10/21/22 10/21/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i therefore spoke to his majesty the king, to notify him that i'm resigning. amy: british prime minister liz truss resigns after a disastrous 45 days in office. a new conservative prime minister could be picked by next week, but opposition parties are calling for an immediate general election.

we will go to the u.k. to speak with george monbiot. then we look at the upcoming u.n. climate summit in egypt. >> inside the climate justice movement, we often talk about needing to build a politics that does not create sacrifice zones. this is that people who get trampled in the name of adding a law passed. yet many egyptians today tell us they feel they have become the new sacrifice own, that there imprisoned loved ones are being sacrificed in the name of these negotiations. amy: we will speak to naomi klein and sanaa seif, the sister of alaa abd el-fattah, egypt's highest profile political prisoner. sanaa and her sister have been staging a sit-in in london in front of the british foreign affairs office seeking britain's help secure to alaa's release. he is an egyptian british citizen. then we go to florida to speak to law professor kimberlee crenshaw and civil rights

attorney barbara arnwine. they are on a 26-city arc of voter justice bus tour to increase voter registration and turnout ahead of the midterms. >> we are going to the lowest turnout districts in the cities, and the counties, in the parishes, in the townships. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. britain's labour party is pushing for an immediate general election in the united kingdom by day after prime minister liz truss announced her resignation less than seven weeks into her term. during her tenure as britain's shortest raining prime minister, she saw the value of the pound plummet while she pushed for sweeping tax cuts on the rich.

she announced her resignation outside 10 downing street on thursday. >> elections to be completed within the next week. this will ensure we remain on a path to deliver maintain our economic stability and national security. i will remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen. amy: leading candidates to replace truss are former chancellor rishi sunak, house of commons leader penny mordaunt, and even disgraced former prime minister boris johnson -- who truss replaced. after the headlines, we'll go to that u.k. to speak to the author and activist george monbiot. in chad, security forces shot and killed dozens of anti-government protesters thursday in the country's two largest cities. some 50 people were killed and hundreds injured. protesters were demanding an end to transitional military rule and a return to democracy. chad has been mired in a protracted political crisis following the death of former

president idriss deby, who was killed on the battlefield in april of last year. this all comes as chad declared a state of emergency over catastrophic flooding that has demolished crops and livestock, worsening food insecurity in the region. >> we subsist on selling to the surrounding populations but now there is not even enough to eat. last year we saw our cows started at an front of our eyes. amy: the u.n. says 5.5 million people in chad are in need of emergency humanitarian aid. in sudan, more than 150 people have been killed and scores more injured during two days of fighting in the southern state of blue nile. it's the latest in a series of clashes between the hausa people and rival groups in southern sudan that have left hundreds of people dead this year, while driving tens of thousands from their homes. ukraine faces a worsening energy crisis after a series of russian attacks on critical infrastructure brought nationwide shortages of power and heat.

on thursday, authorities began limiting supplies of electricity between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. officials say one-third of ukraine's power stations have been recently hit by missile and drone attacks. in washington, state department spokesperson ned price on thursday cited abundant evidence that iranian military trainers are helping russian forces carry out drone strikes. >> we assess iranian personnel, iranian military personnel were on the ground in crimea and assisted russia in these operations. russia has received dozens of these so far and will likely to receive additional shipments in the future. we are concerned russia may seek to acquire advanced weapons. amy: russian officials say ukrainian forces firing u.s.-made himars rockets killed six people and injured 10 others in the eastern luhansk region earlier today. meanwhile, in southern ukraine, russia says four civilians were killed and 13 others injured in missile attacks on the occupied

city of kherson. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy has accused russia of mining a massive hydroelectric dam upstream from kherson with explosives and is calling for international monitors to ensure the security of the site. ukraine has warned a breach of the dam could lead to catastrophic flooding downstream impacting hundreds of thousands of people. it could also disrupt critical cooling systems at the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which relies on water from a reservoir created by the hydroelectric dam. in the occupied west bank, israeli forces shot and killed a palestinian teenager during a raid on the northern city of jenin. salah al-braiki was 19 years old. three other palestinians were injured. here in the united states, the aclu has petitioned the supreme court to review a case involving an arkansas law that penalizes people who engage in boycott, divestment, and sanctions, or

bds, support. bds seeks to boycott israel and israeli goods to protest its violation of palestinian rights. the aclu says arkansas' anti-bds law violates the right to free speech. in pakistan, former prime minister imran khan has been disqualified from holding office for five years. pakistan's election commission accused khan of corrupt practices for the resale of gifts he received while in power. khan's party rejected the ruling and called on supporters to take to the streets. he was removed from power in april after a parliamentary vote of no confidence. khan described the move as a form of u.s.-backed regime change. here in the united states attempts to block president , two biden's student loan debt relief plan were shut down thursday. a federal judge in missouri rejected a case brought by six republican-led states that argued biden overstepped his authority by bypassing congress. separately, supreme court justice amy coney barrett denied a challenge to the plan brought by a right-wing advocacy group.

the biden administration started accepting applications this week for up to $20,000 of individual relief for federal student loans. a federal appeals court said thursday south carolina republican senator lindsey graham must testify before a georgia grand jury that's probing attempts by former president trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. fulton county prosecutors subpoenaed senator graham to testify about two calls he placed just after the 2020 election to brad raffensperger, georgia's republican secretary of state. raffensperger told reporters after the calls that graham had hinted he should throw away ballots from areas where joe biden likely got more votes. in the pacific northwest, large wildfires in oregon and washington state have sent up massive plumes of smoke that brought some of the world's worst air quality to cities in the region. on thursday, seattle residents were warned to shutter windows, avoid exercise, and cautioned to

wear masks outdoors. portland and other cities issued similar warnings about unhealthy air quality. this is brian harvey, professor of forest sciences at the university of washington. >> as the climate continues to warm, we are going to see a lengthening of the fire season and that has been shown in many regions around the globe. amy: the environmental protection agency is launching a civil rights investigation into whether the state of mississippi discriminated against the majority-black residents of jackson when it refused to use federal funds to address the city's dangerous water crisis. the epa said thursday its probing mississippi's department of health and department of environmental quality over its role in the crisis that left tens of thousands of mostly black households without drinking water. the main water treatment plant in jackson was damaged after torrential rains and flooding in late august. some viral videos showed undrinkable brown liquid coming out of taps.

in california, a los angeles jury found former ucla gynecologist james heaps guilty of sexually abusing his patients. hundreds of women have accused heaps of sexual assault. in may, the university of california agreed to pay out a record $700 million to the survivors. heaps now faces up to 28 years in prison when he is sentenced next month. and in labor news, a tentative agreement has been reached between thousands of unionized mental healthcare workers and kaiser permanente, the u.s.'s largest nonprofit healthcare organization, ending a two-month strike. the national union of healthcare workers had been denouncing chronic staff shortages at kaiser, forcing patients to wait months for an appointment. the strike began in august led by thousands of workers in california. kaiser healthcare workers in hawaii, oregon, and washington state later joined. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

we begin today's show in britain, where liz truss has resigned as prime minister after just 45 days in office. during her time in office, the pound plummeted in value as she pushed for sweeping tax cuts on the rich. truss announced her resignation outside 10 downing street on thursday. >> i was elected by the conservative party. we delivered on energy bills, cutting national insurance. but we set out a vision for low tax, high-grade economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of brexit. i recognize, though, given the situation, i cannot deliver the mandate on which i was elected by the conservative party. i therefore spoke with his majesty the king to notify him that i am resigning as leader of the conservative party. amy: truss is the shortest

serving prime minister in the history of the united kingdom. the conservative party is aiming to pick a new prime minister within a week. many analysts say the leading candidates to replace truss are former chancellor rishi sunak, the house of commons leader penny mordaunt, and former prime minister boris johnson -- who truss replaced. meanwhile, the labour party and other opposition parties are pushing for an immediate general election. we are joined now by george monbiot, an author, activist, and guardian columnist. his recent piece is headlined "i'm part of the 'anti-growth coalition' liz truss loves to hate -- and i'm proud of it." his latest book "regenesis: , feeding the world without devouring the planet." welcome back to democracy now! talk about what just happened. >> she had to go. what happened was liz truss applied purely old numeral --

you liberal theory and that would act as a kind of magic dust that would create massive growth and prosperity in this country just as neoliberal theory predicted. her policies were shaped by opaque leaf funded groups, institute of economic affairs, taxpayers alliance, adams institute center for policy studies -- all of which boasted on september 23 when her budget was published that they had gotten exactly what they wanted and they themselves were the authors of those policies. clearly, they are now trying to distance themselves. what they have been trying to do throughout their existence is to sweep away taxes on the rich, sweet away regulations, sweep away trade unions, sweep away protests and other fundamental civic rights and create what they think of as a pure market economy, which really means allowing the rich to overwhelm democracy. it means plutocracy rather than

democracy. in the past, successive prime minister's have had similar agendas but they've also had to temper them slightly because they have some more or less realistic appreciation of what the public might be able to tolerate. but liz truss, her great failure from the point of view of the politician, she was completely unable to read people. she seems to have no social intent at all and no concept of what she might be doing to other people. i believe she is entirely devoid of empathy. and so she did not try to disguise her agenda. she did not try to wrap it up in platitudes. she just forced it through. and interestingly, for someone who believes the markets should have the final word on everything, the markets had the final word on liz truss because she tanked the economy. amy: now talk about what is

going to have, the speculation that forced johnson could actually replace her? he has just returned from holiday. talk about the others and whether there are differences between them. >> it is quite extraordinary in this country that we could have a new prime minister without it ever being put to the people. without any of their policies being approved by the people. the only people who get a vote on this are members of the conservative party, believed to be about 160,000 of them, a majority of whom, a small majority of whom voted for liz truss, 0.1% of our population. any one these completely discredited characters can put people back in his prime minister without any of us having a say over it. this horrifying prospect that boris johnson, this goes to constantly hold our politics, memory, try to put behind us but just keeps coming back, that he

could once again be our prime minister come having presided over a disaster even greater and those which liz truss caused, completely useless covid policies killed tens of thousands of people who would otherwise have been alive. he lied and he lied and he lied about everything. he is a pathological liar. and while the rest of us were locked down and trying our best to ensure that the infection was not spreading, he was having party after party in downing street. basically, the laws for little people, not for me. the first prime minister we've ever had who received a criminal sanction while in office as prime minister he acquired a criminal record that he was fined for just one of those parties, which incidentally, he lied about repeatedly and parliament as well. they want to bring this man back? i mean, it just shows how totally corrupt, intellectually

bankrupt, morally bankrupt the conservative party has become. amy: explain who rishi sunak is, the person who lost out to this trust. >> the richest member parliament in the united kingdo his net worth, along with his wife who inherited this huge fortune, amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. he has got homes all over the country, including a giant home in the poshest part of the country, which is just for their visitors. he, too, was fined over illegal parties when he was chancellor. in other words, the treasury secretary in the united kingdom. he also seems to have no concept of how people live, no concept of what it is to be pushed

toward destitution as millions in this country are being pushed. he is another candidate of the ultrarich. he himself is ultrarich and he represents the ultrarich, does not represent the people in this nation. amy: the possibility there would be a general election? and what about the labour party's -- it is called the labour party, but recently told labor politicians not to join the recent railway workers picket line. >> in fact, he sacked one of his own shadow cabinet members for attending the strike. which is severing the labour party from its roots which were in the labor movement, as the name suggests. you would think you would have a general election after all of this chaos, after, well, now our third prime minister since the last general election.

that is not how it works in this country because we are a democracy in name only. the only two ways in which we can get a general election would be if the government were to call one -- and given it is about 50 points behind the polls, that seems unlikely. or if there is a no-confidence vote in the government passed in the house of commons. given they have an 80 seat majority, that, too, seems unlikely. so the merry-go-round begins again. the really terrifying thing is not so much who is in charge but what they're able to pass in terms of legislation while they are prime minister. and something which is scarcely reported in the press, and it is just a beggars belief we are not all screaming about this, was the public auto bill that was passed through the house of commons just a few days ago by the home secretary the day before she was pushed out of office, like all tory casual

iced workers in our economy, as soon as you're done with business, she was checked out. in this public auto bill is the most repressive legislation ever experienced in the u.k. in the modern era and potentially the most repressive legislation in any oecd member in recent times. if you have protested in their previous five years, you can be forced to wear an electronic tag and have your home fitted with monitoring equipment. you can be forced to report to police as and when they choose, forced to stay home, forced not to go to certain places, no longer to associate with friends of yours, no longer allowed to attend any protest or come indeed, talk about attending a protest orncourage anyone else to attend a protest. this is just one of the astonishing draconian measures

which has been pushed through right under the radar just before the truss government collapsed. amy: i would ask you about your recent piece in the guardian where you write about two, activists who recently threw cans of tomato soup onto vincent van gogh's "sunflowers" painting at the london national gallery to call out the u.k. government's role in fueling the climate catastrophe. your final thought? >> this is desperation. young people are absolutely desperate. what does it take to be heard? what does it take to point out that systems are collapsing and people have expressed utter horror about this soup throwing -- which did no damage to the painting because it was protected by a shield. but much less for about the prospect of losing the habitable planet.

while i greatly value art and we should protected, i don't understand what we are not protecting the planet. with the same criteria. while we are not applying the same standards of protection to life or man. amy: george monbiot, thank you for being with us author, , activist and guardian columnist. we will link to your articles at democracynow.org. next up, the upcoming u.n. climate summit in egypt but we are going to stay in britain -- speak with naomi klein who is in british, colombia, and sanaa seif, the sister of alaa abd el-fattah, egypt's highest profile political prisoner. sanaa and her sister mona are staging a sit in in london to see britain's help in securing alaa's release. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the next u.n. climate summit begins in just two weeks in egypt. a broad coalition of desha cost

of the military dictatorship of am sissi for the release of any political prisoners, including human rights activist alaa abd el-fattah, one of egypt's high profile political prisoners and rose to prominence during egypt's 2011 uprising. >> were here to say the revolution must continue. we know there's still injustice. the revolution is great and has achieved a lot of good things because of our effort but as you know, injustice is still rife. amy: alaa has been imprisoned for most of the last decade, now serving a five-year prison sentence, convicted of "undermining national security." in prison for most of the past decade for his activism and has been on a hunger strike now for over 200 days. earlier this week, his sister's sanaa and mona began a sit in to demand britain help secure the release of alaa, who like them,

has british citizenship. mona read a letter that alaa has sent from prison. >> we must to anything that involves sacrifice society for competitive advantage [indiscernible] the only actions we can take our actions that are potentially profitable. [indiscernible] the last part of the letter [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] amy: that was mona sseif reading a letter from her brother alaa abd el-fattah. we are joined by sanaa seif. we're also joined by naomi klein, senior contributing writer at the intercept and ubc professor of climate justice at the university of british columbia.

her new piece is published by the intercept and the guardian, headlined, "greenwashing a police state: the truth behind egypt's cop27 masquerade." we're going to sanaa first and london. thank you for walking over to the studio as your sister holds down the sit-in fort, so to speak. talk about why you have begun this protest. >> thank you. i began it because alaa continues on the hunger strike and i'm really worried we don't have much time left but also because in 20 days, now 17 days, our government here will be sending a delegation to the climate conference and i am really worried about if they just go and engage as usual,

they will take this as a green light to let alaa die. i went to put pressure on the foreign office so they put alaa high up on their agenda on their trip to cop. amy: i should say you yourself were imprisoned for over three years. now you are out and have just led a campaign cash recently in the united states where we interviewed you, had been speaking with many congressmembers. now in london. talk about why britain is so important for your brother's release. talk about all of your citizenship. >> we are dual national egyptian and british. the british government is basically negotiating on our behalf, on the family's behalf. that no precedents before with the french, with the americans,

political prisoners in egypt that the government would know -- negotiate the release and would be expedited or deported to the other country of residence. technically as criminals but of course when they go to the other country, they are not regarded as criminals. that is what we are pushing the british government to do, to negotiate for alaa's release. what is happening is the egyptian authorities are very reluctant and they're not even allowing the british embassy to visit alaa in prison, not allowing them access. and now they keep saying, we don't acknowledge alaa's reddish citizenship because he hasn't -- he did not seek the kurdish 30's permission. -- british authorities permission. the british were not pushing back. amy: what does this change of

prime minister may for you? an -- mean for you? they're covering with what is liz truss is resigning. what role will they plate and granting him citizenship? is this a setback or will it help? >> the people and sitting to be a reminder for our -- the instability and it has also been since boris, the instability makes the egyptian authorities don't take it seriously. what happened to the british pound was like the negotiations, we heard the egyptian officials were saying, like, or making fun of the british pound. so it does not help britain's image