09/13/22 09/13/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> my lords and members of the house commons, we gather today in remembrance of the remarkable span of the queen' dedicated service to her nations and people. y: as king charles iii addresses parliament, we will look at the legacy obritish

colonialism in the caribbean and growing calls for reparations. we will speak to mutabaruka, a renowned dub poet in jamaica, as well as dorbrene o'marde, chair of the antigua and barbuda reparations commission. and we talk to former greek nance minister yanis varoufakis about the energy war between russia and the west. as russia cuts off gas supplies to europe via the nord strem i pipeline, varoufakis is pushing a controversial proposal. >> end sanctions on russian energy. the only people who benefit from the sanctions on russians gas and oil, are the russian oligarchs and european oligarchs. amy: plus, as tension rises between the united states and china, we will look at how u.s. militarism is transforming the u.s. territory of guam in the pacific. we will speak with julian aguon, a leading lawyer and writer.

his new book "no country for the eight spot butterflies" is out today. >> i would like to be there to try to sort of imagine the irreaceable buty that is at stake with regard to this canopy of u.s. militarization, with regard to the u.s. military is doing now in my homeland. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russia has ruled out the prospect of talks to end the war in ukraine after ukrainian troops made major gains reclaiming territory seized by russia after its invasion in february. on monday, kremlin spokesperson dmitry peskov said the conict would continue until russia's goals had all been achieved. meanwhile, ukraine is appealing to the u.s. and its allies for more heavy weaponry.

president volodymyr zelenskyy on monday urged the pentagon to speed up deliveries of weapons systems, say a pair of counteroffensive's had broken a week long stalemate with russia. >> since the beginning of september, our lawyers have liberated more than000 square kilometers of ukrainian territory. our troops are continuing to advance. amy: later in the show, we will look at how the war in ukraine is leading to an energy war in europe. we'll speak with former gre finance minister yanis varoufakis. in the caspian region, a november 2020 ceasefire between azerbaijan and armenia has unraveled as fresh fighting erupted over the disputed territory of nagorno-karabakh. armenia says 49 of its soldiers were killed in clashes along its border with azerbaijan. meanwhile, azerbaijan's foreign ministry accused armenia of shelling civilian infrastructure in a large-scale provocation. 44 days of fighting in 2020 drove thousands of ethnic

armenians from their homes in nagorno-karabakh and claimed the lives of 7000 people. the u.s. justice department has subpoenaed more than three dozen former aides of president trump this week as it steps up its probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. officials also seized the phones of boris epshteyn and mike roman, two people in trump's orbit who sought to name alternative slates of electors in states won by biden. meanwhile, the justice department said monday it would accept former federal judge raymond dearie as a special master to review hundreds of documents the fbi seized last month when it raided trump's mar-a-lago estate in florida. many of the files were marked "top secret." trump has argued he declassified all the documents before leaving office. the justice department says it may still appeal the decision to appoint a special master, which

came from u.s. district judge aileen cannon, who was nominated to the federal bench in 2020 by then-president trump. pakistan's government is warning it could take up to six months for flood waters to recede after record monsoon rains and glacial meltwater has left a third of pakistan's territory underwater. the flooding uprooted 33 million people and has claimed over 1400 lives. public health officials are warning of the growing threat of waterborne diseases like cholera and dengue. on monday, pakistan's army raced to shore up flood defenses at a major por station in the southern province of sindh, which supplies electricity to millions of people. nearby, a major dust storm uprooted hundreds of tents at a camp for people recently made homeless by the climate disaster. >> our village, our town were all submerged. we came here more living in

tents. now the weather has become so bad. it is started raining. 's or anyone who can help us? please help us. amy: public health officials are warning of worsening air quality across much of western north america as fire season heats up amid a historic drought. in canada, nearly 200 wildfires are burning across british columbia. among those forced to evacuate the flames monday were 350 workers with the trans mountain oil pipeline expansion project. a thick pall of smoke has settled over city of vancouver, which had the worst air quality in the world on monday. meanwhile, seattle is experiencing some its worst air pollution in years. in northern california, fire crews are battling the mosquito fire, which has burned nearly 65 square miles, threatening thousands of homes east of sacramento. in southern california, rescue crews pulled several trapped drivers from their vehicles monday after the remnants of a rare post-tropical cyclone moved into the region, triggering

flash flooding and mudslides. king charles iii is flying to belfast, northern ireland today as mourners continue to gather at st. giles cathedral in edinburgh when the body of queen elizabeth's coffin lies in rest. during the queen's reign, more than 3600 people died over three decades in northern ireland in fighting between the irish republican army and forces backed by britain. in 1979, an ira bombing killed lord louis mountbatten, the queen's second cousin. in 2012, the queen famously shook hands with former ira leader and politician martin mcguinness in belfast. last week, sinn fein leader michelle o'neill paid tbute to the queen. >> there's no doubt she leaves a legacy of someone who advanced peace and reconciliation, someone who sought to build relations. i think that should very much be

remembered here. amy: meanwhile, a 22-year-old man in edinburgh was arrested monday for heckling prince andrew over his ties to the late convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. the protester was arrested after calling out "andrew, your sick old man" later saying "powerful men shouldn't be allowed to commit sexual crimes and get away with it." a new united nations report finds nearly one in every 100 -- announcing the findings monday. >> that is an extraordinary figure. 27.6 million people compelled to work and even worse news is this represents an increase of previous estimates published in

2017, an increase of 2.7 million. amy: the ilo says further 22 may people are in forced marriages. the report notes -- "entrapment in forced labor can last years, while in most cases forced marriage is a life sentence." back in the united states, 15,000 nurses in minnesota have launched a three-day strike demanding wage increases, better patient care, and relief from staffing shortages. the minnesota nurses association says it's the largest private sector nurses strike in u.s. history. meanwhile, some 2000 therapists, psychologists, social workers, and counselors at kaiser permanente clinics in california and hawaii have entered the second month of a strike demanding better care for mental health patients. in more labor news, u.s. freight railroads have reduced service and amtrak cancel trips through long-distance routes as more than 110,000 rail workers threatened to go on strike this week to protest deteriorating

working conditions. so far 10 of 12 units representing both freight and passenger rail workers have agreed to new contractors but units representing some 60,000 engineers and conductors remain at an impasse. a strike is currently scheduled for 12:01 friday. workers want paid sick leave and said they're being pushed to work ruling schedules threatening safety. in alabama black pastor who was , a arrested while watering his neighbor's flowers while they were away has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of childersburg and the police officers involved in his arrest. michael jennings is the longtime pastor at vision of abundant life church in a nearby town. he is also a former police officer. his arrest took place in may but police body cam footage was only recently released. >> do you live here? >> no. >> they're saying this vehicle

is not supposed to be here and you're not supposed to be here. >> i'm supposed to be here. i live across the street. and pastor jennings. i'm looking out for their house while they are gone. watering their flowers. >> do you have id? >> i did not do nothing wrong. >> i'm not saying you did anything wrong. there's this visitors -- this is a suspicious person. amy: police later handcuffed pastor jennings and arrested him on charges of obstructing government operations. and a pioneering film maker has died at the age of 91. his 1960 debut film "breathless" help to find the french new wave movement which revolutionized cinema. he once said, "a film consists of a beginning, middle, and an end, though not necessarily in that order." and those are some of the headlines.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, with juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: as king charles iii addresses the british parliament for the first time as british monarch, we begin today's looking at the legacy of british colonialism in the caribbean, where there are growing calls for reparations. the caribbean at one point formed the heart of england's first colonial empire in north america. many of the more than 2.5 million enslaved africans taken to the british caribbean were worked to death. the string of island nations includes jamaica, barbados, the bahamas, antigua and barbuda, and trinidad and tobago, among many others now in the british commonwealth. following the death of queen elizabeth ii, the prime minister

of the twin-island nation antigua and barbuda said voters may soon decide whether to leave the commonwealth and become a republic. prime minister gaston browne spoke to itv news aftehe confirmed charles iii as king and head of state. >> this is an active hostility or any difference between antia and rbuda and the monarchy, but i is the final ep, as i said before, to compete the cycle of independence to ensure we are truly -- >> what sort of timeframe? >> probably in the next three years. amy: this comes after barbados voted last year to break from its colonial past and become a republic. meanwhile, in jamaica, the ruling labour party says it also plans to hold referendum on becoming a republic. for more, we are joined in kingston, jamaica, by the renowned jamaican dub poet, mutabaruka, who also a musician and radio show host. and in st.ohn's antigua,

dorbrene'marde is the chairperson of the antigua and barbudreparations commission. also an ambassador at large of antigua. we welcome you both to democracy now! dorbrene o'marde, let's begin with you. with the death of the queen, first your response, and then what you're calling foror your country. >> it is good to be here. thank you for having me. in terms of my response, i will be very measured here. i recognize are talking about death, talking about the ls of man life. e queen had family, etc. but i am under no obligation to be mourning. that is simply because -- think my understanding of

history, my understding oth relationship of the british narchy to african people on the continent and here in e caribbean. so that my responsis perhaps to recognize the role th the queen has played, how sheas managed to cloak the historical brutality of empire a pump and petra tree -- pageant. but i think at this point in time, we need to examine -- juan: speaking of that history, for those people who are not aware especily of the roles of king charles i and kingharles

ii in the caribbean, especially towardour country, could you talkbout that? >> wl, the role of the monarchy, so we're going back now to the 17th century, the 1600s to king charles i, i think the monarch that opened the trade bween britain and africa. that w originally gold, minerals, etc. that opened that trade up to human traicking, to the enslavement, to the moventf enslaving africa. king charles ii who followed him, actually was responsible, along with his cousin, respsible and ownership of the rol african -- that moved more

africans off of the continent into the americas and anyther -- than any other cpany in history. what we' talking about here is the iolvement of british monarchy and the ownership a operation of the tnsatlantic, of the movement of africans to . we see this movement, even before charles i, with elizabeth i, the recurrence, of course, and the names we're talking about. so we know should be mourning the death of elizabeth ii the second and welcoming charles iii, [indiscernible]

virtually no mourning for me at this moment. juan: i would also like to bring in mutabaruka, the root noun jamaican poet -- renowned jamaican poet, musician. your response to the death of queen elizabeth and also the british pire's relationship to jamaica? >> good morning. ndiscernible] queen elizabeth was not responsible for what her ancestors did. ndiscernible]

talking about cooperation, and institution, the monarch of england. [indisrnible]

she was named queen of englan when she was in kenya. [indcernible]

[indiscernible] people done because of the institutionalized --

[indiscernible]

[indiscernible] in an independent country. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] that is still honoring -- [indiscernible]

amy: mutabaruka -- >> i am not one of them who is mourning. amy: mutabaruka, i wanted to ask your response to prince charles just a few weeks ago, praising the contribution of jamaicans to british life as immeasurable and in a message commemorating jamaica 60 years of independence from the u.k. now you have jamaica also

talking, like antigua and barbuda, of a referendum on complete independence, on becoming a republic. what do you think the outcome of that will be and what would reparations and an apology look like to you, be adequate for you? by the w, it is an honor to speak with you after so many years. yes, yes. actionspeak louder tha words. [indiscernible] us to understand africans in this part of the world --

not apologizing. he did that already. we need somebody [indiscernible] sorry, i am going to make amends. get something going -- [indiscernible] my ancestors never asked to come here. repatriation.

going back to africa -- [indiscernible] that you're trying to break free from. [indiscernible]

juan: mutabaruka, i would like to bring in on this issue of reparations, dorbrene o'marde. if you could tell us in the letter your commission summit into the royal family, what were some of the dends on how do you sereparations? >> it was our cond letr addressed to british monarch. earlier, i think a year two before, prince harry was here. this year or last year.

i am getting lost. the other brother was hereho is now,, i guess in line to be the next king of england. . tired and rather insulted by their approach of lling us thingshat we already knew. that we knew that slavery was horrible. they did not have to tell us that. pre that genocide was committed. they did not have to tell us at. r letter simile said, do not comeere and insult us further by saying things that tony blair has already said, that or minister of foren affairs had come andddress t parliament in jamaica and the caribbean people, the descendants of enslaved people, to tell as we

should forget it and move on. that iessentially what was said in our letter. in response to the other part of your question, whadoes this -- what does repations look like for us what does this moment mean to us? i ink certainly you're asking written' -- its role ithe intentional on the development, asking britain to reasse its role in the gocid and the plunder, and the violence erteon african peoe come on the continent, and he in the cabbean. and assess its role that it must understand clearly that morality the situationthe ethicsf the

situation, calls for repair. and in that rair, w essentially are talking reparations, that you have committed crimes against humanity and that there is a moral and ethical demand that you acknowledge these crimes and you do your best in the best way you cano make whole the holes in the history of the african people. the reparations commissio h a 10 point plan that defines all of the international community, the carbean. the plan w have is a

developmen plan, a ntract to the legacy reparation plan that e being developed where individuals are identified as the recipients of reparation. the platalks of devopment. identifies those aas in our development where the hurt of enslavement and genocide continues to exist and continues to impacon the lives of caribbean people today. and were saying in that development plan thatat we are inviting -- i think that is the word we have to use at this point -- europe to sit at the table with us and to discuss this development plan and years

of education, health care. include in that, question of repatriation of those persons o want to go back to the continent. amy: dorbrene o'marde, we ve 15 seconds. >> we are talking psychological. we're talking debts. a number within that 10 point plan. amy: we will link to that 10 point plan at democracynow.org. dorbrene o'marde, chair of the antigua and barbuda reparations commission. and by sutter at large of antigua. mutabaruka, renowned jamaican dub poet, speaking to us from kingston. coming up, former greek finance minister yanis varoufakis on the growing energy war between russia and the west. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "angola invasion," by our guest mutabaruka from his 1983 album "check it!" this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as ukraine continues to seize more russian-occupied land in its largest counteroffensive to date, we turn now to look at how the war in ukraine is leading to an energy war in europe. last week, russia announced it would not resume sending natural gas to europe via the nord stream 1 pipeline until the west lifts sanctions imposed after

russia invade ukraine in february. prior to the war, russia supplied europe with 40% of its natural gas. now european nations are scrambling to find ways to cope with gas shortages, as well as soaring energy prices. there are growing fears the energy crisis could lead to rolling blackouts and the shuttering of some industries during the winter. we go now to greece to speak with yanis varoufakis. member of the greek parliament and former finance minister of greece. his latest piece for project syndicate is headlined "time to blow up electricity markets." yanis varoufakis, welcome back to democracy now! what you mean? >>t is an abomination. there ca'te -- there's one single wire carrying electricity.

the only way we could market is if we have different wires and we could choose which one we connect our appliances to. but that is completely crazy because it would be running through every city, through every land. that would be so inefficient. what we have is [inscernible]

the impact of a fake market emerges during peods of stress like in the970's. [indiscernible] the prices we pay have risen by a much greater factor in the cost of reducing electricity. you have the oligarchs that are dominating this fake market, pseudo-market, benefiting tremendously out of his crisis. juan: i wanted to ask you about europe made a decision clearly

following the collapse of the soviet union that it would integrate its economy, especially when it came to energy with russia, now of course being forced rapidly to move for others sources of gas and oil. could you talk about this decision of the -- the original decision and now the change and what the impact of europe's strategic decisions are having on the rest of the world? >> if you look at it historically, the decisi goes back in the early 1970's, west germany and the soviet union started this arrangement by providing gas to e german industrial machine in exchae for cash that the soviet union was collecti. the tragedy is that since the

collapse in 2008, -- lehman brothers collapse in 2008 which brought down the banking sector in europe and precipitated major economic and social crisis, with greece been the worst hit, but german france, italy, sin. during that period, we did not invest in energy, renewables. we had zero investments. to decouple from russia. it is only now that the chickens are coming home to roost across europe. juan: and the affect on the global south of europe buying up gas and oil wherever it could find it? awful, isn't it.

we are exporting -- in 2008, 2009, 2010, the crisis, the french banks, europe exploded inflation to the rest of the world. now are exporting poverty. which extends to food poverty. as we spea there is a scramble germany, france, italy to buy all the gas we can in liquefied form from wherev they are selling it. of course, ridge europe -- rich europe. there pushing prices up. at the same time, food shortages

are hitting those countries. if europe is exporting misery to the rest of the world -- we have doing this for years. amy: if you could talk about your call for an end to russian sanctions and your response to the latest kind of ukrainian bliss taking back city after town. russia sang they would not negotiate at this point? >> it is a tragedy when people are not negotiating wherever were happens. but i uld say never innovated country manages -- whenever and invaded country manages -- i rejoice. i would rejoice if they managed to climb back the stolen nd. i would rejoice everywhere and

ywhere invaded people claim their homes, their cities, villages, whatever. havi said that, we have a comple tragedy here with ukraine because i cannot see this war ending. there could be to victory either for putin or -- very little doubt pin as we spk is plannin another murderous escapade in different parts of ukraine. we are in for a very long war. victims of which -- which will spread far and wide. ople dying of hungern africa, latin america. an inflammation of the new cold war between united states and europe on the one hand and china

and russia on the other hand with african nations, asian nations pulling their hair out because clearly they don't like putin or what he is doing but refuse to accept the government, or the europeans can impose sanctions on anyone they don't like. because they know these sanctions have never been efficient or in interest of the majority of people or majority of countries. juan: i am wondering the big story the corporate and commercial media the past few days haseen the death of queen elizabeth, your perspective from -- as a leftist political leader from greece about all the fixation in much of the western world over monarchs and

obviously the royal family of britain? >> i try to think of whenever somebody dies, independently of my opinion of the deceased, to respect the people who are in grief. therefore, iill rtrain in my sponse. let me give you a response. my grief is for civil liberties, for freedom of expression. in acquaintance of mine the other day had a very interesting experience in the parliament in london. there was an arrest of a demonstrator who had the audacity to hold up lacquered up -- a placard up which he

scribbled "not my king" a charles passed by. this person was arrested. went to the same spot and had a blank piece of paper and a pen and the police came along and they were about to jump onim. he says to them, if i write on this piece of paper "not my king,," will you arrest me? they said yes. so they were waiting. democracy now! this something we should all be very aware of. amy: yanis varoufakis, thank you for being with us, member of the greek parliament and former finance minister of greece. we will link to your piece in project syndicate headlined "time to blow up electricity markets." next up, julian aguon.

his new book "no country for the eight spot butterflies." ♪♪ [music break] amy: the great jazz pianist ramsey lewis, who has died at the age of 87. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as tension rises between the united states and china, we look at how u.s. militarism in guam, the westernmost territory of the united states, during world war

ii was a key naval and air force base united states in the pacific. the was expanding its military operations in guam. the pentagon's 2023 budget calls for nearly $900 million to build a new missile defense system on guam. the u.s. is also moving ahead with plans to relocate 5000 marines to guam and build a new machine gun range near wildlife refuge. we're joined now by julian aguon m a leading chamoru writer and human rights lawyer from guam. he is the founder of the law firm blue ocean law and a 2022 pulitzer prize finalist for commentary. author of several books, including the latest released today. he has just arrived in new york. "no country for the eight spot butterflies." welcome back to democracy now! we've been talking about the british empire a lot with the

death of the queen. but you write about the american empire. it has more than 800 military bases around the world. guam is a major site. talk about guam's significance, your home. >> guam is the ancestor homeland of my people, who have been there and have called that land home for over 3500 years. we are a matrilineal society. we value -- we have a set of values that are consisted of values. we are directly in the line of fire. we are definitely a frontline community when it comes to the spreading canopy of u.s. militarization. as i speak, my peoples are bracing ourselves for around of

militarization that is nothing less than cataclysmic. when i say that in an indigent existential way. as you know, guam is in the crosshairs whenever the wargames are afoot between u.s.'s greatly expanding its military footprint most of the springs from a 2005 agreement with u.s. -- between the u.s. government and the government of japan to transfer thousands of -- from okinawa that shoulders a disproportionate amount of u.s. presence in its own right. those marines are now coming to guam. as part of that marine leo -- relocation, u.s. military is expanding its footprint in guam. expanding its base, has created a brand-new marine corps base and it is also constructing a live fire training range complex. that complex consists of five different ranges, live fire

training ranges, the largest and most important of which is a 15 in grimaldi purpose machine gun range. that is the range i talked about in this book because it directly imperils a host of our other than human relatives, including our endemic butterfly. juan: in terms of this military expansion, obviously geared to the rising tensions between china and united states, all of this is being found when it comes to guam without any involvement of the people of guam themselves. your country remains one of only 17 territories that are still considered colonies by the united nations. even the level of self-government, let's save some of the other former colonies or the collies of the u.s., puerto rico, the federation of micronesia, have received, guam

remains in a category by itself. i'm wondering if you can talk about how the people feel of what is going on, how the united states treats guam? >> thank you for that question. i think that is critical to face that question head on. guam is a u.s. minister nonself -governing territory whose decolonization process has been thwarted by the u.s. government for 123 years and counting. guam has had a long history of fighting for the fundamental right of self-determination. i myself was involved in a decade-long battle throughout the federal court system to try to defend the right of the native inhabitants of guam, to express our desire with regard to our future political status, our future political relationship with u.s. government, which has failed. sort of like -- right now what we see happening is the harm of

500 years of colonization sort of being exacerbated by a hyper aggressive unilateral sort of expansion of u.s. military. this is really --guam is where sort of the legacy of colonial violence is now sort of being compounded upon by the sort of harms of the u.s. government. i mean that in every sense. for example, august 2017, north korea was threatening guam with weapons, ballistic weapons said to reach guam in 14 minutes. in august 2020, china launched four missiles into the south china sea, one of which nicknamed guam killer. the u.s. government right now claims it is sort of expanding its a footprint in order to sort of bolster of the defense of a nation but we know better.

with the wargames already afoot out at sea, several different variations of wargames are afoot including operation valiant shield which is not unlike one that that just concluded in hawaii. increased escalation -- i mean, we see this at the congressional level with regard to rhetoric about china emerging as the u.s.'s biggest facing challenge. we see this on the ground. what this means on the ground of the people is loss of land, loss of our precious habitat. the firing range being built now in bomb, it entails the destruction of over 1000 acres of pristine limestone forest. these forests took millennia to involve and are impossibly beautiful. they are directly sort of -- they are on the chopping block. many of those acres have already been cleared. certain portions of the area which is an area that is sacred

to my people, has already been bulldozed. i write about that the book, i write about how it is bitterly ironic so many of these sort of machines that are ripping the limestone from the forest floors, these machines bear the name caterpillar yet it is that precious singular habitat these limestone forest that are being bulldozed. i land on this insight in the book. i finally get to this and i realize this is what is happening, the u.s. is a country that prefers routinely power over strength and living over letting live. and a country like that perhaps is no country for the eight spot butterfly. amy: i was wondering if you could read a poem from your book. >> sure. i can read a poem i wrote on climate change and i wrote this poem shortly after one of the

cops. let me just find a post of amy: i should say people should tune into our coverage u.n. of the u.n. cop, the climate summit that will be taking place in november in egypt. go ahead. >> we have no need for scientists to tell us things we already know like the sea is rising and the water is getting warm. the inundated need no instruction in inundation. we have eyes of our own and besides we are busy scraping barnacles off our grandfathers' graves and other headstones drowned at hightide. we know how critical it is our coral reefs stay healthy and our mangrove forests dense. we will defend them to the end not because some study shows

they provide protection from erosion or shelter from storms but because our reefs are adoring aunts feeding other people's children and our mangroves, mothers in their own right. amy: as you come to the mainland, the united states, your final message as your book comes out today, "no country for the eight spot butterflies"? >> yet to be honest about the u.s. war machine. just like climate change, stop using the future tense. the crisis is here. it is time end to end the endless wars and we should be -- amy: julian, thank you for being with us, chamoru writer and human rights lawyer from guam. his new book out today "no

, country for the eight spot butterflies." that doesn't for our broadcast. we want to wish a happy birthday to democracy now! digital fellow zina precht-rodriguez! and we want to welcome to the world noah gabriel. congratulations to our former producer laura gottesdiener on the birth of your son. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]