas. but what is clear also come across all of the income groups and counties come is that poor people are dying at least two times as much. juan: reverend theoharis, why choose west virginia as the place for the poor people's campaign march, the 23 morrows from harpers ferry to -- miles

from harpers ferry to martinsburg? >> we are here. we launch this report yesterday showing how our country has gotten use to unnecessary death, especially when it is the death of poor people, low income people. here in west virginia where i am currently, it is one of the poorest states. there are 710,000 people in the state who are poor and low income. yet you have senators in the state who have refused to expand health care, expand -- raise wages, pass any kind of build back better and extend the child tax credit. and that doesn't not just hurt folks in west virginia, but hurts people across the country. leaders of the west virginia poor people's campaign and other community leaders decided to organize a march. it is a moral march on senator manchin. we wl be marching from harpers ferry, from the college with a

second meeting of the niagara movement and dubose and many powerful leaders, freedom fighters in our country's history met and figured out how do we keep our struggle going. we will march to martinsburg to senator manchin's offices. there will be demonstrations at various places, including thecoal waste plant where manchin makes his money off of coal. really highlighting the connection between the eagles, the interlocking injusces that the po people campaign has taken up. poverty and this is eant and militarind ts fae narrativ of religious nationalism that covers up these wide and deeinjustic that st do nohave t be.

pele here in west virginia deeply need and want to lift the load of poverty and see the connections between environmental issues and health issues, as well as poverty and labor and racism. and yet the elected officials here are not putting forward the kinds of programs on a state level or a national level to actually address these injustices and make life better for the people. juan: you and bishop barber and other members of the poor people's campaign have calleon president biden to meet at the white house with the delegation of poor and low wealth people and religious leaders, certainly at the democratic convention when biden was nominated, a lot of attention was paid to the issues of the poor but has there been any response from the president about this? >> it does seem the president's

handlers are kind of holding this u we have gotten every indication that president biden is interested in meeting. when he addressed the poor people's campaign in the election and after the inauguration, he said ending poverty would be not just an aspiration but a theory of change. so what the report that we launched yesterday shows is just one more kind of exclamation point on the fact that we need this meeting between pooand low income people, folks that have -- who have lost loved ones in this pdemic and areosing loved ones to poverty and racism and the destruction of our environment and militarism, you know, even before and made worse during this pandemic. indeedit is impossible to be able to really hear the pain and come up with the solutions that are at hand that we do have

without such a meeting. so we are calling for that meeting and we are also organizing for a massive poor people and low-wage workers assembly, a moral march on washington this coming june 18 where thousands upon thousands of poor and low income people from all across the country will be in washington, d.c., making sure our voices are heard and our agenda is clear that we cannot keep on letting people die and have lives diminished because othis injustice and because of poverty. in this, the richest country in human history, how is that we can have half of the u.s. population experiencing some form of perty went it just doesn't have to be? amy: reverend dr. lis theoharis, thank you for being with us, cochair of the poor people's campaign. also executive director of the cairo center at union theological seminary here

in new york. we will link to your poor people's pandemic report. that does it for democracy now! is currently accepting for positions of a news producer. check it out at democracynow.org . democro7ñ;ñ;?k r look fm new yo."

♪ hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm takao minori in new york. the president of ukraine has seen the horrors russian troops have left behind. volodymyr zelenskyy has visited battlegrounds around kyiv and returned with stories of atrocities. he told members of the u.n. security council that the russians must be held accountable. >> translator: as a result of russian actions, the most terrible war crimes since world