05/19/22 05/19/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the russian invasion in ukraine, climate change, covid-19. it threatens tens of millions of people, followed by malnutrition and a crisis that could last for years. amy: as the united nations warns again about the devastating

global impact of russia's invasion of ukraine, we will look at why talks to end the war appear to have collapsed. we will speak to new school professor nina khrushcheva. she is the great-granddaughter of former soviet premier nikita khrushchev. then to buffalo, where an 18-year-old white supremacist shot dead 10 people at grocery store in the heart of the black community. we will speak with the head of brady, one of the oldest gun violence groups in the u.s. and chile is rewriting its restitution to replace the one under u.s.-backed dictator augusto pinochet. a new draft constitution has just been released. >> the text materializes a new a treating one another, a new way of understanding life in our country where everyone can feel protected. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives has approved a bill of combating domestic terrorism following last weekend's attack by white supremacist who killed 10 black ople in buffalo supermarket. the domestic terrorism prevention act passed on a vote of 222-203 wednesday with the support of just one republican lawmaker. it calls for the creation of a domestic terrorism office within the departments of justice and homeland security. meanwhile, new york state is launching an investigation into social media platforms used by the buffalo shooting suspect. the governor announced the investigation wednesday. >> today i'm announcing a referral to the attorney general's offe to investigate the social media platforms that broadcast this horrific attack, at promote and elevate hate speech, and legitimize the replacement theory in the mind

of an 18-year-old, a radicalized 18-year-old. amy: the governor also announced a series of steps to tighten new york's gun laws. later in the broadcast, we will speak with kris brown, head of brady. in ukraine, the international committee of the red cross has begun registering hundreds of ukrainian fighters as prisoners of war after they surrendered in mariupol. russia now says over 1700 ukrainians have surrendered since may 16 after a week-long -- weeks-long standoff at the azovstal steel plant. meanwhile, a 21-year-old russian soldier has pleaded guilty in the first war crimes trial conducted by ukraine since the start of the invasion. the soldier admitted to shooting dead a 62-year-old ukrainian man in the region of sumy. for the first time in over a year, the united states has an ambassador to ukraine.

on wednesday, the senate confirmed bridget brink by a unanimous voice vote without a formal roll call. the post has been vacant since then-president trump forced ambassador marie yovanovitch out of the role in 2019 as trump sought to pressure ukraine's government into providing dirt on joe biden's son, hunter biden. meanwhile, the kremlin said wednesday it would expel 85 embassy staff from french, italian, and spanish diplomatic missions after the three countries expelled hundreds of russian diplomats. russia has also closed the moscow bureau of the canadian broadcasting channel and stripped its journalists of their visas and accreditation. a russian foreign ministry spokesperson said the decision came after canada's telecommunications regulator stopped distributing two kremlin-sponsored channels. >> a recent example was the pain opposed on russian tv channels

from broadcasting in canada. we said we would respond in a similar way, however elect to call it, adequately, and now we are responding. amy: the u.s. air force says it carried out a successful test of a new type of hypersonic missile over the weekend. the pentagon says a b-52 bomber off the coast of southern california successfully test-fired an air-launched rapid response weapon that reached five times the speed of sound. the test of the nuclear-capable missile follows similar tests by china, and after russian president vladimir putin said he's deployed hypersonic missiles during russia's invasion of ukraine. finland and sweden have agreed to a joint purchase of new weapons and ammunition. the arms deal was announced wednesday as the two nations formally submitted their applications to join the nato military alliance. the deal would include the purchase of anti-tank weapons from the swesh weapo maker saab. president biden is meeting in washington today with the leaders of finland and sweden in a show of support for their applications to join nato.

later today, biden departs on a six-day trip to asia, where he's scheduled to meet with leaders of south korea, japan, india and australia. biden's trip comes amid increased naval tensions with china as analysts say north korea is preparing an underground nuclear weapons test in the coming days, which would be the first such test since 2017. israel's military has decided not to open a criminal investigation into the killing of al jazeera jojournalist shirn abu akleh. that's according to the israeli newspaper ha'aretz. witnesseand fellow journalists say the palestinian-american jonalist was killed by an israeli soldier while reporting on an israeli military raid in the occupied west bank. abu akleh's family had told al jazeera that they would not be surprised if israel failed to investigate her killing. the centers for disease control is warning u.s. residents to consider wearing masks in indoor settings amid a new surge of

infections caused by mutant forms of the omicron coronavirus variant. the average number of confirmed daily coronavirus infections across the u.s. has topped 100,000 for the first time since february, and that total fails to account for cases that go unreported or detected by at-home tests. new york city raised its covid alert level to "high" on wednesday, even as mayor eric adams rejected calls to impose mask mandates and other public health measures. >> variants are going to come. we move into shut down thoughts, we move into panicking. we not going to function as a city. amy: on wednesday, health and human services secretary xavier becerra said he tested positive for coronavirus during a trip to germany and is isolating in berlin with mild symptoms. meanwhile, president biden's daughter, ashley biden, has

tested pitive for covid and will cancel plans to join first lady jill biden on a trip to central and south america. the kansas supreme court has upheld a republican-created congressional voting map rejected by voting rights groups as the result of partisan and racial gerrymandering. kansas' new map lowers the reelection chances of democratic representative sharice davids, who made history in 2018 by becoming one of the first two native americans elected to congress. i know wisconsin, two democrats who served as electoral college delegates have filed a first of its kind lawsuit against a slate of fake electors put forward by allies of donald trump in a bid to overturn joe biden's 2020 victory. president biden has invoked the defense production act in order to address the nationwide baby formula shortage, in hopes that the korean war-era law will boost the domestic manufacturing of formula. biden's decision to invoke the dpa underscores the severity of

the shortage which has left store shelves bare and many parents desperate to feed their infants. pres. biden:he defen producon act ges the vernmenthe abity to requirsuppliertoirec need resourc to infant formula manufacturers before any other custom who may have ordered that go. i'm alsonnouncin oration y formula. at is be ableo speed up the ported revenue forla and art getting more formulated -- formula just doors soon as possible. amy: to see our interview with david you can go to democracynow.org i monopolies. on wednesday, the house passed a $28 million emergency funding bill for the food and drug administration in order to address the formula crisis. here new york, 31-year-old rikers prisoner as died of what officials at the jail said was a drug overdose. mary yehudah was discovered in medical distress in a women's unit at rikers island on tuesday.

she died early wednesday in a nearby hospital in queens. yehudah is the fifth rikers prisoner to die this year and the 21st since the start of 2021. last month, the u.s. justice department said it might take control of the rikers island jail complex, citing an extraordinary level of violence and disorder at the jails. in minnesota, former minneapolis police officer thomas lane has pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree manslaughter over his role in the murder of george floyd two years ago. video of the 2020 killing shows lane helped to restrain floyd as then-officer derekhauvin pressed his knee into floyd's neck for over nine minutes, killing him. lane faces a suggested sentence of 36 months in prison. lane faces a suggested sentence of 36 months in prison. two other former officers, tou thao and j. alexander king, still face charges of aiding and abetting george floyd's murder at a trial scheduled in a state court next month. in a new landmark labor agreement, the u.s. soccer federation will be paying

members of its women's and men's teams equally. the deal stipulates that soccer players will receive the same pay when competing in international matches and, in an historic provision, dictates that u.s. soccer will address the gender disparity in the amount of prize money awarded by soccer's governing body fifa by pooling the prizes and redistributing them equally across members of both teams. as a supreme court appears poised to strike down roe v. wade, which legalized abortion across the u.s., democratic congas member lucy mcbath made an emotional appeal wednesday highlighting how attacks on abortion rights can impact treatments available to patients who, like her come have experiences with miscarriage and stillbirth. she spoke at a meeting of the house judiciary committee. >> after which failed pregnancy should i have been imprisoned? would it have it after the first miscarriage? after doctors used what would be an illegal drug to abort the lost fetus?

would you have put me in jail after the second miscarriage? perhaps that would have been the time most of forced to reflect confinement at the guilt i built, the guilt that so many women feel after losing their pregnancies, or would you have put me behind bars after my stillbirth? after i was forced to carry a dead fetus for weeks after asking god if i woes ever going to be able to raise a child and i asked because the same medicine used to treat my failed pregnancies is the same medicine states like texas would make illegal. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodn, joineby my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and ewers from around th country and around the world. amy: "the new york times" reporting talks to end war the

have collapsed. further apart than at any other part during the war. russia cleanse ukraine still has not responded to a draft peace agreement submitted april 15. "the times goes what reports ukraine has been bolstered by a flood of weapons from the u.s. and allies. the u.s. senate is expected to vote today to approve an additional $40 billion in military and economic aid to ukraine. meanwhile, leaders of france, germany, and italy are publicly calling for negotiations to end war the. on friday, the german chancellor augusto pinochet wrote on twitter come up with her must be a cease-fire as quickly as possible. last week, french president macron for the european parliament europe's duty should be to achieve a cease-fire not wage war with russia. a time for prime minister reo draghi also embraced the pushing for negotiations to reach a cease-fire. with the war in ukraine now and

it's 85th day, we turn to nina khrushcheva, professor international affairs, new school. co-author "in putin's footsteps: searching for the soul of an empire across russia's eleven time zones." she is the great-granddaughter of former soviet premier nikita khrushchev. her recent piece in foreign affairs is headlined "the coup in the kremlin." professor, if you could start off by commenting on some european western allies like germany, france, and italy saying there should be a negotiated settlement now yet we see at this point it looks like the talks between ukraine and russia have collapsed. can you talk about what has happened and what you think needs to happen to bring this to a close? >> thank you, amy, very much. well, germany has a bit of a kind of difficult road in trying to balance between russia and

ukraine to a degree because olaf scholz just recently said putin 's not ready for negotiations and ukraine is not going to agree to a forced settlement. so germany on one hand does want or does advocate for negotiated settlement, on the other hand, it depends -- it almost seems like it depends who olaf scholz talks to the last moment. i think italy has come up with an interesting -- i think it was five articles proposed of how you can negotiate. it is possible, what i'm hearing at least today from moscow, that moscow was seriously looking into it. it is not clear whether they are going to accept it. it is not clear whether a negotiation will rise up again. because for now, it seems to me both sides appear to want to have more military victories or

small victories as they are, and they think for now, for example russians feel they can take a little bit more of ukrainian territory and ukrainians feel they can, for example, they just expelled the russian forces -- the remaining russian forces from the city of kharkiv. the ukrainians feel it is possible they can in fact free out some of the ukrainian territory already taken by the russians. so what we know from time and, when their was a decision to keep on with taking territory, frame territories very difficult, very difficult to get to actual negotiations because military desire to win more territory wins. nermeen: could you respond to

those who say let's talk about the role of the u.s. in pushing for negotiations? first of all, if the u.s. has been doing that. and second of all, respond to those who say u.s. policy now has completely shifted whereas initially it was about defending ukraine, it is now about defeating russia. do you agree with that? and if so, what kind of defeat -- what would defeat look like for russia? >> thank you. i actually don't think it has shifted. i think it was pretty obvious from the beginning the united states did not expect russia to be doing so badly or the war going so slowly in a sense and putin having less victories that initially expected. remember on the american side, kyiv could be taken by the russians in three days.

it has not been taken at all. so far it does not seem to be under the russian plans whatsoever. but i think the regime change in a sense was american idea from the beginning. that is what the sanctions were, sort of the consorted and massive sanctions the russians called the economic weapons of mass destruction has been all about, this idea the russians uld get so traumatized that they would just get to the streets and sweep putin away or the oligarchs would get upset just go and have a coup. i don't know if the united states position has changed. it probably became -- ukrainians have shown it was a surprise. to me, i must say have shown incredible resilience. the negotiations were seemingly doing ok, the russians withdrew

from the areas of kyiv. for the russians, they say that was the idea that were just going to help negotiations but it was taken by the ukrainian side and the american side is the russians defeat and then or weapons went into ukraine. so i think the united states, it doesn't seem to be -- i have not seen any interest in negotiated positions because they do think ukraine can win or should win, but also one of the anchors -- american tv anchors told me, how do we putin get rid of putin? our response was, we may not because it is not a hollywood movie. not everything with a marble character victory. but it does save the united states things ukraine should be supported in its war effort, not a negotiation effort, till the very end because the victories of ukraine were not defeat of

ukraine are much greater than the -- then originally what was expected. nermeen: nina, you mentioned now the sanctions, the sanctions the u.s. has imposed on russia and what possibility they had putin to we can's -- weaken putin's position. what are t effects of the sanctions on ordinary people and what effect have they had on the regime? >> well, the regime has coached sanctions well enough. clearly, there's no western product whatsoever -- i have not been in moscow since then, but i was told just gaping holes in the luxury and on luxury western stores all over moscow and all

over russian cities. so that is not a pretty picture. it does seem to be very upsetting for the russians. mcdonald's, symbol orussian global -- russia joining the global american formula, the mcdonald's shop, store -- mcdonald's restaurant in the center of moscow closed. what russians were able to do, and i don't know how -- it is only three months. it is not enough time to really see the consequences. but that mcdonald's now is going have a different name and they say 90% of what mcdonald's was doing is going to be done there. so the symbol of a donald's is gone, but the product may remain and still seem to be remitted but i think what it also does for the russians is they get very angry at the west. they're angry at putin for what

they put them into but when the west close -- it is summarily a punishment, summary punishment of all russians whether they support the war or not. that makes them very angry in the west and very upset at the west because they feel like they are between a rock and a hard place. theyave no placeo go. they have no visas. they are given no csideration when they try to flee abroad. a lot who did flee are brought at the beginning of the war in february and march now have to come back because they cannot open bank accounts and so on and so forth. i think that should be something addressed in other western countries should look into, how to actually bolster silver society -- civil society rather than completely killing whatever is lt. amy: professor nina khrushcheva, you wrote a piece called "the coup in the kremlin." why don't you lay that out for

us and how you think it shapes russia's invasion of ukraine. >> thank you, amy, it is a really long piece. well, putin as we know was a kgb lieutenant colonel when he took over the position first of the prime ministry in 1999 and then became president of russia in 2000. so it was in many ways a kgb coup. i start my peace with him joking speaking to the security forces for the kind of an official and then became official holiday on december 20 that the order -- the security forces order of infiltrating the has echelon of political power has now achieved. that was a joke but it was not a joke because a lot of people who oversaw or who have been overseeing oil and gas industry and so on and so forth, the bank

industry, they were putin's friends and colleagues, former friends and colleagues from kgb. but my argument is what happened february 24 is, as i call it, fsb on fsb coup. before even if they kgb people -- summarily, security people were in charge, it was also kind of a half operation. you can push more, you can push back, but they were also understanding that russian security should be very strong security abroad but it should also be part of the world. therefore, it wasn't really summarily being suppressed in any and all forms. but february 24, some security officials or many security officials -- we know they were not ready. it was putin's decision and yet the collective security apparatus took it as a sign that

now oppression in russia is their primary consideration because russia is the state that needs to withstand the demands of the west, withstand the attacks of the west the way they are presented. so the functional talk see that was there until february 24 now has been replaced through absolutely blind, faceless security bureaucracy. and that is what this war in ukraine, in addition to everything else, is all about. so one of the things that is interesting, well, putin is gone and it will get better. well,, get less toxic, but i don't think it will get better. once security is in charge with russia -- we have seen it over centuries of history, and charge of russia, it is not giving its power that easily. russia may be less toxic to the

world, but it certainly -- infinitely more oppressive within russia. nermeen: you just said the decision to invade ukraine was putin's decision. on what grounds did he make this decision? many have pointed out that this was of course catastrophic for ukraine but also catastrophic for russia. what kind of intelligence were these security officials giving him that allowed him to make this decision, which appears to have gone -- the invasion seem to have gone quite differently from how they might have imagined? >> absolutely. i wrote about it in the piece but i also write about it in previous pieces that i've written explaining this because putin, as i said, a kgb man. so that was run like a clandestine operation, essentially. only a few people knew what was

going on. in fact, the army itself did not know when it was going to go full weight into ukraine are just eastern parts of it. but also, it is absolute -- putin has been on top of the state for 22 years. there has been security forces that were feeding information about ukraine and its nazi president or western control government and what ukrainians are suffering from, that kind of nazi-type oppression because nobody in their right mind really believes that putin would go and do this because that really is come as you said, not only destroyed ukraine, it also completely -- ukraine will rebuild and will be better than ever, but russia will be destroyed for decades if not centuries to come because nobody is going to believe us that we are going to become a normal

country one day. so that intelligence fed to him was the intelligence he wanted to hear. that is, ukraine is ready to fold and embrace russia as the leader of the state that somehow putin he would put together. it is not enough time that has passed, but i think from when there is more time passed, it would be one of the most incredible research in history, how on earth this complete disinformation, misinformation resulted in this catastrophic decision for not just ukraine, not just for russia, but also for the world at large. nermeen: nina, could you talk a little bit about the response within russia to the extent that you are aware of it not among the people so much come as among officials?

earlier this week, there is a video that was widely circulated of a former russian colonel who appeared to be critical of perceptions of the war in russia and among the security establishment. this is a clip. >> first, i just say you should not take information. somemes you ar reportsf the moral psychological breakdown in the ukrainian armed forces, that their mood is allegedly close to a crisis. to put it mildly, this is not true. the situation for us will clearly get worse. the biggest problem with our miliry and politic situation is that we are in total geopolitical isolation and the whole rld is agasts even if we don't want to admit it. nermeen: nina, could you respond to that?

especially given the fact he was speaking on state television? and then he appeared again a couple of days later just on wednesday and seemed to express very, very different opinion. so there has been speculation he was warned not to speak out in this fashion. >> absolutely. good for him. he actually what ashley absolutely was warned not to talk about it. what we hear from officials who originally on figure 21st when putin announced russia would recognize the independence of dotsk in the hands republics, i think we spoke about it on the program, in complete shock about it. then they immediately -- not immediately but soon enough, settle down, figure it out, somewhere warned, some were

threatened, some just did not have any place to go in a sense. suddenly whatever he is saying is now considered treason. officials who originally were in shock were now the ones saying if you talk negatively about the russians, as they call it special military operations, or you talk about the russian forces, military forces that are not advancing as fast as they should, that amounts to treason. so on and so forth. with the officials, clearly, there is an inside dissent but very rarely you can hear it publicly. in fact, more and more so we hear from those officials with absolute terror in their eyes how they just now stand behind

russia. it is something the united states just now, iconic character, the icon of russian hard rock just had a concert in which -- before that he spoke what motherland means to him and spoke of the war. after the concert, he was immediately detained and a day or graded -- and interrogated and there's a lawsuit against him. he was the icon of the russian rock. basically, martial law that is not being announced as a martial law but it affects everybody. it affects people who try to protest and can't because they immediately are detained. celebrities and of course officials and the oligarchs. that is why from the arlo parks, think only 3 -- i write about it in my article -- only three have

spoke mildly or forcefully against the war and the rest are silent. that is the kgb force. and if, have studied putin. what about the exposure of his family? it is so rare to learn about, for example, the sanctioning of his two daughters, of his longtime girlfriend. what does this do to him? >> nothing. nothing. amy: then let me ask ather question. at the end of your book, since we have so little time, talk about kremlin officials saying this will war the way the soviet union pulled out of afghanistan in the late 1980's. at does that look like? >> that looks like they withdrew from afghanistan after 10 years of horrible war in 1989 with the tail between your legs,

completely humiliated. as we remember in 1991, the soviet union collapsed so that is what those officials who do not speak publicly but sometimes speak to people like me, say they envisioned this resume will fold. what they don't know is when that happens. amy: finally, before we end, i want to play comment plate for you made by former president george w. bush. it was wednesday. he spoke at his presidential center in dallas about the invasion of ukraine, the speech took an unexpected turn. president bush: checks and balances in russia and -- the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of iraq -- i mean, of ukraine. barak. anyway.

amy: that is video of bush's comments. they have gone viral. responding -- professor, your response? >> well, i agree. the russians have been playing that clip with the comments, "look who is talking." that is their response, your lecturing as on our unjust war and look what you have done all around the world. i go back, as i always do, to my former mentor george kennett who wrote an article in foreign affairs in 1995, calling it un-american principles. when america does things like it did in iraq, the people like kim jong-un, people like putin would go in and say, "well, america

can do it. why can't we?" amy: nina khrushcheva, professor international affairs, new school. co-author "in putin's footsteps: searching for the soul of an empire across russia's eleven time zones." great-granddaughter of former soviet premier nikita khrushchev. we will link to your piece in foreign affairs headlined "the coup in the kremlin." next up, speak to the head of brady about the status of gun control after the racist massacre in buffalo saturday. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "if we keep doing nothing" by kris allen. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. saturday's racist massacre in buffalo, new york, was the 198 mass shooting of this year. and mass shooting is often defined as when four or more

people are shot or killed. the 18-year-old white gunman killed 10 people, all of them black come at a supermarket in the heart of buffalo's black community. investigators say payton gendron posted online about the racist ideology that drove his attack and created a private chat room on discord about 30 minutes beforehand, sharing his plans with others. payton gendron also wrote online about how he legally bought at a local gun store the bushmaster xm-15 semiautomatic weapon then illegally modified it to use a high-capacity magazine. he also had a rifle and shotgun. law enforcement officials say payton gendron was taken to emergency room for mental health evaluation last year after he turned on a high school project about murder-suicide. he waited for 15 hours for the evaluation that took 15 minutes

and was not involuntarily committed. the incident did not generate for red flag to prevent him from legally accessing deadly firearms. in response to the attack, the house of representatives approved the domestic terrorism act with report -- support of just one republicalawmaker that calls for the domestic terrorism offices within the department of justice and homeland security. more than the half of the terrorist incidents in the united states were people have died over the last 10 years having comtted by right wing white supremacist extremists. meanwhile, new york governor announced investigation into cial media platforms that payton gendron use. for more, we are joined by kris brown, president of brady, one of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the u.s. it seems like there's is hardly a discussion right now about gun control, about laws passed to

rivet -- in the past, you can have a child, teenager. angry but they don't have access to these high-capacity weapons. now they do -- all over this country. what are you demanding happen? >> we have demanded that the federal government, congress passed an assault weapons ban. brady was responsible year after passing the background checks in 1993 [indiscernible] proliferation of mass shootings with assault weapons at that time. enacted in 1994 and assault weapons ban. that was in effect, and porcelain, just for a decade because at the vy last minute in the sene, a provision was included in that lawhat sunset that law after a decade.

so it exped, psed not because it wasn't working. l of the research shows for the decade that that federal assault weapons ban was in effect, use our ruction in the use of those kinds of weapons in any kind of mass killing. in fact, the states that have a software it wasn't -- assault weapons ban also sell reduction. we know these will work. we demand we restrict production of high-capacity magazines or large capacity magines. in this particular instance, what happened in buffalo is that the shooter went out of the state of new york to purchase, apparently, exactly that, large capacity magazine, and the modified the firearm that he had to take that large capacity

magazine. we see this time and time and time again with respect to these shooters and these shootings. the use of a large capacity magazine. because most of these guns have magazines that just hold 10 rounds. large capacity magazines are those that hold more. in some cases, 100 rounds. why is that important? because time is against you if you're carrying out these kinds of acts. the time it takes to stop and reload and put a new magazine on is the time in which you could be tackled, and it which you yourself could be shot. the shooter in his manifesto notes using exactly these kinds of weapons for those kinds of purposes. it is obvious what we need to do. our frustration is actually right now in the united states senate because we are passing these kinds of bills. we have a background check will pending for the second term of

congress in a row in the united states senate and there it sits. we have enough votes stop we have done the count. we could pass a background check in the united states senate but for the filibuster. the same filibuster that is stopping the progress around the voting rights act, around a variety of other important priorities of president biden, so brady also has loudly and will continue to proclaim the filibuster is telling us. -- killing us. the reason we say that, let's think about what this means for our democracy. we understand the issue of guns for no good reason has become polarized and politicized in america. but americans agree on the solution. 90% plus of americans across this country want the brady law to be expanded. the bill that is sitting in the senate.

over a simple majority. 67% of americans wanted assault weapons ban. why aren't we getting these things through? because of certain arcane laws or rules -- not even a law -- like the filibuster that stops the debate on laws like this that nine out of 10 americans want the brady law because the filibuster demands 60 votes for any of these things to come forward. so these things are connected, to be honest. our issue of gun violence prevention is connected deeply with issues related to our democracy. and that is why we are taking those on, to, and really want all americans to understand if you want this change, we need to end the filibuster. we have done every thing we can as an organization, activism, showing up voting, getting the

house of representatives to pass these kinds of bills. we need to end the filibuster not if we want the next step to happen, which is the enactment of these laws. that could happen tomorrow because we have the votes i'm background checks, which would be an important first step, if we end the filibuster. nermeen: can you talk about whether biden could take and should take the executive action on this, given the obstacles in congress? >> absolutely. yes, he should and he has. i have a huge amount of respect for the president. i know having talked to him he is deeply, deeply frustrated and upset by the continuation of gun violence in this country. that is why he campaigned on tackling this issue. he hopes, like all americans,

that congress would do its job. its failure to do that has not stopped him from issuing a series of executive action. strengthening the enforcement ability of the atf, the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms to regulate the sale of arms in this country which is an essential first step in strengthening the brady law. but significant increases in his budget to help fund things like effective and efficient background checks across the country. effective and efficient for the atf to shut down and reform the 5% of gun dealers that are responsible for the 90% of crime guides across the country which is driving homicide rate everywhere, including in places like new york which has very strong gun laws that has huge amount of guns coming in so lawfully but to traffickers who then use them to sell them in

places like new york. he is also focused on the sue of ghost guns. somportant he has banned ghost guns. he needs to continue those efforts, though. looking at the problem as a comprehensive problem that touches so many americans. we loose 45,000 americans a year to gun violence. that is 2020 numbers. that is the highest rate in 25 years of gun deaths, surpassing auto fatalities as the number one killer of americans today. american youth. we need to fix this. what we have to do -- what i would like the press to do is talk much more frequently about the fact this is a public health epidem and we need toackle it like th. so while he has moved a lot of

executive actions forward that rely foc on doj -- department of justice -- i would like to see him move more exec of action forward that focuses on the public health action -- angle of this and incense agencies through hhs, health and human services, medicaid and medicare, cdc, and other federal agencies to look at the comprehensively and think through how we can prevent gun violence in this country. why is that important? because for 20 years -- amy: 20 seconds. close the cdc was prohibited from researching gun violence. we want the president to call it what it is, this is a public health epidemic. let's treat it like we did automobile gun fertility's in the 50's. have a comprehensive response. the thing is, it is response. if we do that, i'm confident we

can save lives. i think that is in america all of us need to have. it is one that is worthy of how great we say we are. amy: kris brown, thank you for being with us, president of brady, one of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the u.s. next up, we go to chile. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "santiago" by the chilean band newen afrobeat. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn to history in the making inhile, where the draft of a new constitution was presented this week that could replace the one implemented during the dictatorship of general augusto pinochet. the president of chile's constitutional convention maría elisa quinteros presented the draft of chile's new constitution during a ceremony monday. >> it should be noted the text we have built together outside the center of chile and the yearning of millions of chileans. this draft captures the spirit of a new chile, a chile on the foundation of decades of effort is taking a step into the future. these are the wishes of millions of citizens who placed their

dreams and hopes in this process . this text materializes a new way of treating one another, new wave life in our country where everyone can feel protective. amy: the new constitution would recognize for the first time chile's indigenous peoples. codify reproductive rights, make our education free, require gender equality under the government, and require it to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. not in included in the drive for plans to nationalize parts of the countries mining industry, work on the final version of the draft is underway post of chileans are such a vote on it september 4. recent polls show fewer than 30% currently say they would vote yes. for more, we go to santiago to speak with pablo abufom, a member of chile's solidaridad movement, an anti-capitalist and feminist organization. welcome back to democracy now! talk about the significance of what took place this week. >> good to be here.

this finally ends the neoliberal constitution imposed by the dictatorship. this is very important. it has been the demand of social movements, of civil society in chile for decades. this is probably a new step in our politica crisis that began october 2019 where we had huge popular revolt and assent? and other big cities -- in santa? another big cities in chile when had millions of people taking to the streets to demand the guarantee of social rights and end to neoliberal policies and also gender equality and recognition of indigenous peoples rights. this new constitution -- the draft of the new constitution is finally a place where all those

aspirations have a space, are recognized. this is also very rebel and because it is the first constitution that is democratically written. -- this is also very important because it is the first constitution that was democratically written. social movements like invar mental groups and feminist movements. we have a body that is democratic that is a huge contrast with previously written by followers of the dictatorship but also in the past written by a small group of experts among politicians, lawyers, etc. this is a completely historical milestone for our recent history. nermeen: pablo, could you talk about what you know how much

support the draft constitution has? we just mentioned that at the moment only 40% of people in chile say they would vote in favor of this. >> yeah, we have to say that the samples that say that are the polls that say the people are not approvingly change of the constitution or the people who said that the neofascist right-wing candidates was going to win the election and it was a progressive who won. not too much to find in those polls but a lot of the aspirations of the [indiscernible] the conservatives, nationalists, and defenders of the neoliberal model. the actual references that we have is not just the polls, but we have 80% vote for a new

constitution, a majority for independence and leftist groups and civil society to change a neoliberal constitution, and then we have a massive turnout to vote for gabriel boric as the progressive president against the fascist right-wing candidate. those are the actual facts that we have. the rest are polls that tend to be -- the talk more about the aspirations of the people who commissioned those polls than the actual opinion of the people. nermeen: pablo, what about the fact one of the provisions was excled terkel 27 which would have nationalize the mining industry? if you could talk about the significance of that and in particular lithium and the significant -- the importance of lithium to the economy in chile and what that

had to do with this decision? >> well, chile is an economy based on the extraction of raw materials. in mining, it is the main activity in terms of extraction of copper and now lithium has become the new thing. and so the dispute around who can -- whether the state can have an economic activity in terms of the extraction of lithium or just private companies is mostly multinational corporations that are currently mining a lot of the chilean minerals right now. that is one of the main disputes. it mobilized a lot of support. there was actually a popular initiative built for the constitution that was proposing the nationalization of the mines and other natural resources. i think that we have to take into account our constitution is

not going to solve all their problems. there are still a lot of things that are going to be part of future struggles. the constitution opens a new political period for those struggles, so it definitely -- the constitution is not enshrining nationalization, but nationalization of natural resources is a way to solve an economic crisis that is ongoing. to pay for the social rights that are being enshrined in the constitution, it is definitely on the table and it is going to be parof the political struggle in the next decades probably. amy: what are the plans to galvanize support? this is going to be a referendum all over the country in september for this constitution and how much do you expect it will change? >> well, the thing is that since the beginning of the constitution convention, the right wing and the great losers of that election are having --

doing a dirty campaign of fake news and promoting rejection of the new constitution. even this morning it was written or even before we could see any of the articles, so they have a lot advantage in that sense. they have been doing it for a long time. and now social movement and civil society is mobilizing for an approval of the new constitution, and now we are seeing with the draft in her hands, we're going to go to the streets to talk to people and communicate the actual changes. i think those polls reflect the controls of the mainstream media have on the political narrative in chile. we see that they have been talking most of the information -- amy: 10 seconds. >> most of the mainstream media is fake news and now we're going to see what people think about the actual constitution, enshrining of social rights, of

reproductive rights, gender parity, democratic process. amy: we have to leave it there and we thank you so much pablo abufom, member of chile's solidaridad movement, an anticapitalist group. happy birthday to eli putnam anñ

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