04/11/22 04/11/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the resolution about of no-confince against mr. imran khan has been passed by majority of the total membership of the national assembly. amy: pakistan's prime minister imran khan is ousted, losing a no-confidence vote. he calls hisemoval a form of

u.s.-backed regime change. pakistani lawmakers are meeting to choose his replacement. we will go to islamabad for the latest. we will also go to london to speak with historian and author tariq ali about pakistan and ukraine. then to france, where president macron is headed to a runoff election with our right candidate marine le pen. >> at this turning point for the future of our nation, nothing will ever be the same. amy: we will get an update from french journalist rokhaya diallo about how "france has a chance to choose progressive ideals over hate and division." then to texas where prosecutor arrested a 26-year-old woman for murder after accusing her of causing a self-induced abortion after protests erupted, the prosecutor now says he ends to drop the charges. we will go to rockie gonzalez by founder of the group that

organized the woman's defense. a prime example of how harmful this legislation impacts low income, counities of color, particularly, along the texas-mexico border. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united nations says more than 4.5 million people have fled ukraine since russia's invasion began 46 days ago on for every 24. on saturday, residents of government-controlled parts of eastern ukraine were urged to evacuate immediately as russia began a major offensive in the donbas region. satellite images show russia has amassed an eight-mile convoy of military vehicles inside russia east of the ukrainian city of kharkiv. over the weekend, russian

president vladimir putin tapped aleksandr dvornikov to be russia's new battlefield leader in ukraine. the general most recently oversaw russian troops in syria, where he was accused of targeting civilians and medical facilities. in the ukrainian city of kramatorsk, the death toll has risen to 57 following a missile attack on friday on a crowded train station packed with civilians trying to flee the area. there were over 100 wounded. ukraine and russia have accused each other of carrying out the strike. on saturday, british prime minister boris johnson made a surprise trip to kyiv where he met with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. >> together with our partners, we are going to ratchet up to economic pressure and we will continue to intensify week by week the sanctions on russia. not just freezing assets in

banks and sanctioning oligarchs, but moving away from use of russian hydrocarbon and we will give you the support that you need, the economic support but also, of course, military support in it which i'm proud to say the u.k. helped to lead the way. amy: we will go to london after headlines to speak with tariq ali as the u.s., u.k., and allies continue to pour arms into ukraine, pope francis has called for an easter truce. >> put the weapon down. let an easter truce start to reach peace through real negotiations. willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the people. which victory will be the one that plants a flag apollo rubble?

amy: in news from russia, the ministry of justice has ordered of amnesty international, human rights watch, and 13 other international organizations to close their offices claiming they were violating russian law. global food prices have hit an all-time high. this according to the food and agricuure organition of th united nations. the fao's food price index jumped 13% in march and prices are expected to keep rising in part due to russia's invasion of ukraine. the two countries account for about 12% of the world's calories. pakistan's prime minister imran khan has been ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament. hundreds of thousands of khan's supporters mared on sunday to protest. in aweet, an described his removal as a form of "u.s.-backed regime change." pakistani lawmakers e now deciding who will replace khan as prime minister. the frontrunner is shahbaz sharif, the brother of former

prime minister nawaz sharif. khan and other members of his pti party have threatened to resign en masse from parliament. we will have more on pakistan after headlines. we will go to islamabad and london. french president emmanuel macron and far-right candidate marine le pen are headed to an election runoff on april 24. in the first round of voting, macron won over 27% of the vote. le pen placed second with about 23%. macron urged french voters to reject le pen's xenophobic policies. >> i want -- inscribes itself in a stronger which continues to form an alliance with rate democracies to defend itself, not the friends that exited from europe with half of its allies and xenophobes. that is not us. amy: the leftist candidate jean-luc mélenchon placed third with about 22%. he urged his supporters to not give a single vote to marine le pen in the runoff.

we will have more on the french elections later in the broadcast. we will go to paris. president joe biden and vice president kamala harris hosted judge ketanji brown jackson at the white house on friday a day after she was confirmed by the senate to become the first black woman to serve on the supreme court. judge jackson spoke at the event on the south lawn. >> it has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a black woman to be selected to serve on the supreme court of the united states. [applause] but we have made it. [applause] amy: a leader of the far-right proud boys organization pleaded guilty friday to criminal conspiracy charges over his role leading the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol.

charles donohoe is the first proud boys leader to admit to plotting an attack on congress in order to halt certification of joe biden's election victory. as part of a plea deal with federal investigators, donohoe will testify against other defendants. meanwhile, cnn reports donald trump, jr. texted then-white house chief of staff mark meadows shortly after the presidential election in november 2020 with ideas about how to overturn the results in states won by joe biden. trump junior wrote -- "republicans control pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, north carolina etc. we get trump electors." if that plan failed, trump junior wrote congress should intervene during its count of the electoral college votes. "we either have a vote we control and we win or it gets kicked to congress 6 january 2021," donald trump, jr. wrote. in other news about the trump

family, "the new york times" reports a fund led by the saudi crown prince has invested $2 billion in jared kushner's new private equity firm. well serving in his ther-in-law's administration, kushner helped push forward a $110 billion weapons sale to saudi arabia. public citizen described the relationship between kushner and the saudis as "extremely troubling." the saudi fund also invested $1 billion in a fund run by president trump's treasury secretary steven mnuchin. in texas, a county prosecutor has dropped charges against a 26-year-old woman who was arrested thursday on murder charges after being accused of causing the "death of an individual through a self-induced abortion." lizelle herrera was detained on a $500,000 bond. her arrest and detention sparked mass outrage. she was released on saturday hours after the la frontera fund

held a protest outside the starr county jail. later in the program, we will speak with rockie gonzalez, the founder of la frontera fund. alabama's republican governor has signed a pair of bills targeting trans people and those who assist them. one bill outlaws gender-affirming medicine for transgender youth and makes it a felony to provide such care, while a second bill requires students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity. an amendment to the second bill, modeled after florida's "don't say gay" law, bars classroom discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation for children through the fifth grade. lawmakers in at least 19 states have recently proposed bills limiting or criminalizing health care services for transgender youth. in china, authorities say they

will start easing a two-week lockdown in shanghai where over 25 million residents have been confined to their home due to rising covid infections. anger is mounting over food and medicine shortages in parts of the city. despite the lockdown, china recorded 26,000 new infections in shanghai on sunday. here in the united states, new york city mayor eric adams has test positive for the coronavirus. last week, he attended the gridiron club dinner in washington, d.c. at least 67 attendees of the dinner have now tested positive, including attorney general merrick garland, agriculture secretary tom vilsack, and house speaker nancy pelosi. on sunday, top white house adviser dr. anthony fauci said it is now up to individuals to assess their own covid risk. he spoke on abc's "this week." >> this is not going to be

eradicated and it is not going to be eliminated all stop we are going to see each individual is going to have to make their calculation of the amount of risk that they want to take a new going to indoor dinners, going to functions. amy: in labor news, amazon is seeking to overturn the recent vote to unionize by workers at an amazon warehouse in staten island, new york. amazon, which ran multimillion-dollar union-busting campaign, is now accusing union organizers of trying to intimidate workers. in other labor news, workers have voted to unionize at six more starbucks stores, bringing the total to 16 in recent months. in west virginia, more than a dozen climate activists were arrested on saturday as they nonviolently blockaded a coal-fired power plant that earned democratic senator joe manchin a half million dollars last year. the protests targeted the grant town coal waste power plant, which receives deliveries of

enersystems, a company run by senator manchin's son. activists wanted to highlight the environmental harm caused by the manchin family business, and are calling on the senator to end his opposition to climate action in the build back better act. federal prosecutors have been dealt a stunning defeat in the trial of four men who were accused of plotting to kidnap and kill michigan democratic governor gretchen whitmer. a jury acquitted two men on all charges and deadlocked on the verdicts against two others. defense attorneys argued the plot was manufactured by the fbi and a team of at least 12 informants who helped plan and encourage others to take part. a warning to our viewers and listeners, the following includes images of police violence. two buffalo police officers have been cleared of wrongdoing for knocking over a 75-year-old racial justice protester in june 2020.

martin gugino, a longtime peace activist, suffered a brain injury, a fractured skull, and spent a month in the hospital after being shoved to the ground by police. a video of the incident quickly went viral. the officers are expected to be reinstated today following the arbitrator's ruling. and mexico's president andrés manuel lópez obrador has overwhelmingly won referenm on whether he should complete his six-year term. amlo called for the referendum himself to fulfill a campaign promise to give voters a chance to remove him from office after three years. early results show about 90% of voters supported him but turnout was about 18% with many critics of amlo boycotting the referendum. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in pakistan, where prime minister imran khan has been ousted from

power after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament. at a session today, just before we went to broadcast, lawmakers selected the opposition leader shahbaz sharif as the country's new prime minister. this comes after hundreds of thousands of khan's supporters marched in cities across pakistan sunday night. >> god willing come the last decision will be of the people. in the democratic system, the nal voice ll be that of the people. and that is imran khan. >> imran khan has been removed through conspiracy. god willing, we will fight back to make him prime minister ain. amy: in tweet, imran khan described his removal as a form of "u.s.-backed regime change," writing -- "thank you to all pakistanis for their amazing outpouring of support and emotions to protest against u.s.-backed regime change abetted by local mir jafars to bring into power a coterie of pliable crooks all out on bail.

shows pakistanis at home and abroad have emphatically rejected this." khan's ouster came after he dissolved parliament earlier this month to stop a no-confidence vote demanded by the opposition, which then appealed to the supreme court. after four days of deliberation, the court ordered parliament reinstated and the no-confidence was held saturday in a marathon 13-hour session. this is pakistan's national assembly speaker announcing the results of the vote. >> 174 members have recorded their votes in favor of the resoluon. consequently, the resolution of te of no-confidence against mr. imran khan has been passed by a majority of the total membership of the national assembly. amy: pakistani lawmakers have just chosen shahbaz sharif.

this as members of khan's pti party have threatened to resign en masse from parliament. the foreign foreign minister said, "this house is going to elect a new prime minister but everyone knows shahbaz sharif does not have the mandate of the people. we reject this process and also announce a boycott of the election for prime minister." for more, we're joined by two guests. in islamabad, tooba syed is a pakistani activist and member of the leftwing awami workers party. she is also affiliated with the women democratic front, an independent socialist-feminist resistance movement. and in london, we're joined by historian, activist, filmmaker, and author tariq al. he is on the editorial committee of the new left review and author of many books, including "uprising in pakistan: how to bring down a dictatorship" which came out in 2018 and "can pakistan survive?" published in -- we welcome you both to democracy now!

tooba syed, can you respond to the ouster of imran khan and his description of what happened as a u.s.-backed coup? >> thank you, amy. just to begin with, i feel like this is the first time in pakistan the prime minister has been constitutionally removed from his position. i think that is important to remember in the history pakistan, we have seen multiple times -- removed from tir positions without [indiscernible] it is a good step forward in terms ofemocracy in pakistan that this was not done through military dictatorship or military intvention, through a vote of no-confidence which went through the parliament or the tional aembly itself. as f as his own allegations are concerned rarding this being u.s.-cked, frkly, kha has not presented any kind of

substantial evidence, at lst to the public, which confirms his allegations. we have no evidence of anything that he is alleging right now. as long as he do not provide solid evidence or testimo or any kind of document, it is very hard to say what he is alleging is true. he literally waved a piecef paper in the air saying this is a letter which speaks about the u.s. involvement in my removal. beyond that, we know nothing. it is very difficult to say for us right now whatever he is alleging is true. amy: can you talk about why he was roved >> tayr vaous reasons for his removal. he was never favored by th opposition since khan came into poweby actually alleging the opposition leader -- especially

the former prime minister -- involved in corruption. none of the charges he alleged against the opposition or than government have been proven in any support. one reason for his ouster is that he was not favored by any of thepposition leaders. his own allies from the government with him went against him. his own party -- the people who won from his party ticket actually went against him and voted the vote of no-confidence. also the economical situation in the country has gotten much worse since khan commended power and after his last agreement with the i. amy: tariq ali, from your vantage point in london, though of course you are originally from pakistan, can you talk

about what you think is behind what took place? it is not unusual that a prime minister has not finished his term since the establishment of the state of pakistan -- i don't think any prime minister has completed a term. pakistan has had 29 prime minister's since 1947. none completed a full five-year term. >> that is absolutely true. one reason is the military took over at key points of the country's history. we have had three military coup d'états, one that led to the breakup of the country in 1947. this happened in 1971. and subsequently, no wash sharif, whose brother is now the prime minister, attempted to retire the chief of staff by kidnapping him and not letting

his plane land which led to sharaf's coup. i think one thing which we should remember is regardless of whether there is a military coup are not, the military play session troll role -- central role in form defense policies and often in deciding who becomes prime minister and who doesn't. if anyone who has been prime minister and the 18th -- constant advice from the army. as far as imran is concerned, he did not get a majority in the election he won in the tiny

parties that usually do the bidding of the military were lined up to provide him with a majority. the opposition which is no better come in my opinion, it was wrong to present them in any way offering any real -- the country come has been clamoring for three years for a vote of no-confidence. suddenly, it happens and these parties that have been organized back withdraw their support come his own party's split. one thing has to be said. if you asked the pti government to treat anything i would say no. it has had phased out economic problems. it has gone to the imf. all of that is true. but it has no vision at all. just like the other political parties in the country. and all the promises of modernizing pakistan, changing

it, amounted to nothing. at the same time, corruption continued, including from imran's family. his latest wife with a circle of friends around her, made lots of money by pointing in embassy as chief minister -- so all of these things began to weigh up. the question imran khan sang the americans got rid of me, they may have. we don't know. either way, there's never been evidence from the united states -- [indiscernible] wikileaks releases it. so it is not impossible that the united states expressed displeasure because imran described the 20 or occupation of afghanistan as an american mess. on the crane, he took a position

similar to that of india and china. that did not please united states. talked about democracy, the general issues of foreign policy statement clarifying pakistan's position on ukraine the same week. so it would not surprise me if the united states as he is becoming a nuisance or something like that. there were known to topple governments all over the world. but i don't think this is a central issue. the central issue is the incapacity of the pti government , basically, to do anything for the country. when you announced the name of the new prime minister, amy, [indiscernible] power before. these are politicians. that was imran's strategy. these are politicians that can never hear the sobbing of the

week, never hear the sobbing of the poor. they basically come into politics, make lots of money, see who is making more money than the others. it is a competition to make money. pakistani politics has been totally embroiled in the making of money. the two dynastic parties and lately the pti, as well as the smaller party. so this is a tragedy. i don't think any change of government is going to solve the problem. amy: shahbaz sharif is the new prime minister. his brother is where you are, at least in the sum country. he is in london and says he will be going back to pakistan and exile in london. tooba syed, if you could talk about this moment? you have president biden today having a meeting with the india prime minister narendra modi, of

course and yeah and pakistan, nuclear rivals with each other. and if you can talk more about the context of what is happening now, whether or not the u.s. was involved -- clearly, as you said, the pakistani parliament has engaged in the no-confidence vote. the question of imran khan's relationship with china and russia from the same issue that biden will be bringing upper india yet india and pakistan are both competitors -- is it no mistake that their meeting on the same day that prime minister is chosen in pakistan? >> definitely raises some suspicion in our minds as well. we know the tensions between india and pakistan going on in the u.s.-pakistan relaonship has not been great lately as well. i think we suld make no mistak imran kha is a

populi center right-wing haplesseader. -- populist leader. he's using this to sh in on this anti-americanism that ca be seen. we've seen many in the u. thking imran khan some sort of empt imperialist hero from the third world buthat is not the case. see the heart of the anti-americanism has bn used audible times right-wing leaders. -- multiple times are right-wing leaders. is is another populist movement his to also maybe take revenge from his own people and own country by making the lationship complicated between the two countries. it is a very sensitive moment. we also know imran khan is known for his stubbornness and destructiveness when it come for him to gain power.

during his regime, the rights activists in the left political workers went to the worst forms -- forms of harassment or attacks. students protesting, workers let up. has had a history again anyo who goes ainst him. this mayave been away for imran khan taking revenge on the country himself. he knows [indiscernible] not going to be able to clean up the mess imran khan created. amy: can you talk about his attitudes towards and policies towards women in pakistan? >> i mean, it is been completely horrible. there have been an increase in sexualrimes against women especially during the pandemic. the only kinds of statements

that kept coming from his side where this is because -- this is happening because finism is a stern concept. i don't know if you know are not, but there's a very chae moveme in pakisn, women's movement and pakistan for the last five years. the governmenttselfas been complicit in attacking the movement. last year when there were several allegations agast this movement, against women human rights activists, the khan government did not speak up. they did not do anhing to protect the women. they were threateninthe lives of these women. some wom had to lee their jobs, leave the country, take exile, go to some sortf safety. the government did not do anhing for the women's rights activist who were under threat. there has been a constant dismissal of the kind sexual violence in pakisn by the

government. we have so seen certain bills which other politiciansere trying to pass which the khan government said to the council, whh they knew would never approve the bills. multiple women's rights bills that have been dismissed in the khan government byk's o government members. --khan's own members. i agree with pretty much what tariq ali said. shahbaz shif is just another right-wing political leader. even history of his party tells us they're not coming to serve the people. they will come to serve their own interests and the interest of the big businessmen and pakistan. his party is known to be

corrupt, to come and make absolutely terrible decisions, terrible negotiations with imf. in my opinion, there may be some changes in terms of this government will be more clever and how they attack their opponents and women's rights workers and activists, but in terms of overall if this is going to change the country or make anything better for the average, normal working people, i don't excel. amy: who are the people who have turned out in protesaround the country, against the ouster of imran khan? >> imran khan, being a cditor and a popust center leader, he has always had support. this is that urban middle-class that comes out in his support, which is not as affected by his policy as the working class, the majority working class of the country.

we see the same people coming out again and again. a lot of his support is definitely, in my opinion, educated, urban middle-class people who are far from the realities of what everyday working class people go through in this country. the same people who come up again -- he has the popular support, that he is not the most popular leader in the country. amy: tariq ali, your joining us from london. on saturday, the british prime minister boris johnson made a surprise trip to kyiv to meet with the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, this coming as the u.n. says more than 4.5 million people have fled from ukraine since russia's invasion began 46 days ago on fiber 24, interestingly, the day that imran khan was meeting with vladimir putin at the kremlin. can you talk about this visit

and overall what is happening with the war? >> payment, what is happening of the war overall is that putin's reckless adventurism has now hit a rock. the fact that putin thought hf the population may be pro-russia, but this has turned outo become an accurate and his intelligence chiefs ar being punished for the sort of intelligence. they thought the war would be over, that they would be welcomed back by the population. the choices now for putin limited, to carry on this war or immediately propose some negotiated settlement. the same applies to the other. i think worse johnson's threat to shore the regime and to encourage basically a continuation and escalation --

in the middle of all of this, the ukrainian people are suffering, targeted, dying, becoming refugees. there houses are being bombed, buildings are being bombed. so i asked, what is in the interest of the ukrainian peop? the only thing they want is peace. they do not want a continuation of the war. i think, ultimately, if nato -- ukraine may not be in nato but nato is definitely in ukraine. boris johnson's trip is proof of that. but they need to reach a settlement. the only settlement i can foresee is effectively the donbas becomes some federated republic with russia. the rest of ukraine is allowed

its independence and neutrality guaranteed by both sides. it should not become a nato-based on the edges of russia. whether this will happen remains and is dependent on both sides. will the deal be offered to putin, i think inside russia itself, the opposition, which is not spoken about but is widespread, he would find it difficult to turn that down. but this time they will need written guarantees for the ukraine to become independent. the meanwhile, refugees are flowing from -- two different parts of europe. amy, it is also worth pointing out, another thing that is difficult not to remark on, the war in yemen has cost dearly half a million lives, unleashed epidemics like cholera,

nutrition affects 70% to 80% -- malnutrition affects 70% 80%. where the refugees going? nowhere because no one will take them. so they stay in the country and carry on dying. europeans in particular more sympathetic to the ukrainians from the same color, have blue eyes and blonde hair, acceptable refugees. where the others, either directly or through proxies, are creating havoc parts of the world. i think we should be distant from both sides to the ukraine but also be critical of what is happening elsewhere. the sooner this war is brought to an end, the better for everyone. it was a disaster for russia. and how long putin will survive after the war is over is -- i

don't know. remarks at this work ago on a long time are not help will to anyone. we don't want another 20-year war like afghanistan. amy: tariq ali. they get for being with us come history, of his, phone maker, and author. and tooba syed are joining us from some about pakistani activist and member of the leftwing awami workers party. next up, we go to france were president crow is headed to a one-off election with far right candidate marine le pen. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "lahore state of mind" by the pakistani instrumental quartet jo bhi. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. french president emmanuel macron and far-right candidate marine le pen are headed to an election runoff on april 24.

in the first round of voting saturday, macron won over 27% support. le pen placed second with about 23%. macron urged french voters to reject le pen's xenophobic policies. >> i solemnly call on my fellow citizens, whatever they are leaning and whatever the choice they made in the first round, to join us. at this turning point, for the future of our nation, nothing will ever be the same. this is what i want to reach out to all those who want to work in france. i am ready to invent something new in order to build and become an action for our nation for the coming year. it is our duty.

amy: meanwhile, after the vote, le pen called on french people of all parties to vote for her in the runoff later this month. >> from this moment, i'm calling on all french, from all sides, from the right or left or elsewhere, french of all origins to join this great national and popular movement. together we will build. this victory to implement the great shift that france needs and drive with joy our country. long live the republic, live france. amy: this cos as the leftist candidate jean-luc mélenchon placed third with about 22%. he urged his supporters to not give a single vote to marine le pen in the runoff. for more, we go to paris to speak with rokhaya diallo, french journalist, writer, filmmaker, and contributing writer for "the washington post," where her latest piece is headlined "france has a chance to choose progressive ideals over hate and division." welcome back to democracy now!

explain the significance of this vote. >> first of all, thank you for inviting me. i'm glad to be back on democracy now! the significance at that is the fact macron would face le pen and the second round was expected but for the first time we have had two strong candidates from the far right and there's also the fact jean-luc mélenchon is also now impersonating the leading voice on the left. so his party is the most likely to challenge the right and the far right. to me, what happened yesterday just showed us now there are three -- on the political landscape, which is the far right, liberal right, and the

left led by jean-luc mélenchon. amy: talk about what actually took place. and by the protest vote against macron is all about. for example, most of his time recently he has been focused on ukraine. today he is headed to the north to le pen country. talk about what marine le pen represents, what she said she would do if she became the head of france. >> marine le p is the leader of the national rally, which is the party that was created from the national front in the early 1970's, a very far right party that was createin early 1970's. which has taken a very strong stance against immigration,

mostly against immigration, against immigrants and on the idea that french citizens should be privileged in front of the people from other countries. so marine le pen has her -- really tried to change the party in and wait to soften the package. so now she has chosen jeanette campaign not to focus on immigration but on the fact the french people have lost mucof their purchasing power. she has hidden in a way the real agenda of the national rally, which is explicitly anti-immigrant, xenophobic, and also sexist to put herself in issues that the leaders who would support french people are

facing challenges because of the rise of the prices. so that is the reason why she has been -- she is getting so much support. macron in 20, given the fact he supported policies that would have made the rich richer, have sparked much anger among the population. that anger has found in a way some -- it's way to the national rally that is the party of marine le pen. amy: can you talk more about how ukraine figured into this and the relationship between macron, the current president of france, with putin and the ad he put out with marine le pen rhyming le pen with putin and her close

relationship with putin? >> the thing is, yes, along -- marine le pen was one of the ones who were saying she had admiration properties. after the war started in ukraine, she said she was somewhat in a meye of -- admirer of putin. macron is using that -- also in 2017 in order to find her campaign, she borrowed money from russia. this year in 2022, she borrowed money from hungary. so macron is using that to say she is more likely to be in solidarity with russia than him because he says he challenged putin and was one of the people who went to visit him and tried to stop the war in ukraine.

it is true marine le pen i ambiguous but not the only thing she needs to be addressed about. also the thing is macron for the first time said le pen and her party was racist, which he has not done in the five years. he was smart i would say blurry about the lines between his already, the politics, and the far right. amy: what do you expect in this run-up to the final election on april 24? >> for now, macron is the most likely to win. if he wins, it will not be the same as in 2017 because in 2017 it was a renewal of the revolution. he was climbing he was neither

from the right more from the left. but we can tell now after five years that he was deftly om the right and has a new liberal agenda. it would be difficult for him to be appealing to the voters from the left are likely not to vote at all. the challenge now is to make sure the far right does not come into power but at the same time, not to give -- to make -- macron has the support of the whole population. whether marine le pen winds were not, she will have won in the way she's been able to anchor herself into the political landscape and make sure widespread over the whole political landscape. we can tell that and the fact

macron mr. president supported the hard-line regarding immigration and regarding minorities. she has won in she has changed this mentality and has very important influence over the voters -- to the far right parties makes the far right over 30%, which is much. amy: i want to thank you, rokhaya diallo french , journalist, writer and filmmaker. we will link to her latest piece. next up, we go to texas where prosecutors arrested a woman for murder after accusing her of causing a self-induced abortion. after massive public outcry, he says he will drop the charges.

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amy: "je veux" by zaz. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in texas, where the starr county district attorneys as he is going to drop the charges against lizelle herrera -- a 26-year-old latina woman who was arrested thursday on murder charges, accused of causing the "death of an individual through a self-induced abortion." her arrest triggered mass outrage. reproductive justice and abortion rights advocates quickly mobilized across texas and a solidarity with lizelle, taking to the streets and raising money to pay herrera's $500,000 bond. she was released from jail saturday evening, hours after activists with the rio grande valley-based la frontera fund held a protest outside the starr county jail. details of what led to lizelle's

arrest are sketchy, but starr county authority say staff at a hospital where she went for medical care in january reported her to the police. her arrest comes as a contested antiabortion law sb 8 has been enforced in texas since last september. the law makes it nearly impossible to access abortion, banning abortions after just six weeks -- before many people know they're pregnant. it allows private citizens anywhere in the united states to sue healthcare workers and others for facilitating an abortion in texas. like if a mother drives her daughter to a women's health clinic, the mother could be sued by someone in arkansas who does not even know her. however, sb 8 explicitly exempts pregnant people from criminal prosecution if they get an abortion. a wave of similar antiabortion

laws are being enacted across the country, most recently in oklahoma and arizona. for more, we go to houston, texas, where we are joined by rockie gonzalez, the founder and board chair of la frontera. help lead efforts to free lizelle herrera. can you explain what happened, this woman went into a hospital in january and the staff of the hospital reported her to police? >> well, first of all, good morning, amy. it is an honor to be here. thank you for elevating the issue. yes, it is as you said, the details are sketchy. essentially, lizelle herrera was arrested because of the report made by hospital staff, charged with murder, given half $1 million bail because, as you said in the indictment, she was accused of knowingly killing an

individual through self-induced abortion. what we do know is she went into the hospital and invited into the hospital staff and that report led to her arrest. it is unclear whether in the original indictment whether or not she was actually, you know, inducing an abortion on herself or if she was helping someone. the language is sketchy. texas penal code explicitly exams pregnant individuals from being punished for harming their own fetus. so from the start, she never should have been arrested. i think one of the big concerns here is that we are looking at an environment in a post roe scenario where are people going to be afraid to share potentially life-saving information with medical professionals for fear of arrest? lizelle's arrest -- i don't want

to say it is unique because it isot in texas, but it is the first arrest of the sort in the kind of attention in the aftermath of sb 8. amy: we don't exactly know what happened. first of all, isn't this a violation of hipaa rules, privacy rules? she might have taken a pill to induce an abortion? although, we are just guessing here. >> that is all alleged. it potentially is a hipaa violation. we have legal support doing research and looking where we can because these are the kind of tactics we are facing as we come up against the supreme court decision this summer on mississippi law. amy: i mean, if this is an example of grassroots action having an effect, rockie gonzalez, if you can explain what la frontera fund organized

very quickly when you learn she was in jail, these protests, and the resulting response of the starr county district attorney ramirez who rubbed a press release basilly saying he is opping the charges and is writing of the paperwork today? >> that is correct. what we do is we payor abortion procedures and we offer practical support for folks who have to travel out of either the rio grande valley or the state of texas to obtain abortion care. we also pay for the ultrasounds which are required in the first part of the process to obtain an abortion in texas. and so that is our main work. we serve the r grande valley. rest, it is an intersection of immigrant and reproductive justice. the rio grande valleyas the texas-mexico border and about 100 miles north of the border

north of where the rio grande valley touches the mexico border are where the immigration points are. so if you are an undocumented immigrant and you become pregnant, we do not even have the opportunity to help those folks travel out of the rio ande valley, say come to austin or san antonio because they cannot cross those checkpoints. they are then forced into birth. we are making abortion more accessible and now we're looking at how our work in reproductive justice intersects with criminal justice. it is not like news to us, but this armrest does highlight that situation. what we did was once we found out what was happing, we mobilized to get people out to the starr county. this is a small, rural community. i think they are not used to the sort of, you know, protest movement, you know, things like

that in their community. while we were only able to mobilized a small group to show up, we did have our partners from texas reproductive justice and the national institute for latina health and a group of folks show up and let the starr county authorities know we were not going to stand idly by. we had folks from across the state and across the country flood their felons, resulting in the disconnection of their phones. after a few hours, they just disconnected their lines. it was shortly after that we received word she was going to be taken out on bond and then the following day on sunday we got the statement from the das office. amy: and you will be talking with lizelle today? >> we will be meeting with her family today. that is the plan. we are also aware on her recent release and decision at this point in time, do not talk to

the media. it is important and want to respect. the are trying to take our time and honor the family and their needs. reunite and to celebrate lizelle's release. ♪♪♪

zoe daniel: alaska's arctic national wildlife refuge known as anwr, protected by the us government, but also contested for decades. here, animals roam in a pristine wilderness in one of the last places of its kind on earth, but it's under threat. [gunshot] donald trump: anwr in alaska, one of the great sites of energy in the world. zoe: the trump administration plans to allow drilling here for oil and gas.