09/21/22 09/21/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the outset of 2022, complex, covid-19, effects of the climate crisis have already driven more than 190 million people into food insecurity. according to the world food program, president putin's war may add 70 million people on top of that of an already staggering

number becoming even more staggering. amy: as a person dies of hunger every four seconds, humanitarian groups says global hunger is spiraling out of control, calling on world leaders at the united nations general assembly to take urgent action. we will speak with abby maxman, president and ceof oxfam america, just back from somaliland where a famine may soon be declared. then adnan syed has been freed from prison after spending 23 years behind bars. he was convicted of the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend. his case can international attention when the podcast "serial" re-examined his conviction and raised new questions about his guilt. >> we are declaring that an interest of fairness and justice , he is entitled to a new trial.

amy: we will speak with the first attorn to reesent adnan ed. analf of fu-time rkers the unid statesannot me ends mt. we will spk with abigail disney about her new film "the american dream and other fairy tales." >> how many of you know someone who works at disney has slept in their car? how many of you know somebody who has gone without medical care because they can't afford it? the american dream teaches us that if you work hard enough, anything is possible. it is magical thinking. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracyow!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russian president vladimir putin has announced a partial

mobilization of russia forces to fight in ukraine in the nearly seven-month old war. putin spoke in televised address earlier today. >> only people currently under the military reserve will be drafted, prioritizing those who have served in the armed forces and have particular military spells realization and the corresponding experience -- specialization and the corresponding experience. relying on experience gained during the special military operation. to of partial mobilization has been signed. amy: russia's defense minister says 300,000 reserves will be called up to fight. this comes just a week after ukraine waged its most successful counteroffensive of the war when it recaptured about 3400 square miles of land. that's more land than russia had captured over the past five months. during his speech, putin also appeared to use nuclear weapons

if russia's territorial integrity is threatened. >> i want to remind those who allow themselves such statements about russia that our country also has a variety of weapons of destruction and in some areas, even more modern than those nato countries. and if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will, without question, use all of the means at our disposal to protect russia and our people. this is not a bluff. amy: putin's speech came a day after russia's lower house voted to approve a new law imposing harsher penalties for soldiers who desert or surrender during wartime. meanwhile, authorities in four russian-occupied areas of eastern ukraine have announced plans to hold referendums to begin on friday to decide the areas should formally become part of russia. ukrainian officials have dismissed the planned vote as a sham. the referenda could lead to russia annexing about 15% of ukraine's territory.

tuesday marked the opening of the united nations general assembly. many world leaders condemned russia's invasion of ukraine. this is german chancellor olaf scholz. >> there's no justification for russia's war of occupation against ukraine. president putin is waging this war with one signal objective. this is imperialism, plain and simple. amy: the opening day of the u.n. general assembly began with a dire warning from u.n. secretary general antonio guterres. >> our world is imperiled and paralyzed. undermining the work of the secret counsel, undermining international law, undermining people's faith and democratic institutions, undermining all forms of international cooperation stop we could not go on like this.

amy: u.n. secretary general antonio guterres also warned about the climate emergency and blasted fossil fuel companies. >> the fossil fuel industry is billions of dollars in subsidies and profits while household budgets shrink and our planet burns. let's tell it like it is. our world is addicted to fossil fuels. it is time for an intervention. we need to hold fossil fuel companies to account. amy: other speakers at the united nations on tuesday included colombia's newly elected president gustavo petro. he called for an to end the war on drugs. >> from my wounded latin america, i demand you to end the irrational war on drugs. it needs us all to build a better society. amy: chilean president gabriel boric also spoke at the u.n.

he called on the world to defend tuesday. the human rights of palestinians. >> we ould not normalize human rights violations against the palestinian people, applying international law year after year. the palestinian people should have the right to establish their own free and sovereign state in the same way of guaranteed israel's legitimate right to internationally recognized borders. amy: demonstrators gathered near the united nations to say to protest new filipino president who addressed the assembly for the first time tuesday. he is the son of the former filipino dictator ferdinand marcos. protesters were calling on the u.n. to investigate crimes by past president rodrigo duterte as well as those committed during the marcos dictatorship was the protesters held a large

sign reading "hold marcos duterte accountle, no fascist dynasties." protests in iran have spread to dozens of cities after a 22-year-old kurdish woman died in the custody of iran's morality police. the woman, mahsa amini, died after being detained for wearing an improper hijab in violation of an iranian law requiring women cover part of the head. witnesses said amini was severely beaten in a police van. she was later hospitalized in a coma and died on friday. at least six people are believed to have been killed since protests began. video posted online show women burning their hijabs. on tuesday, the u.n. office of the high commissioner for rights called for an investigation into mahsa amini's death.

>> there are reports she was beaten on the head with a baton and her head was banged against the vehicle by so-called morality police. authorities have sted that she died of natural causes. acting high commissioner for human rights has called for an investigation, a prompt, thorough, impartial investigation. amy: one person is dying of hunger every four seconds. that's the warning from a coalition of humanitarian groups who say global hunger is spiraling out of control. oxfam, save the children, and other groups say 345 million people are now experiencing acute hunger. that is double the number from 2019. meanwhile, a new report finds there are now over 215,000 individuals worldwide who are worth more than $50 million. that's an increase of 46,000 people over the past year, this according to the bank credit suisse.

a group of venezuelan asylum-seekers have filed a class action lawsuit against florida republican governor ron desantis and other officials after they were tricked into being flown to martha's vineyard, an island off of massachusetts. the lawsuit accuses the officials of being engaged in a "premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme" to advance their own personal, financial, and political interest. most of puerto rico remains without power three days after hurricane fiona pummeled the island. the majority of homes also do not have access to clean water. on tuesday, the creator of the hit broadway show "halton," n-manueliranda, lled for more aidor puertrico. spoket an event organized by the clinton global initiative. >> we are looking for partners because we have to start recovery -- the goal is to build -- we're never going to stop hurricanes. i'm sure you've heard about climate change.

it is not going away anytime soon but we can but a more resilient puerto rico and we need to help to do that. please, i my dad. -- please, email my dad. amy: on tuesday, hurricane fiona passed near the turks and caicos islands. earlier today, the hurricane strengthened into a category 4 storm. it is now threatening bermuda. in news from the occupied west bank, at least one person died tuesday in the city of nablus in fighting between palestinians and security forces with the palestinian authority. the unrest began after the palestinian authority detained two palestinian fighters who were wanted by israel. in news from ethiopia, rebel forces in the tigray region have accused the neighboring country of eritrea of launching a full-scale offensive in tigray. the news has not been independently confirmed but aid workers in the region report heavy fighting along the eritrean-tigray border.

eritrea backed the ethiopian government's initial offensive in tigray that began in 2020 but last year eritrea withdrew most of its forces. and in labor news, teachers in seattle have approved a new three-year contract. earlier this month, the teachers staged a five-day strike delaying the opening of school. the new contract incdes additional support staff in classrooms and pay raises. 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, joined by democracy now! co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: one person is dying of hunger every four seconds. that's the warning from a coalition of humanitarian groups who say global hunger is spiraling out of control. oxfam, save the children, and other groups say 345 million people are now experiencing

acute hunger. that's double the number from 2019. humanitarian groups from 75 countries sent an open letter to world leaders and high-level diplomats gathering this week for the united nations general assembly in new york city. this is the fir u.n. general assembly since russia's invasion of ukraine, and a key meeting tuesday focused on how the war is contributing to skyrocketing levels of hunger. this is the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken. >> the outset of 2022, conflicts, covid-19, the effects of the climate crisis had already driven more than 190 million people into acute food insecurity. according to the world food program, president putin's brutal war may add 70 million people on top of that. in already staggering number becoming even more stagging.

amy: thisomes as the united nations is warning of a looming famine in somalia, where a searing drought fueled by the climate crisis has withered crops, killed livestock, and left nearly 8 million people -- or half of somalia's population -- in need of humanitarian assistance. the u.n. says millions more are at risk of hunger and famine across east africa, including in kenya and ethiopia. for more on the world hunger emergency, we are joined in new york by abby maxman, president and ceo of oxfam america. she recently returned from a trip to somaliland where a famine may be declared as early as october. oxfam is one of the signatories to an open letter submitted by over 200 ngo's to world leaders this week calling on them to take immediate action. welcome to democracy now!, abby maxman. can you start out by lang at the scope of the problem and what you're calng for? >> good to be with you.

having just returned from somaliland last week, i'm able to connect what we are seeing, the real les of people and how they are affected come and connect with them with those global numbers you already outline. 345 million people are facing extreme hunger as a result of that confluence of climate, covid, conflict. 345 million people, more than the entire population of the ited states, this in the 21st century. we know -- we have been calling the alarm for veral years. ife had used our early warning systems to trigger, continue to erode e lives d livelihoods of cmunity's. somee i saw in somaliland, the stories were very simir. a woman named sophia, state and

her community as long as she could over the past several years, and ultimately went to a splaced rsons camp after she lost 90% of herivestock. hyannis were literally sucking he family and community -- hyenaa were literally stalking heramily and community. what is so egregious about this, the cause of this is climate change. the increasing frequency and ferocity of intense climatic shock, droughts, floods, heat waves we are observing from pakistan to puerto rico and across east africa, are edence in all of the newbut we know it is people like sophia and the 74-year-old farmer who said this is the worst drought he is ever seen in his lifetime, there down to one meal a day, and they need and deserve our help. juan: abby maxman, mention

conflict. to what degree has the russian invasion of ukraine affected the food supply, especially the global south? and also to what degree from your sense is ithe corporations taking advantage of situations -- we see the secrary-general mentioning oil companies or energy companies exploiting the current crises. your sen of these two things, the conflict in russia and raine and general super profits sought by some international companies? >> thank you for pointing those two things o. yes, the war in ukraine has exacerbated anlready dire situation. the economic consequences of coviin the climaterisis have been superchged by the war in ukraine. prices have gone up exorbitantly.

people in somaliland were spending more than 90% of their income on food j just to survive and they were using coping strategies down to one and two meals a day. that is one anecdote of many about the impact, direct and indirect, of the global crisis and conflict and its impact on those in east africa and somaliland. your point on fossil fuel profit and others, it cannot be understated. it is extraordinary that humanity faces this existential crisis of climate that there is still more incentive by the fossil fuel companies to destroy our plat. we know the oil and gas industry enjoys staggering profits as they have wreaked havoc on the planet. they have been amassing $2.8 billion a day, more than $1 trillion a year over the last 50

years, so let me contrast that against the fact 18 days of fossil companies profit would cover the entire u.n. humanitarian appeal for 2022 which has been woefully underfunded. juan: you also mentioned you were in somaliland recently, particularly, could you talk about the situation in africa? obviously, there are major conflicts still raging there, especially in ethiopia. your sense of the impact of those regional conflicts in terms of hunger and poverty in africa? >> that confluence of covid, climate, conflict, are supercharging the situation. those who are least responsible are suffering its worst impacts. we need to make sure -- we know when humanitarian access is limited, that exacerbates

people's lives and livelihoods and the ability to get basic human rights -- food, shelter, water safety, protection. that is pa of the cocktail come if you will, the toxic one, that people who ar experiencing, people like that countless storalists who are facing threats, they have rights that we need to protect and support in crisis. the international community has a responsibility and a moral duty to act. and this week in new york, around the u.n. general assembly, we are calling on those in power, member states and policymakers, to takaction now. we need to do ree g things. save lives -- there are number of ways of doing that. make sure we resource the humanitaan -- get resources to people who need them. support local organizations, woman have and let organizations

for second, build resilience. we cannot repeat this pattern of pulling resources to respond to crises that we know are coming. we need to invest in both now. it is an investment and in the future, an investment in protection,n investment in promoting lives and livelihoods and dignity. third, we need to invest in that future beyond the resilience. we need to double climate adaptation funds. we need to make sure special drawing rights are modified so countries are relieved from debt and debt burden, and we need to find nutrition and other fundamental issues that need to be support at this time. amy: let me ask about the growing and polity in the world and how this relates to the crisis of hunger around the world. according to report just released by the investment bank credit so we, the number of ultrahigh net worth individuals

also increased exponentially last year to record 218,000 200. can you comment on this extraordinary rise in a wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, welcome hundreds of millions are dying -- while hundreds ofhings are dying from hunger related causes and how this must be addressed? >> must be addressed. said vecr is an ronym for it. this is a failure in our economic system, a system that is broken and serving a privileged few. it is immoral, wrong, and there is an opportunity to fix it. it is not happing by chance. is happening inteionally by those in power and political capture and those who are wreaking profits to benefit themselves -- reaping profits to

benefit themselves. there's an opportunity to have a global wealth pack to ensure the profits can be fairly text to make sure things like that humanitarian appeals at a minimum are funded. this is a race to the bottom versus a race to the top and the extreme inequality is harmful to all of society and all of humanity. it is very frustrating and makes me very angry to hear,, there are no resources, that is why we cannot save lives, build resilience come and invest in the future. that is not accurate. in the 21st century, there are enough resources to ensure the integrity and dignity of people's lives and livelihoods in more equal world. there is an opportunity to end extreme inequality by changing the spelling economic system. any good at a maximum, thank you

for being with us, president and ceo of oxfam america, recently returned from a trip to somaliland where a famine may be declared as early as next month. next up, adnan syed has been freed after spending 23 years behind bars. his case gained national attention when it was the subject of the podcast "serial" we will speak with the first attorney to represent him. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we look now at the remarkable development this week in baltimore, maryland, when after

23 years in prison, adnan syed was released monday when a maryland judge vacated his murder conviction. the 41-year-old adnan syed had spent 23 years behind bars after being convicted of the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend hae min lee. his case gained international attention when the award-winning podcast "serial" reexamined his conviction and raised new questions about his guilt. a baltimore county circuit court judge has ordered new dna testing in the case, tests that were not available at the time of syed's conviction. he could still face a new trial. though that is unlikely. state's attorney for baltimore marilyn mosby spoke on monday. >> not yet declaring adnan syed is innocent, but we are declaring in the interest of fairness and justice, he is entitled to a new trial.

amy: the motion by mosby's office came after the creation of a sentencing review unit in 2020. those eligible to apply for review were juveniles who had served at least 25 years in prison. syed's lawyer, erica suter, sought a review by the unit and mosby's office agreed to fully reexamine his conviction. the review also stems from reforms to address corruption in the office by allowing the re-examination of trials where "new evidence has called into question the integrity of the conviction." when the sentencing unit reviewed adnan's case, it found "significant reliability issues" with k evidence, including questionable cellphone location data used to link him to the murder. this week, maryland -- marilyn mosby said she will look into whether two alternative suspects may have murdered hae min lee, including one who threatened to make her disappear and kill her.

the evidence was not presented to the defense at the time of the trial. adnan's case first gained international attention when the award-winning podcast "serial" reexamined his conviction and raised new questions about his guilt. in a new episode of "serial" released tuesday, host and co-creator sarah koenig described the evidence of two potential suspects of hae min lee's murder that was not shown to adnan syed's defense team called a brady violation. >> the motion to vacate does not tells the story of the crime, does not lay out an alternate area of who killed hae min lee. it lays out how the system malfunction backed and how little we know now. the headline at the state's motion is that they developed more evidence about two people who might have been involved in the crime whom they say were not properly ruled out a suspects was to they don't name these people, they just call them the suspect or the suspects because they say the investigation is ongoing.

this brady violation regarding one of the two alternate suspects the prosecutors are not naming. in the motion says he also have other new information about these two suspects. one of them had a connection to the location where hae min lee's car was found after she disappeared. one or both of them have relevant criminal histories, mostly crimes committed after adnan's trial. one is for sexual assault. i know the suspects are posted of them was investigated at the time, sumita took couple of polygraphs. the other was investigated also but not with much vigor as far as i can tell. he is now in prison for sexual assault. but no one has charged either of these guys in connection with hae min lee's murder so i'm not going to name them, either. that is all the information we have but the motion continues. the also looked at the old information. now they are saying have lost faith and that, too. amy: for more, we go to baltimore, where we are joined by douglas colbert, who in 1999

was e first attorney to represent adnan syed. he is a professor of law at the university of maryland school of law. welcome back to democracy now! if you can start off -- well, described the scene in the courtroom than outside as marilyn mosby made the announcement and adnan syed, your client for more than 20 years ago, walked out -- kind of -- a free man. >> thank you for having me. all i can say is that when we saw adnan walking out of the courthouse, it was a feeling of being overwhelmed with joy. it was a site that we could never be sure whatever happened. it only took place because he had the perfect and ideal combination of the dedicated lawyer erica sutor and before her, he had another just

brilliant lawyer. and then we had the prosecuting attorney marilyn mosby, who really embraced the meaning of a minister of justice. and finally, the judge understood that she was required to act in the interest of justice, and she did so stop and she released him. the chains came off of him in the courtroom. there was a gasp. people realized that he was going to be freed. we waited outside and waited and when he finally came out with his family, it was just so moving and so emotional an experience. juan: i wanted to ask you about this issue of bra law violations. over decades of covering

criminal trials, i have been often astounded by how often this occurs. i think erica sutor, one of adnan's lawyers and a director of the innocence project, said of some 3000 people who have been exonerated of convictions across the country, in 44% of the cases, evidence was not disclosed at trial that could point to their innocence. this is an example of prosecutors pushing the achievement of the conviction over justice. rarely are prosecutors then held accountable for what is in essence prosecutorial misconduct. i am wondering about your. on the brady violation? >> is a constitutional and ethical responsibility of every prosecutor to disclose evidence

that tends to show a person is innocent. the accused is innocent. and shamefully, juan, brady violations occur much too often. and those are only the ones that we learned about. and there are no consequences for prosecutors w failed to disclose. it is almost as if the disciplinary procedures don't apply to prosecutors who fail to turn over evidence. in adnan's case, he served 23.5 years and had the defense lawyers, had information that other suspects were being investigated and that they could easily have been the actual killer, this whole tragedy would never have taken place and the tragedy not only for adnan and other -- many other christians who are still in prison -- adnan

and other prisoners who are still in prison. there many people were innocent of their crimes who should not have been convicted. but it is also a tragedy for hae min lee and her family that has had to suffer and now has to wait until the actual killer is found. amy: if you could talk about the detective in the case who apparently in another case also was found guilty of this conduct, but it only took now the prosecutors office revealing that they found the handwritten notes about the other people that might have been responsible for the murder. i also think it is interesting the prosecutor who reviewed all of this is formally a public defender. she had just come into the prosecutor's office, had a very different perspective.

>> that -- the prosecutor becky feldman who was in charge ofhe unit, that unit only came about because we had a prosecutor really mosby who decided that was going to be one of the places wherehe was going to enhance the administration of justice. becky feldman did an outstanding job. the report was a motion that she filed was thorough and verifiable information. but when we have a situation when we have to rely on osecutors to do their job and then we have police officers like detective ritz and -- i'm sorry, i don't know how to pronounce his name but the second detective -- there is such a rush to judgment to try and clear cases, to try to

obtain a conviction that the officers lose sight and the prosecutor loses sight of what justice means for an accused person. amy: i want to go to a clip of sarah koenig, the serial podcast that broke open this story come albeit in 2014. she broke down the motion that vacated the conviction and describe the role of this detective ritz, the leading investigators of hae min lee's murder. >> at the end of the motion, becky feldman typed on a "by the way" final section about one of the two main detectives on the case, bill ritz, who is accused of misconduct in another murder case that would to try the same year adnan did. in that case, detective ritz was accused of manipulating evidence, not disclosing exculpatory evidence come in a following up on evidence that pointed to different suspect.

in 2016, the guy convicted in that case was exonerated. ritz was one of the two detectives who repeatedly interviewed jay wiles. amy: if you can take it from there, jay wiles, the key prosecution witness who has changed his story over and over and then the prosecution saying to the jury, igniting he was unreliable, "don't worry, the cell phone pinging information backs up what he said." douglas colbert? >> i was present at the first trial which people are not speaking about these days. but the first drug resulted in a mistrial -- the first trial resulted in a mistrial, a case in which the judge interrupted the trial. i was speaking to the jurors as they left the courtroom and i had sat throu jay wiles testimony and he gave different versions of what happened.

for five different times he contradicted himself. if you get that once in a trial, thatecomes your reasonable doubt for a jury to acquit the defendant. but this individual witness was so ineffective, it was a pitiful performance and yet when he had a second chance because the judge declared a mistrial, that then allowed therosecution to "clean up" the witness's testimony. i was not there for the second trial, but i can tell you when i asked the jurors coming out of the courtroom, what did they think of the prosecution's case, the four or five i spoke to in unison said "wh case?" when i asked how they would have returned a verdict, guilty or not guilty, it was a resounding not guilty. it was so disappointing to have lost that jury and that trial.

they jay wiles was somebody who was a suspect himself for quite a while. and just getting back to the tech to ritz, i want to point out, amy, on the day that adnan wasrrested, this cocounsel and i went over to the police precinct. it was a rainy evening. we tried to gain entry so we could speak to our client and they would not allow us inside. so we were not able to even give our client advice during the interrogation when at no time does adnan make any incriminating statement. he always maintained his innocence. he has maintained his innocence to this day. amy: what happens next? you expect a new trial will be called? i mean, he is wearing an ankle bracelet. how free is he? >> he has to wear the ankle

bracelet but he is with his family. and that is the biggest thing right now. we can see him, he can see us. he has to wear the ankle bracelet at least for the next 30 days. what is going to happen is ms. mosby is going to wait until she gets the forensics back to see if the dna shows anything. and if it doesn't, i expect she will dismiss the charge, end this nightmare for adnan and his family. amy: thank you much for being with us, professor of law at the university of maryland school of law. the first attorney to represent adnan syed, that was in 1999. coming up, a new film is out. it is the heirs abigail disney's film about her own family, "the american dream and other fairy tales." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show looking at half of full-time workers in the united states cannot make ends meet. thousands worfor lt disy coany, o of themeached out tohe dissint aris abigail disn whose grandfatheruilt wh is ofte cald the ppiest pce on eah. now e is made documenry abouhow the mily business exploits i workers it is caed "the american dream and other fairy tales." this is the trailer. >>isneyld was notike ywhere ee on eth. >> when i starteworking the park, themploys were so ppy to bthere. the coany appriated you. ateast i did. >> havg the st name dney is like hang a wei surpowerou did n ask f.

but thenne day got a msage fr a guy ned rph who worked at disneyland. how ma of yoknow sebody o works disney o slept her c? how ma of yoknowomebody who has ne witho medical care? thameric dre teachess thatf you wo hard enough, anythings possib. it imagical thiing. diey couldaise thealaries of all oits works to a ving wag it wasossiblto do thhen great unclend grandther but theompany. it is ssible n. >> that sociasm. [indcernible >> a custodian would he to work for000ears to ke wha

by bker makes -- bob iger makes. >> ground zero oinequaty and america. >> i t oit as the- th is t storyf near half america wkers whoan' make es meet. have dispassi growing within me, buding pow for woing-claspeople le me. >> [indiscerble] amy:e meet a numr ofisney workers,ncludi a couple named ralpnd trina w work ernighthifts support thr three ung chilen and earn $ an hourplus an tra

75 an ho for worng overnit. >> you guys met at disney? >> he some in the parking lot post i sd, do you wanto eat side the parng lot o inde the pk. we've beetogetherver sinc it w an insi park houn. >> athe time we first t, i hathis idea that weould move out anhave our familand evything. unrtunatel the enomy does t alw that. areucky eugh to that. >> was wteto he a house my ow we dreed of on i uld settle to liven an

apartment. it wld be ce to ha it where i catell my ks that i can things my ownnd not have to relyn my parts. >> with th of h worki full time, we sll fall bow the povertlevel. >> we y to asuch ase can thatoes not requireny kindf mone weake $15 an ur. for pple who work at nht, we ly get $5 an hourxtra. bufoworking e hours wo with thlack of sle, i don' thi $.75 eugh. >> 11: to abt 8:00n the rning. ry physical work.

thpeople wot nht, rub the tchens, the floor the ilet. i am pud of it very pro of it thatype othing will fin throhout allf the rks. people put to work the -- the people who tend to work there want to provide the best. amy: for more, we're joined by avakov disney and kathleen hughes who coproduced "the american dream and other fairy tales." abby is the granddaughter of walt disney company cofounder roy disney. welcome back to democracy now! abigail disney, take us on your journey. you're not just a director and producer, you are also the person who is exposing what is going on at disney, along with the workers. talk about what made you make this film.

>> i have cared for really long time about income inequality and various ways in which this country has really not treated its workers well. i got a message directly from summit who works in the park, ralph, i'm you met. i cared in the abstract for a long time. i had not really let myself look at the company itself. the call was coming from inside the house. i could not pretend it had nothing to do with me once ralph reach out to me. it became very personal and i had to get started on something. amy: juan just lost the feed. abigail, talk about going out to california. i want to play a clip from "the american dream and other fairy tales." we see you meeting with disney

workers who make $15 an hour. >> by a shoof hands, w many youomeoneou know th works disnethat is food stamps. wow. how ny of u know seone who works atisney th has sle another r? w manyf you ow somebody wh has ge withoumedical care bause ty c't afrd it? how ny of y'all ha childn? >> im somody whdoes not haveids. don't ha the finces to ke caref a chilin the way at i wou like to. it h affecd my alityo milylan and look ward my fure afar as mpersonal . thissot wre i thought wod bet 73. >> don't cry. >> youan.

boow our ks. . [laughter] amy: a clip from "thamerican dream and other fairy tales." juan: i wanted to ask kathleen hughes, not only are the workers at disney so badly paid, but you documented an astounding amount of local government subsidies by anaheim and disneyland and likewise the state of florida and orlando also provide subsidies. can you talk about your surprised these enormous subsidies given the fact the average price per person at disney world or disneyland is over $100 for a family of five, that would be $500 just to get in, not talking about the food and everything else. >> people save for years to take their families. it is very, very expensive adventure at disney world and disneyland. disney is a big american

corporation. and like so many corporations, it spreads its money around all levels of government. it does that in order to get tax breaks, subsidies, and the rest of it. all of us have heard about how there is so much money in politics, and this is why these companies spend all that money. so in anaheim, in particular, we found out -- we kind of all know that but we found out over a period of about two decades, disney received $1 billion in tax breaks and subsidies from the city of anaheim alone. and that is just part of the way they kind of managed to manipulate the system in their favor. juan: abigail disney, could you

talk about the response of the disney company? were you able to get them on record to talk about their practices? >> we reached out to them for comment and primarily they focused on an employee issue and pushed back on us and said, employees are everything and we love them and we do everything right. you know, you can watch the film and judge for yourself about how the employees are feeling about the way they are being treated. disney does something that is rather -- the in terms of corporations. they will offer more of a lot of things that aren't money and time. the two things that are on their most -- the people are most pressure rent is there money and time. they will offer you a free college education but in very limited form. their self-care, but you have to pay into it and many people can't afford to pay into it. it is quite rough. the company can say all it likes

about how well people are treated, but we have seen it within our own eyes. people are struggling to put enough food on the table. amy: you are disney's worst nightmare. clearly. they don't want people to see this on. you testified before congress and learned disney had lobbied for you not to be able to speak. the republicans tried to stop the hearing before you even open your mouth. talk about your writing to bob iger and then as you call it, the bobs. >> when i first met ralph, i went there quietly. i had no intention of making a film. i went by myself. my daughter came with me. we sat in that circle, but without cameras. we heard everything everybody had to say. i was so enraged. i came home and i really thought about it hard and i sat down and labored over a very long email

to bob iger because i wanted to lay it out for him because it wasn't just a question of the hourly pay, it was the pressure on productivity and the disrespect and the stripping of perks, and all that is going on. the main underlying principle there is that people are not seen as people anymore. they are just replaceable par ofachi. the ovall imprsion i h was of comny thahadust terly chged in tms of ho it underoodheartners hain the pks.o i wre thatong, lonemailim lg fore i srted the filand thanswer got bac wasery satisfng and vy shor and i follow up with theead of , which wt heuggested i , and she was a ry nice ly bu younow, we wereot o the samwaveleng at all. at is e lt i ve dectly

mmunicat with anody the. thletter a thend of e fi is moref an on letter that i wrote for the end of the film so they get to get it in the same from everybody else gets to get it, on film. i don't have any since that they are hankering to reach out to me. it was really rather i stay quiet. this doesn't feel like -- this doesn't feel like -- on top of it, we're talking about corporations in general. it is not just disney. it feels especially bad because were talking about disney because of the affection people have that company, it is an incredibly important thing to make sure people understood that this is a phenomenon happening across this country and incorporations and even around the world. >> the workers we profiled all loved disney. they love the company. part of the reason they wanted

to participate in the film as they had a hope that if they could change disney from within, disney could lead the way for other corporations. it is somewhat idealistic but it is the case. it is true, they could lead the way. juan: abigail disney, i wanted to ask about republicans, florida governor ron desantis' effort to dismantle the quasi-independent district and disney's response to the "don't say gay" bill. you have an op-ed piece in "the washington post" earlier this year. >> what is going on is very nefarious as far as i'm concerned. creek is not exactly the most democratic institution. it was an invention of my grandfather and early 1970's, a way of making financial sense out of all of the needs for all of the land they had in florida. if i had my druthers, they would not have that kind of special

status. but what ron desantis said was, i'm going to take over this special status not because it is unfair but because he disagreed with me politically. that is a frightening and frankly sadistic approach to enforcing law. it was a message. it was a message to every other company that does business in florida. because he said, i'm going to go after the most powerful company in this state, i'm going to make a statement, and i am betting that one other company is going to cross me again. it is how it has worked out. if you look at what has happened in the aftermath, there's been total silence in the subject. on both sides. and that is because i am sure they are locked away in a dark money. -- they are locked away in a dark room. amy: bob iger became a billionaire at the beginning of the pandemic is so many workers were losing their jobs.

we have 15 seconds. your final thoughts? >> it is immoral. the system has gone haywire. we should not have people making that kind of money when his own employees are going to food pantries. to feed their children. amy: abigail disney and kathleen hughes, coproduced "the american dream and other fairy tales." it will be in theaters across the country on friday. abby is the granddaughter of walt disney company cofounder walt disney. in new york, it is premiering at the opening of dctv's documentary center for film post of yesterday i was at the ribbon-cutting. abby disney was there. you are using those scissors with john up or it. beautiful event. that film will be the first

documentary to air there on friday night. again as well as across the country. happy birthday to jackie sam!! democracy now! is currently accepting applications for an associate digital editor as well as a people and culture manager.

o;o;ó7ó7 ♪ ♪ hello, welcome back to nhk "newsline." i'm takao minori in new york. world leaders are taking turns at the u.n. general assembly addressing each other, and one of their peers who isn't even there. president volodymyr zelenskyy provided them with an update on the war in ukraine. he zeroed in on russian president vladamir putin without ever mentioning his name. >> there