04/29/22 04/29/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i have been saying from the first day of this crisis that the physical integrity of the facilities is an absolute must and having a missile go straight or something like this could have significant -- very significant impact. amy: t international atomic

energy agency is expressing alarm over reports russia fired missiles over three ukrainian nuclear power plant, including the largest nuclear plant in europe. we will go to ukraine for the latest. then we will speak to the pulitzer prize-winning journalist ed yong about how the climate emergency could spark the next pdemic. then sunday is may d, international workers day. we will look at "the wobblies" from that tells ofhe. . first >> >> union for all workers and gestural workers of the world, good wages, and respect. that is what they wantefor the workers. to be people. amy: "the wobblies" first came ouin 1979 but has just been restored and entered into the

national library of congress. we will speak with one of the film directors and air excerpts. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a pair of cruise missiles slammed into a residential high-rise in kyiv thursday, injuring 10 people. the attack came just hours after united nations secretary general toward parts of kyiv devastated by russia's invasion, just minutes after he wrapped up a news conference with the ukrainian president. zelenskyy said the timing of the missile attack showed russia was seeking to humiliate the 90 and everything it represents. gutierrez ran a rated said his priority is to enter moscow and keep set up evacuation and aid corridors in ukrne that are

truly safe >> today ukraine is an epicenter of uearable pain. i witnessed death. vividly today around kyiv. the selfless loss of life, the massive destruction, the unacceptable violations of human rights and the laws of war. it is vital the international criminal court and other u.n. mechanisms conduct their work so that there can be real accountability. and because the german and austrian energy companies uniper and omv say they have agreed to russia's demands that purchasers of russian oil and gas open accounts in a russian bank and pay in rubles. the italian energy giant eni is also reportedly in talks to make ruble payments for russian gas. earlier this week, the european union accused russia of blackmail after it shut off gas supplies to poland and bulgaria, which had refused to pay in rubles. the russian state-controlled

firm gazprom continues to supply europe with about 40% of the natural gas it consumes. nato said thursday it's ready to support ukraine's military in its fight against russia for years, if necessary. the military alliance's secretary-general jens stoltenberg spoke from the 2022 nato youth summit in brussels on thursday. >> there is absolute possibility this war will drag on and last for months and years. preparing to provide support over a long period of time. amy: in washington, d.c., president biden has asked congress for an additional $33 billion in economic and military assistance to ukraine. his request came as congress voted overwhelmingly to revive the lend-lease a that the u.s. used to arm its allies during world war ii. biden's latest request includes $20 billion to purchase new weapons and ammunition, including anti-tank and anti-air systems, helicopters, drones, grenade launchers, and millions

of rounds of ammunition. speaking from the white house, biden rejected charges that the u.s. is using ukraine to wage a proxy war against russia. pres. biden: we are not attacking russia. we are helping ukraine defend itself against russian aggression. just as putin chose to launch his brutalization come he can make the choice to end the brutal invasion. russia is the aggressor. amy: codepink's medea benjamin noted biden's call for $33 billion for ukraine is over half the entire budget of the state department and usaid. benjamin called biden's request a down payment on world war iii, and added, "we need diplomacy, not billions more in weapons!" the united nations warns human activity has damaged and degraded up to 40% of the world's land, reducing the fertility of soil and stripping

of native trees, vegetation, and biodiversity. the report by the u.n.'s convention to combat desertification finds most of the damage is caused by food production, risking the ability of nations to continue feeding earth's growing population. a new study in the journal "science" finds the climate crisis poses the largest risk to marine animals since an asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. the study found about a third of all the animals in the ocean could vanish within three centuries unless humanity takes dramatic steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. with strong action to halt the climate crisis, the study found, up to 70% of extinctions could be prevented. meanwhile, a report in the journal "nature" finds the climate crisis and urban sprawl are driving wild mammals t relocate to new habitats, where they risk spreading novel viruses into the human population. researchers say the change is already underway, with thousands

of new opportunities for viruses to spill over into new species, including humans. we'll have more on this story later in the broadcast with ed yong, science writer for the atlantic. in london, advocates for a people's vaccine rallied outside pfizer's u.k. headquarters drug-maker end pandemic profiteering and share its vaccine technology with the global south. activists carried signs reading, "pharma greed kills" and "pfizer has blood on its hands," as they delivered wheelbarrows full of fake cash to the entrance of the building. pfizer's covid-19 vaccine is one of the most lucrative pharmaceutical products in history, earning the company some $37 billion last year alone -- or over $1000 a second. in a statement, the group global justice now responded -- "this is scandalous when more than 8 in 10 people in low-income countries still haven't had a covid-19 vaccine."

the world health organization is warning cases of measles rose nearly 80% in the first two months of this year after millions of children missed out on routine vaccinations due to the coronavirus pandemic. measles cases are skyrocketing in afghanistan, where the taliban government says at least 16,000 children have been infected so far this year, leading to at least 130 deaths. human rights groups are sounding the alarm over a surge of executions in iran. in 2021 at least 333 people were put to death, a rise of 25% from the previous year according to the norway-based iran human rights and france's together against the death penalty. about a third of those executions were for drug-related offences. groups say many of these cases lacked sufficient evidce or relied heavily on confessions obtained through torture. the oklahoma legislature has approved another republican-led bill banning abortions after just six weeks of pregnancy. the measure now goes to

republican governor kevin stitt who is expected to sign it. the bill is modeled on texas' anti-abortion law that took effect in september. it allows any state resident to sue doctors who perform abortions or anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion, with rewards of at least $10,000 for those who are successful. this comes less than two weeks after governor stitt signed into law a total ban on abortion in oklahoma that makes the procedure a felony punishable with up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. oklahoma state senator carri hicks was among minority democrats who objected to the legislion. >> forbes ranks oklahoma number 51 out of 50 states for quality of life for women. we don't have any further to fall and yet we are trying to prove how much worse we can make things for wom through these

types of legislation. amy: georgia republican governor brian kemp has signed a raft of bills overhauling public education in the state, including one banning books deemed offensive disk libraries. and that bars classroom discussion of so-called divisive concepts pertaining to race. the protect students first act also empowers an athletic oversight committee to exclude transgender children from playing high school sports. in a statement, human rights campaign wrote -- "self-serving politicians, catering to an extreme portion of their party's base, are showing that they're willing to harm vulnerable kids who just want to play with their friends." meanwhile, governor kemp signed a bill instituting a flat rate for state income taxes that will disproportionately benefit wealthy georgians. a new analysis of fortune 100 investor filings shows that 19 of the most profitable corporations in the united states are paying little or no federal income tax.

the center for american progress found at&t and dow inc. paid zero federal income taxes last year. in fact, despite nearly in $30 billion earnings, at&t reported a tax refund of $1.2 billion. meanwhile, amazon, exxon mobil, verizon, jp morgan chase, bank of america, and others paid extremely low tax rates. in related news, shares of meta, the parent company of facebook and instagram, rose by over 17% thursday, making founder mark zuckerberg nrly $11 billion wealthier in just one day. president biden on thursday confirmed he is looking into taking executive action to cancel an unspecified amount of federal student debt in the coming weeks. pres. biden: considering dealing with some debt reduction. i am not considering $50,000 debt reduction, but i am in the process of taking a hard look at whether or not there will be

additional debt forgiveness. amy: in response, the debt collective demanded the white house cancel more student loan debt, writing in a statement -- "for millions of borrowers, many of whom owe six figures, $10,000 or $50,000 of relief barely provides a dent in the amount of debt they hold. if biden were to cancel $10,000 for all 45 million borrowers we'd still have a massive student debt crisis on our hands." some democrats and progressive lawmakers have also been pressuring biden to cancel at least $50,000 in student debt, if not more. this is senate majority leader chuck schumer speaking thursday. >> hi again call on the president to take action, which he can do on his own, and hit the financial reset button for millions and millions of americans. president biden has done the right thing by continuing the moratorium on student loan payments. his actions have saved millions from financially ruined during the covid crisis.

the borrowers just do not need their debts paused, they need them erased. amy: and the food and drug administration has published its plan to prohibit the sale and manufacturing of menthol cigarettesnd flavored cigars. menthol cigarettes are even more addictive and deadly than regular cigarettes. the fda estimates a ban could save 633,000 lives by 2050 with the benefits felt most in the african american community, which for years was targeted by big tobacco's ad campaigns promoting menthol brands such as newport and kool. a 2018 survey found 85% of black smokers prefer menthol cigarettes. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the head of the international atomic energy agency is expressing alarm over safety issues at the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in ukraine. russian forces seized the plant in early march after a fight

that led ta fire near one of the plant's reactors. this week the ukrainian government accused russia of launching two cruises missiles that flew at low altitudes over the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. ukraine says russian missiles ve also fln near twother nuclear power plants in ukraine. the iaea director general rafael grossi described the situation at the plant as a red light blinking issue. zaporizhzhia is e largest nuclear power plant europe and it is located in the largest city in southeastern ukraine still under ukrainian contl. during aews brieng thursda in vienna, grossi addressed the reports of the russian missiles flying over nuclear power plants. >> any such development if confirmed would be extremely serious. i have been saying from the first day of this crisis that the integrity of the nuclear

facilities is an absolute must and of course a muscle going astray or something like this could have significant -- very significant impact. we need to go back to zaporizhzhia. it is extremely important. in zaporizhzhia you have tens of thousands of nuclear material, enriched uranium. we have to verify. it is still the open question that we have at the moment. amy: iaea director general rafael grossi spoke thursday after returning from a trip to ukine where he visited the chernobyl nuclear power station on monday on the 36th anniversary of the plant's meltdown. russia seized chernobyl in late february and occupied the highly contaminated area until late march. grossi vowed to help ukraine repair damage caused during russia's occupation he praised works at the plant for helping

to prevent what could have been another nuclear disaster. >> in this case, what we had was a nuclear safety situation that was not normal, that could have developed into an accident. the first credit must go to the operators, to these people here, because they carried on their work in spite of all the difficulties, in spite of the stress, in spite of the fact they're not working normally. they continued working as if nothing had happened so they kept the situation stable, so to speak. amy: the 1986 chernobyl nuclear disaster was the worst new their meltdown in world history. we are joined now by olexi pasyuk, deputy director of the ukrainian ngo eco-action, where his focus is on energy and nuclear energy. he is joining us from ukraine. thank you for being with us once

again. can you talk about this week? i mean, the significance of this 36 anniversary of chernobyl with the iaea director coming to mark that and at the same time, a few days later, these reports that russian missiles flew very low down over the largest nuclear power complex in europe in zaporizhzhia? >> indeed. chernobyl is exactly a place which donstrates what the nuclear industry accident could be. it is huge areas of land which are continued to be polluted from 1986. it was a huge impact for people who lived there. you had hundreds of thousands who had to flee. it was an amazing cost most of built the soviet union which started -- only recently got

safe containment of the reactor which is the international community paid ove $2 billion. yes, the worst of this is particularly kind of agree demonstration the russians a coming -- rusan armcame and occupied chernobyl power plant. a cyber we d't have it operating nuclear reactors, so it is less of a risk on that scale but we have spent nuclear el which could also be destroyed and have a release of the materials in the air. but of course, zaporizhzhia where you have actors in operation and they continue to work now, it is far more dangerous situation also because it was directly attacked.

i have to remind that this concern was in place back in 2014 when the war started in ukraine and it was just a couple hundred kilometers away and there was a discussion already if a missile basically goes the wrong way and attacks reactors themselves or nuclear spent storage facility and we will have a release. but what happened is, actually, we just had an attack when the site was shelled by russian tanks. it was a very serious accident. because the difference of what can go wrong at the nuclear power plant and you don't necessarily need to be directly hitting the reactor, storage, to

cause problems because these are the systems where you constantly have to cool down and if you have in a direction -- an and electricity and it stops operating, you start getting into this accidental fuel melt. amy: can you comment on despite the fact of the risk, there are reports that european nations are embracing the possibility of investing in more nuclear energy to be less reliant on gas and oil, what would this mean? also, what does it mean for ukraine? what message do you have for them? >> well, indeed, there are a few discussions but i think different voices on that. for example, in europe, with the

gas prices, nuclear is being considered as one of the answers. not so much about building new reactors because it is very expensive but also the results of an option to extend lifetime of existing -- and particularly, germany, looking into this option not to close reactors and came up with the kind of sentiment that it will not make sense, that the risk associate with nuclear is far bigger than benefit, particularly in this story with natural gas. the issues that gas -- useful for heating while would not be encompassed by electricity. it is far more complicated issue.

now we have this demonstration of the rather theoretical story. it was always theoretical. what hpens if there is a military attack on nuclear? it was never properly considered. it was always deemed as something not very realistic. but now everywhere it should be considered as a kind of setting up a nuclear [indiscernible] which can become attacked and have destruction. it brings me back to my school time when we had the big independence movement in late 1980's in ukraine, still a part of the soviet union. these leaflets on the streets of kyiv where there was a map of ukraine with the reactors being

shown in the article basically was in, look, soviet union russia has planted this nuclear bomb in our territory. of course it was this chernobyl moment where the whole anti-nuclear movement was very much connected to independce. but now i'm we are basically getting the proof that it is very real, very practical, and nuclear brings so many security issues that, yeah, -- i also would point out on the political leverage that russia is getting with nuclear technology, currently held in the european union a number of countries which operate siet reactors which are dependent on russian fuel. so we are constany talking about this gas war between

ukraine, russia, europe, russia the last couple of decades when there was just a cut on supply. amy: let me ask you something on that issue, soviet reactors. russian reactors. the u.s. and europe are imposing a number of sanctions on russian oil and gas. interestingly, the u.s. is not imposing sanctions on russian uranium, which it imports. can you comment on this? do you think it should be included in the sanctions list? >> yes, it certainly should be. this war is very important -- don't you directly -- they should use economic tools. this is exactly one of the tools

which they're saying russia is using its political tools internationally. it should be basically on the sanctions as well. there are some of the steps which are happening, for example in gmany, some companies which are reviewing their agreements with russia. but most of the companies don't. and i think this is also moment which expose how much different countries, including the u.s., are dependent on russian nuclear industry. yes, i definitely would say all kinds of sanctions on russian energy supply and nuclear in particular should be implemented. unfortunately, it is complicated. i think it is problem that we don't realize the scale. for example, what happened last week that despite the recent --

bans on planes flying to russia from europe, there was a special agreement to have one plane coming to bring nuclear fuel. i mean, that shows the scale of this kind of dependence and importance. amy: yet this incredible irony that of course president zelenskyy is really pushing hard for sanctions to be imposed by european countries and the u.s. on russian oil and gas, but you have got the pipelines of russia going through ukraine to europe and ukraine is not cutting those off. i think 30% of the fuel that goes through their -- 30% of europe's fuel that goes through their is through ukraine.

>> it would be probably wrong politically for ukraine now -- whether it buys it or not. of course it is important to maintain, especially the situation, the way out is really defeating russia on the ground, which ukrne is struggling to do. it brings as back to the situation -- that reality is, we cannot guarantee nuclear safety in ukraine unless the war is over. you have to remember that russian army is still saying the zaporizhzhia power plant, which is still operating, and the issue is we don't know how it will be over because now it is a kind of situation of some kind

of unclear stability when we don't know what is happening, but there is not active combat happening. but certain moments, russian troops will need to retreat and we don't know how it will be happening. amy: olexi pasyuk, thank you so much for being with us, deputy director of the ukrainian ngo eco-action, focusing on energy, particularly nuclear energy. please, be safe. speaking to us from western ukraine. next up, we go to kilis or prize-winning journalist ed yong -- we go to the pulitzer prize winning journalist ed yong about the pandemicene. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the u.s. covid death toll approaches 1 million, we turn now to look at how the climate emergency could spark the next pandemic. a new study published in nature shows the climate crisis is

forcing many wild mammals to relocate to new habitats where they interact with new species, including humans, leading to viruses spilling over from one species to another. the researchers say this shuffling of viruses in mammals has already started and will increase as the earth continues to warm. we are joined now by the pulitzer prize winning journalist ed yong. he is a science writer at the atlantic called "we created the 'pandemicene.'" welcome back to democracy now! why don't you start off by explaining, what you mean by pandemicene? this is a terrifying article. >> the idea is actually pretty straightforward and intuitive. as the world warms, the world's animals are being forced to relocate to new habitats from their preferred environmental conditions.

as they do this, species that never before coexisted will suddenly find themselves close neighbors. that gives the viruses that those species carry opportunities to hop into new hosts. in a warming world, we will get lots of these in which viruses find new hosts, mostly between animals, but increasingly also they will eventually spill over into us. this new study shows that the extent of these events is huge and that crucially they have already been going on in a very substantial way and in a way that is going to be very difficult for us to address. were talking about e thera of the planets history where it is dominated by human influence. we also then are living through the pandemicene, where our lives

are going to be repeatedly affected by you and re-emergent diseases that will become -- come more frequently because of the climactic changes that we have also unleashed upon the world. amy: can you explain the simulation that the scientists of this study created to show the potential hotspots of future viral sharing, as they put it? >> what they did was to look at maps of where some 3000 mammal species are now and where they're likely going to be in warm worlds on the various conditions of projected warming. they will take different pairs of mammals and look at where those ranges overlap and where they currently don't come in the predict how often those overlaps will lead to the kinds of

spillovers that i talked about. it is a huge effort. no study lik this has been attempted before. it took them three years over the course of the current pandemic to do it, but the results are very stark and quite grim. for example, it turns out the hotspots are going to light in the tropics, areas that are diverse in species and quite mountainous. tropical africa and southeast asia. they will proporonally happen in areas that are basicly humanity's backyard, areas heavily settleby people. already human cities or will be in the near-term future. i think the most worrying part of this is the simulation shows these trends have already been going on and that even if all greenhouse emissions -- carbon

emissions sees, this is a train that once set in motion, cannot be thwarted. we have already started it and it is already underway in this world that has warmed by 1.2 degrees. the are many other great reasons to try mitigate climat chan as much as possible, but the pandemice once released cannot easily beunbottled. we're not in a position of expecting more what we are currently going through and try to prepare for it and adapt. amy: if you can use the example of ebola and talk about that and how they are affected by climate change and what it means for just ebola. >> that's fly, obviously, and that allows them to travel over much longer distances than other mammals, which means they are particular drivers of the

spillover effects linked to climate change that i talked about. no one really knows the exact reservoir species of ebola, but it is likely to be at that and there are 13 possible species. those in the future are gointo travel and create lots and lots of opportunities for their viruses to spillover ito a lot of other mammals. what that means for ebola, which is currently a problem mostly for western africa, is it is almost likely going to be a problem for other parts of the continent, too. it might well become a significant problem that eastern africa also needs to worry about. ebola is one disease. this is likely going to be the case for every animal-born virus, including many tens of thousands that we haven't even discovered yet. this is a global problem.

it is a problem not just driven particularly by bats but not just bats, it will be hotspots in places like africa and southeast asia, but not just there. it is a planetary problem. we have rewired the network of animals and viruses in a very dramatic way and in a way that is going to be leading to our detriment. for a virus, a new virus spillover into humans, a lot of things need to line up all of whicare quite likely. viruses need to fight intermediate hosts, you to be compatible enough to affect us. all of these -- it is like playing russian roulette with a gun that has a million chambers. but because we have effectively loaded bullets into more of those chambers and we are now starting to pull the trigger

more frequently. if we do that enough, we're going to get shot. amy: what added to the tear in your piece, these scientists who did up the "nature" study assumed the changes they simulated would occur in the later have at this century but instead there simulation suggested when they did it over and over, we could be living through the peak year of spillovers right now. talk about that and specifically about covid. >> it is very hard to take any particular virus and say this is a climate-related thing. it is hard to then backtrack into the past. but what the simulation shows is these kinds of events are just going to be more like whether or not climate was the thing -- whether or not climate ample is the ergence of covid as a

disease, it is going to lead to the emergence of similar kds of events now and in the future. as we said, these events have been going on. the risk has been growing but our noses. which means we are now in a situation where we simply have to deal with it. the moment for reversing it was a few decades ago. what we are forced to do now is cope with the consequence that means a few things. we can do predictive and preventive work. there are things we can try to understand and predict which kinds of viruses are going to spillover. you prepare that ahead of time. in the kind of future hotspots. but no amount of that is going to mean -- no amount of that will negate the risk of pandemic fully. we must expect new diseases that hit as an hit as in the eminent

future. the factor going through -- the factor going through one now does not give us a pass. we could start the next pandemic torrow or it could have happened already. that means we ed to prepare in ways that we seem to be loath to do. we need to make sure our health care system is ready. we need social safety net so the most marginalized and vulnerable people don't get disproportionally hit by whatever comes next as they ha by every epidemic in the recent past. we need to do all those things. if we are blessed enough to get a lull from vid, we need to use that time to prepare for future onslaughts of other epidemics because what this study makes very abundantly clear is those will happen. people have always predicted we're going to live through an age ofore and more outbreaks.

this study confirms that is true. i think what it absolute does is show many of the great existential threats of our world right now by climate change, the rise onew diseases, and the mass extinction of wildlife, really the same problem. we need to think in that same interconnected way. amy: ed yong, thank you for being with us, pulitzer prize-winning science writer at the atlantic. we will link to your piece "we created the 'pandemicene.'" coming up, "the wobblies." we will look at a classic film that tells the story of the iww, the industrial workers of the world. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "there is power in a union" written by joe hill, from the

1979 documentary "the wobblies." among the voices you just heard in that musical break mike , seeger, alice gerard, and joe glazer. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. this sunday, much of the world will celebrate may day, the international workers holiday, amid a wave of union organizing in the united states that includes dozens of starbucks stores and the newly formed amazon labor union. we end today's show with a film that tells the story of the first union for all workers in the u.s. "the wobblies" is a documentary that first came out in 1979 and has just been restored and entered into the library of congress' national film registry. >> what is your name? >> sam. >> what is your religion? >> the iww.

>> that isn't a religion. >> is the only one of got. >> i am an industrial worker of the wor. ♪ cou not benied membship forny rean as lo as --or any reason. >> does your worrs of the world work, good wages, and spect. that iwhat ty wanted for the rkers. to be people, not nobody. >> the grain fies wharveste ery majo grain thagrew in

north arica eat,ats barle rye. >> 112, ndred 14egrees mperaturout in t sun. you could look across e plas d see freight train from miles away. ♪ amy: the wobblies featuring oral histories with elderly former -- the elderly who were in their 80's and 90's and is narrated by roger baldwin, one of the founders of the aclu. is is anher clip >> unskied lor, no presentaon, whever.

th hado wordso speak r em. largelresponsiblfor the founding of e indurial woers of t world. >> working class and employing class had nothing in common. between these two classes, a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organized as a class, take possession of the earth, and machinery of production and abolish the wage system. i remember readinghe iww at tooklace in chigond had buy -- >> flow wkersthis is

contental coress of e workg class i don't give snap ofy finger wther skied workers inhis unioor n. we don't needhem. ther aremillioworkers this countrythat ar't ganized t. what we want testablisat thisime is rganation at will en wid 's yours tovery manr woman that earns his livelihood by brain or muscle. amy: the words of iww leader bill hayward in the film the wobblies. for more, we are joined by deborah shaffer, who co-directed this remarkable documentary with stuart byrd of 1979 that is just been restored and screens nationwide on may day, this sunday, and online at the end of may. deborah, welcome to democracy now! it is an astounding film. tell us the story of the wobblies. >> the wobblies themselves was a

union come as you heard in the clip, founded in 1905 out of necessity. workers at that time, unskilled workers had no union. there was no such thing. the afl existed but only emitted -- admitted mostly white, male, skilled workers. bricklayers, people with highly skilled jobs. e masses of instrial wkers -- rememr, this was the early days of industrialization in the u.s., textile mills were booming, lumber lls, cotn ns werbooming. ekers hado representation all and the re bng expeed to wo sen days aeek, 12 ur ds, no baks, no meals, underpd, overrked. ildren we working. nditionsere terrle. intolerable. amy: i want to go back to your film. in this clip, we hear from black longshoreman james fair after

narrator roger baldwin. >> in the ports of the atlantic and of the gulf coast, black and white workers were organized in the same unions a, which thefof l and established unions did n peit. >> we were on the farm and conditions were bad. so to speak, you could break up money out of the street. decided to come. getting jobs us are as a black is concerned was pretty rough. the iww was the only thing accepting negro and black workers, you know, without -- i

mean, freely. we had fletcher. he was a negro. and we had a man who was white, t he was a very dedicated union men. both of these men. you had pep talks, whatnot. fletcher, after he would make a speech, solidarity, offer one and one for all. we were given the roughest jobs, of course. they would have a rough job -- if a white came along, i did not have no job. i would have to go back. to something else. the work was so rough, you had to use hand trucks and two men would load the truck and we would have to truck it over very rough roads to the side of the ship to load it.

we worked 10 hours. people were getting hurt one after another. going to the hospital. we had no medical -- safety rules or anything like that. when the contract ran out, we had to go out on strike. the results of that -- people in different partof the country break strikes. someone be having guns the same as if they were the law. it would be these vans going down, escorted by police escor on motorcycles. a stryker would have as much chance befe the strikebreakers would have a for a good nerve. amy: black longsreman james fair. i want to another clip of the wobblies.

iww the was created with its tactics. in this clip, we hear from migratory workers. >> another o of the iww tactics was sabotage, which was anything from slowing down the job to threatening violence. >> p your wooden shoes on and you won't hurt your coins. to organize and teach no doubt is very good that's true, but still you cannot get ang thout thgood old wden shoe. e woodenhoe is a symbol a french worker en he waed to st, he wld throw it the mainery anbreak it dow a thats where eord "sabotag came fr. >>ow younow itabotage ally mea. >>t do't an as e french used the worthrowooden oe

intohe machi. nor es it mn buing do sawmil. what wou be the nse and burning down your source of emplment? wt does sotage mean? the conscious withdrawal of efficiency. amy:, and, that is another clip from the wobblies. it is amazing, deborah shaffer, you found these workers coming out many of them are dead, course, in their 80's and 90's, had a hard time finding coal miners because they were mostly all dead. >> finding james fair, the longshoreman from philadelphia, was our most challenging. remember, we made this film in the late 19th 70's. there was no internet. we could not put out a call through social media. we created a leaflet that we had people handout on the docks in philadelphia, a physical colored paper thing "was your grandfather a wobbly?"

we knew there had to be black workers who have bn part of that union and we eventually found james through a church he was a member of a minister new and let us -- so the search for the people, we were not sure when we started how many people we would find. we knew we had a f an area around new york. we just a not know if we would find 10 or 20 still alive. in 197 the union was founded in 1905. as you said, many were gone. amy: i want to go back to another clip. this film is so good. the archival footage is unbelievable as well. in this clip, 1917, and world war i had begun. we hear from roger baldwin, the founder of the american civil liberties union, narrator. it begins with the words of then american federation of labor

president sam cumbers. >> this is the people's war, the final outcome will be determined in the factories, ops, mes, fas, proction and ancies of the various countes. the workers he a parin this war equal wh our ghting bo. >> establish union engaged in agreement with the government -- e iwouldot subribe to that. [indisceible] paicular when e iww

enged intrikes. >> theener strike develed in t summerf917 anspread and dow theacific cst. itas led bthe iww. >> inummer of 1917, orgazed most of the mberjacktheost divialistic rkers yocan thk of, big and paul bunyan complex. solidarity was such, notne log reined inhe cps. e strikeasn. ♪

close to break up the sike, send sdiers in tre >>hey usthe armys stribreakers >>alli them the loy legio of lockers -- loggers. amy: another clip of the wobblies. the director deborah shaffer is with us. if you could talk about what happened to them in world war i, the rates and the relationship with the where establishment afl? >> well, the afl wanted

absolutely nothing to do with the iww. they saw them as a threat. i have to say later, skip over to the end of it, what you're asking me about, the iww was the precursor to the cio. many organizers went on to become organizers for the cio. united represent unskilled -- the union that did represent unskilled workers eablished in the 1930's. the wobblies were put out of business by the federal government. there is no other way to put it. i learned in the process of making the film, how did the repression from the government was, similar to what we have seen -- there was a film a couple of years ago about the murder of fred hampton. organized by the fbi. this was a similar tack on the iww organized by a mental plumber, the head the federal

bureau of investigation at the time -- his eager beaver assistant was j edgar hoover. they rested people right and left. they deported a immigra workers, anyone who did not have their tizenship papers were deported out of the u.s. never to be allowed to return. 101 members and mostly leadership people all across the country were arrested in 1917 during the war. there were arrested and charged with sedition, put in jail. in the end, it was a sham trial. amy: 15 seconds. >> there were given 20 years in prison for having organize the iww. i want to say find talking the film is more relevant now than when we release it in 1979. amy: and being put into the library congress national film registry, which is edible, soon to be available to everyone, opening on may day, which is

sunday. that does it for days -- today show. deborah shaffer, thank you for being with us, codirector of the 1979 documentary "the wobblies" which is just been released once again. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]