[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el sheikh, egypt, this is democracy now! >> what happens in sharm stays in sharm.

the same every day continuing all over the country. amy: from the climate summit in sharm el-sheikh to the climate of fear in the rest of egypt. we will speak with the leading egyptian human rights advocate hossam bahgat human rights in egypt, and why civil society did not call for a boycott of the summit. then, we will talk to one of the most prominent climate activists in africa, vanessa nakate from uganda. >> [inaudible] amy: all that and more coming

up. ♪ amy: welcome to democracy now, purell democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the u.n. climate summit. the united nations general assembly has approved a resolution calling on russia to pay reparations for its invasion of ukraine and other violations of international law. a little less than half of the general assembly's 193 members voted in favor of the resolution, while 14 voted against it, including russia, iran and china. 73 countries abstained, including brazil, india and south africa. ahead of monday's vote, ukraine's u.n. ambassador said it was time to hold russia accountable. >> the atrocities committed by

russia are murder, rape, torture. millions of ukrainians left their homes to take shelter elsewhere. if we don't start rebuilding the country, -- amy: president biden said monday he does not believe china is preparing to invade taiwan. biden's remark at the g20 summit in bali, indonesia came after his first face-to-face meeting as president with chinese leader xi jinping. speaking to reporters after their three hour talk biden , dismissed his critics' claims that u.s. military maneuvers in the taiwan strait are provoking a new cold war. president biden: we have spent

time with xi jinping. i do not think there is any chance on the part of china invading taiwan. amy: here in egypt, imprisoned british-egyptian writer and technologist alaa abdel fattah has ended his hunger strike after more than seven months. the news came in a letr from prison today to his family. they are scheduled to have their monthly visit with him on thursday, one day before his 41st birthday. in the letter alaa wrote, "i'll see you on the visit day and tell you everything then and we'll get back to long letters after the visit. the important thing is i want to celebrate my birthday with you on thursday, i haven't celebrated for a long time, and want to celebrate with my cellmates, so bring a cake, normal provisions, i've broken my strike. i'll explain everything on

thursday. lots of love. i miss you and long for your company. alaa." in response, his sister mona seif said, "i feel cautiously relieved now knowing that at least he's not on hunger strike but my heart won't really be settled until thursday when my mother and sister see him with their own eyes." the biden administration has opened an fbi investigation into the killing of shireen abu akleh, the palestinian american journalist who was shot in the head and killed last may while covering an israeli raid in the occupied west bank, even as she was wearing a helmet clearly labeled "press." israeli officials initially blamed palestinians for her ath, then called evidence "inconclusive" before once again changing their story in september to say abu akleh may have been "accidentally" hit by israeli troops, but eyewitness accounts and videos of the area where shireen was killed do not show a gun battle.

investigations by "al jazeera," "the new york times," "the washington post" and other news outlets also challenge the official israeli version of abu akleh's killing. in a statement, abu akleh's family called the u.s. investigation an important step toward accountability, writing, "it is what the united states should do when a u.s. citizen is killed abroad, especially when they were killed, like shireen, by a foreign military." israel's minister of defense benny gantz called the u.s. decision to investigate abu akleh's killing a "grave mistake," adding, "i have made it clear to the u.s. that we won't cooperate with any external investigation and won't allow any interference in israel's internal affairs." in the democratic republic of congo, fighting between the army and m23 rebels has moved closer to the eastern city of goma. it's some of the worst violence in congo's north-kivu region since government forces chased the rebels into neighboring rwanda in 2013.

the fighting has pushed thousands of internally displaced people into makeshift camps where they face dangerous and squalid conditions. >> m 23 attacked us the day before yesterday. i even lost my way. 100 80,000 people have been displaced. in arizona, democrat katie hobbs has been elected governor after nearly a week of ballot counting in the highly contested race. hobbs narrowly defeated her republican, trump-endorsed challenger kari lake with 50.39% of the votes. lake, a former news and loyal supporter of trump's false claims of a rigged 2020

presidential election, received 49.61% of the vote. hobbs served as arizona's secretary of state and vocally defended the state's election system and the legitimacy of the 2020 election making her the , target of harassment from the far-right. ahead of november 8, kari lake would not say whether she would accept the results of the election if she lost. on monday night just after major , news organizations called the race for her opponent, kari lake tweeted, "arizonans know bs when they see it." in more news from arizona, voters have passed a ballot measure that will grant undocumented students in-state college tuion and holarshi if they attended high school in arizona. the historic victory comes after a massive organizing campaign led by undocumented advocates who've for years fought for state benefits. nearly 16 years ago arizona , overwhelmingly voted to ban undocumented students from getting in-state tuition.

a federal appeals court has put on hold -- has temporarily blocked the biden administration's student loan relief program while it reviews a lawsuit by six republican-led states. the challenge is being pushed by nebraska, missouri, arkansas, iowa, kansas and south carolina, arguing biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt per person would deprive the state of revenue. the program had already been put on hold after the education department had approved 16 million borrowers for up to $20,000 of relief, out of 26 million people who have applied for the program. in the largest higher education strike in u.s. history, some 48,000 graduate student workers at all 10 university of california campuses walked off the job monday denouncing the university's bad-faith bargaining practices with their union. the student workers, including researchers, teaching assistants

and tutors have organized with the united auto workers, and are fighting for higher living wages, more childcare benefits, expanded family leave, among other demands. the university of virginia lifted a campus-wide shelter-in-place order on monday, after police arrested a suspect in sunday evening's mass shooting following a 12-hour manhunt. a 22-year-old former football player and uva student is accused of killing three football players and wounding two other people. according to the gun violence archive, there have been nearly 600 mass shootings and 39,000 gun deaths in the united states so far this year. the u.s. supreme court has paved the way for the committee to subpoena the records of kerry ward who played key efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

clarence thomas and samuel alito released the ruling without citing reasons. this has led to renewed calls for his impeachment. ginni thomas is a far right activists who played a key role to keep donald trump in the white house after he lost the election. former vice president mike pence told nbc news that trumps actions on january 6 "endangered" his family as well as everyone at the capitol that day. and pence said he was "angered" over trump's tweet on january 6 that pence, "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done." >> iaid itoesn't take courage to break the law, it takes courage to uphold the law. e president's words were reckless. it is clear he decided to be part of the problem. amy: pence granted abc news the

interview just has he published his new memoir, entitled "so help me god." donald trump is expected to announce from has mar-a-lago resort in palm beach, florida, he is running for the presidency again. amazon is planning to carry out massive layoffs and could cut as many as 10,000 jobs this week. that's according to multiple news outlets including "the washington post," which reports the layoffs are likely to target amazon's corporate workforce. this follows recent mass layoffs at facebook, twitter and salesforce. meanwhile, prices of digital currencies fell sharply over the weekend after the leading cryptocurrency exchange ftx filed for bankruptcy on friday. ftx's rapid collapse has been compared to the implosion of lehman brothers in 2008 and the ponzi scheme masterminded by bernie madoff. overnight, it wiped out nearly all the wealth of 30-year-old

ceo sam bankman-fried, whose personal net worth was once valued at $26 billion. regulators in the u.s. and the bahamas have opened civil and criminal investigations into how hundreds of millions of dollar'' worth of assets flowed out of ftx just ahead of its collapse. in more tech news, google has reed tpay nearly $400 million dollars to settle 40 states' lawsuits accusing the , tech giant of tracking smartphone users' movements, even after they changed a software setting to opt out of sharing their location data. in a statement announcing the settlement, oregon's attorney general said, "for years google , has prioritized profit over their users' privacy." and over a dozen climate scientists and advocates were arrested last week as they blocked several u.s. airports, protesting the destructive toll private jets have on the environment. climate protesters targeted private airports in new jersey, north carolina, california and washington state, as part of a

coordinated global action that also saw demonstrations at at least 13 other private airports in 12 other countries. among the protesters arrested was peter kalmus, a climate scientist at nasa's jet propulsion lab. >> i feel awful. [indiscernible] i know this is the right thing to do. we have a message. i am standing in solidarity. [indiscernible] amy: to see our interview with peter kalmus go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming up from this u.n. climate summit in sharm el-sheikh, we

will speak to a leading civil rights advocate. [♪♪] [music break]

amy: "kalam" by mashrou leila. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the climate summit. tens of thousands of delegates have come here, to sharm el-sheikh, to attend the cop27 u.n. climate conference. the summit is taking place under the most repressive regime in the history of the modern egyptian state. over the past decade, there has been an unprecedented crackdown on human rights, on civil society, on the media, on environmental activism and much more. tens of thousands of political prisoners are behind bars, the mo promine of whicis the

technologist, activist and writer alaa abdel fattah, who -- whose case has become a lightning rod at the summit and he just ended a more than seven month-long hunger strike. meanwhile, outside sharm, in cairo and cities across the country, security forces have launched a widespread crackdown in the days leading up to and during the summit. hundreds have been arrested, security forces have locked down the streets, stopping random passersby and forcibly searching for content on their phones. lawyers and journalists have been detained, including most recently the journalist ahmed fayez, who was arrested after posting that alaa abdel fattah had been subject to a forced medical intervention. the egyptian government meanwhile continues to tout its role as the host country of cop27 and has been working to bolster its international legitimacy through the summit. for more on the human rights situation in egypt and much more we are joined by hossam bahgat,

executive director and founder of the egyptian initiative for human rights, one the country's leading human rights groups. he has also worked as an investigative journalist for the independent media outlet mada masr. over the years, hossam bahgat has been targeted by the government for his work. for the past seven years, he has been banned from traveling outside egypt and had his personal assets frozen. in 2015, he was arrested and held for several days while under investigation by the military prosecutor before he was released following an international outcry. hossam bahgat. it is wonderful to have you back on democracy now. today we are in your country, in egypt, although sharm el-sheikh doesn't feel like the rest of the country. can you talk about this climate

summit? hossam: of course it doesn't really represent the rest of the country in normal times but especially during these two weeks, there is a certain degree of freedom at least inside the u.n. zone, the so-called blue zone where egyptians can for the first time in many years express their views and debate, speak freely toward the media, but also interact with civil society and climate justice activists from all over the world without fear of instances of reprisal. with the fear of reprisal it is on everyone's mind. amy: how does it feel for you here? you are banned from leaving egypt.

it must be such an unusual experience to meet people from around the world. hossam: definitely. it is like traveling to another country, except the world sort of came to egypt for these two weeks. that is not just the kind of access that we have two official delegations, but the kind of connectedness and rebuilding of relationships and building a future partnership around the issues of human rights and climate justice and environmental justice. but most importantly, it is being able to breathe. this level of oxygen that egypt has been lacking for the past eight years. amy: let's talk about what's happened through this period. in sharm el-sheikh, you have the

summit but in cairo people are being picked up off the streets. you have the story about the journalist reporting on -- medical condition, being arrested. we have hundreds of reports of people being arrested among the tens of thousands who are imprisoned right now. hossam: this is just one glimpse really of what happens on a daily basis in egypt and it goes to show in very clear terms how what's happening within the blue zone has not really stopped or changed the behavior of the egyptian government in other cities and especially in cairo. there was a call for protest that came from opposition figures who are living in exile.

since the 11th of november. amy: 11/11. hossam: 2.5 with cop and before the government of egypt took action and paranoid ways so for many weeks security was everywhere on the street. we saw the return of random stops and arrests. illegal searching of mobile phones, looking for not just any critical posts but really whether the person has even liked or shared the critical posts, or had any interest in politics at all. independent human rights organizations from october until mid-november, yesterday, over 600 people arrested, about 40 of them have not appeared yet.

they are forcibly disappeared, including around 24 women. amy: and yet you did not support a boycott of the summit. why? hossam: egypt -- when egypt was first declared the host last year, there were some calls especially from outside of egypt for campaigning to relocate or reconsider that decision. we disagreed with these calls. and then there were calls on activists to boycott the summit and we disagreed and urged activists from around the world to use this opportunity to come to egypt. egypt has not allowed international human rights organizations or independent social justice activists to come into the country since at least 2014. organizations like amnesty international and human rights

watch came to egypt this week for the first time in nine years. so it is not just this lifeline of support that we needed, but also a global spotlight that was put on egypt for a few weeks before, and the two weeks of the conference, that we haven't had in a number of years. as you know, egypt is only in the news when there's a crisis. from the outside, egypt appears to be a stable country in an unstable region, and there is normalization with the level of abuse in egypt, a story that says the egyptian regime of dissidents, it doesn't capture -- anymore. it became more difficult after the war in ukraine. this is really an important

opportunity for us to be back in the spotlight and use this opportunity to highlight the magnitude of the human rights crisis in the country, and mobilize around it. amy: when you talk about human rights watch being allowed back in, yet you have all of these hundreds of websites that egyptians are blocked from accessing. can you explain that? hossam: since around 2017, the government decided to really block any independent website that carries any critical views or information about egypt. the problem is not just foreign west writes like amnesty international. this blackout targeted 100% of independent media outlets so the

number of news organizations that are egyptian reporting news from egypt that are available is now zero. people have to download cnn to access this website. the government blocked around 400 websites so that egyptian readers do not even have the app to download to access the news organization. the number of blocked websites so far is over 600 and all of them are blocked illegally. so not according to egypt's abuse of law or any legal regulation. just the security of parties has decided to pull the plug on any media organization or human rights organization that care is critical views. amy: i introduce you as a leading human rights advocate but you are perhaps the leading invested -- investigative journalist in egypt.

i want the camera to go to the two shot right now and look across the room. we are right outside the plenary. right across from us, it says " ums" and you have the u.s. -- the u.n. climate senate local -- logo. you did an investigation of how the egyptian military, through a private equity group, bought up most of the media in egypt. can you explain what we are looking at here? hossam:ums fans, this is a company that was established by egypt. for the sole purpose of purchasing all privately owned tv stations, newspapers, and

news websites. of course, anyone familiar with egypt, it is under autocratic. despite the limits on freedom of expression and free media, egypt has a vibrant media field through the privately owned independent journalism that really led egypt to stand out, even within the middle east, for its level of accountability in journalism and independence. shortly after the president came to power, he started openly complaining about critical or opposition voices expressed in the media and also about the powers of the political talk shows every night that egyptians turned to religiously in the evening to follow the news and learn about what's happening in

the country. so the intelligence services went to one media outlet after the other and bought them. all of the media outlets are under this ums, united media services. within four years, that turned egypt into belarus, syriac, where the headlines of every newspaper are the same. there is one news bulletin that is read out on every tv station, and there isn't a single opposition newspaper or even column in egypt. amy: when you did the expose on the military takeover of the media, what happened to you? hossam: i got in trouble before, for other investigations that also looked into the military and security establishments

takeover and the state capture by security agents. and then when i got into looking at this secret media acquisition, of course our website was locked and locked every time we relaunched it. eventually the government went public and actually now a well-known fact that united media services is owned by general intelligence and they take pride in that fact. amy: how did you get accreditation to this u.s. client -- u.n. climate summit? there are foreign activists that got accreditation and were denied entry. how did you get to come here? hossam: believe me, it wasn't easy. all egyptian organizations had to apply for a special permit to come for this cop only and to apply to the egyptian cop

presidency, the foreign minister . we couldn't apply directly to the u.n. the egyptian government kept that process secret. the very existence and went around and handpicked preselected egyptian organizations to invite. all the names of human rights organizations that sought to receive this one time accreditation were rejected. obviously, the egyptian government picked around 30 ought organizations and the number of human rights groups on that list was zero. so what we had to do is first go around to partners in international organizations and ask them to include us in their delegation. i am not here representing an egyptian human rights organization. i got here with a badge from a

german climate group called german zero and i thank them very much. without them i would not have been here. the same is true for any human rights defender on the ground at sharm el-sheikh this week. amy: there is someone who is not here on the ground, though as a number of people said should be the main person addressing world leaders, and that is alla. he is a leading political activist back to the arab spring. he's been in prison for most of the last 10 years. one world leader after another has come here. german chancellor has called on , the president of egypt, to free him. macron, the president of france

-- what about president biden? he was here on 11/11, on friday for a couple of hours with a large delegation with nancy pelosi and others, the house speaker. can you talk about what the u.s. is demanding in terms of alla, who has just finished a seven month hunger fast. what that meeting between sisi and biden was, what we understand, did biden make any demands calling for his release, his freedom? he is a british egyptian human rights leader. hossam: to our knowledge, there isn't really a single head of state or government that came to the cop and has a bilateral meeting with president sisi that didn't raise prisoners in

general and alla in particular. it was a week before he went on a full hunger strike for seven months of a partial hunger strike. amy: including drinking the water. hossam: from the very first day of the summit he stopped drinking water. that of course became the most urgent, most critical case. our understanding is that president biden as well as senior members of his delegation raised the case with their counterparts. unfortunately, the egyptian government has not only resisted all these calls for alla to be released or deported,ut also give him absolutely no contact with the outside world.

he started drinking water. today -- where he has ended his strike. we are very relieved about that. as you say, he is only one of many thousands of political prisoners that are in jail in open-ended pretrial detention or have been convicted. having x -- expressed dissenting views or practice hunger. amy: do you know if his mother or his sister will visit and if it is one or two who can go in prison for quite a while? that is friday for a birthday cake. in fact, last week lawyer was told he could go visit him and was denied. he went back, he was denied. rotten role -- what role do

international leaders play with the u.s. giving billions of dollars of military aid to egypt? whatever president biden said behind closed doors, the u.s. has enormous power. hossam: absolutely. we are all anxiously waiting for thursday because this will be the first time that alla will have been seen since october 31, the last visit. as you said, his lawyer three times received official permits to visit him and three times was turned away. it is our speculation that perhaps prison authorities and security agencies did not want alla to be seen in a very weak state after all these weeks and months of strike, especially

because they have been repeatedly lying on the record, saying that alla was not striking at all. i think they were buying time maybe. maybe he regains some health and strength before they allow him to be seen by anyone. of course, the united states is an influential country in the world, especially so when it comes to egypt. given not just the military support but a strategic and long relationship, and the egyptian regime in the past two years has actually shown some sensitivity to outside criticism and efforts to improve its image, perhaps to lead up to cop. they have taken some positive signals to the outside world in

terms of releasing some political prisoners or there is a call for an international -- with opposition. engagement with the egyptian government and public and private about its catastrophic human rights record can lead to change. amy: can you talk about the american-style, prison that sisi has built? he referred to what you are just saying in his meeting with biden when the press dabble came out. he was the first to raise human rights to preempt something biden could say. what these prisons -- hossam: what the president called american prisons, i think when he said that he thought it was a good thing. in your mind, you are perhaps

referring to the size of the prison complex and the fact that it was maybe lesser maintained compared to egypt, very old and crowded. as the case of alla and countless others came to show us, these two tiny prisons continue to act with the same disregard for the rule of law, openly violating egypt's own prison regulations, refusing to implement visiting permits issued by the country's top public administrator and denying alla has basic rights. he is celebrating, announcing to his family that they allowed someone in. this is the first time he will be allowed to listen to music in three years. that is unlike every prisoner.

for three years, you could pick any book of their choosing to allow them to read. he was not allowed to read a book, listen to music, to get out of his cell. that just goes to show you how vindictive this state is and how adamantly were breaking him. he stood strong and actually managed to stay not just alive but incredibly lucid and in very high spirits. amy: compare egypt today with egypt that he and so many others protested 10 years ago. the arab spring, what happened, what that meant not only for egypt but for the world, what happened in this 10 years? what has sisi brought this country to? hossam: back then, and of course you covered this extensively, under mubarak we organized

because of course it was a country with a very troubling human rights record and there were ongoing violations with impunity. a complete failure of accountability. this was an authoritarian country and we were fighting for democracy. wh we have right now is a full-scale human rights crisis that made egypt in the same space as belarus and uzbek stan and other countries where not just human rights are rampant -- human rights violations are rampant but the regime became the worst abusers in the world. that is not an unusual statement. if you look at any independent ranking of any country on the measure of human rights, you will find egypt among the worst three or five. look at the number of

journalists imprisoned, we are number three in the world after turkey and china -- turkiye and china. number three in terms of the number carried out executions. share population of political prisoners, the number of blocked websites, the almost nonexisting media and the full criminalization of human rights work where every human rights defender is facing criminal charges, travel bands, not just myself. we are engaging in any act of peaceful opposition has become ground for imprisonment. amy: what makes you so brave and what gives you hope? the climate summit ends this week. that is a level of protection that you and other people in civil society will not have. the level to which you are speaking out now, what could happen to you now? hossam: we knew that we had to

take action and we always knew that it was only two weeks so ultimately it will be over and we will all be back in cairo, but it was really a choice between not doing anything and wasting this huge opportunity of having a u.n. summit on egyptian soil, or taking that risk in facing possible consequences afterwards. initially, we decided to take that risk, that it was worth it and then with alla's hunger strike, we lost hesitation and fear. we decided we did not just have an opportunity but an obligation to use this opportunity. we hope the world will not forget about egypt once cop is over so this stoplight goes elsewhere. even if that happens, it will

have been well worth it. amy: hossam bahgat, all the best to you. founder and executive director of the egyptian initiative for personal rights, eipr, based in cairo. for the past seven years he has been banned from traveling outside egypt and has had his personal assets frozen. we speak to one of the most prominent climate defenders in the world. [♪♪] [music break]

amy: "straight to hell" by the clash. this is democracy now, democracy.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman as we broadcast live from the u.n. climate summit in sharm el-sheikh, egypt. how the crisis is impacting africa, we are joined by one of the world's most prominent climate activists vanessa nakate , from kampala, uganda. she is the author of "a bigger picture: my fight to bring a new african voice to the climate crisis." earlier today at an event here at the u.n. climate talks, vanessa nakate condemned world leaders for investing in new fossil fuel projects. she also warned the summit is being turned into a "sales and marketing conference for more

pollution and more destruction and more devastation." vanessa nakate joins us now. welcome back to democracy now. it is an honor to have you. hossam: thank you so much -- vanessa: thank you so much. amy: have you ever adjust the put -- addressed the plenary? vanessa: i would like to. amy: what would you tell them? vanessa: we need to keep 1.5 degrees celsius alive. so many communities are suffering the worst climate crisis. i recently made a visit to a region in africa and we are seeing the worst drought in africa. amy: is it can you? vanessa: yes -- amy: is it kenya? vanessa: yes. it is important leaders keep 1.5 degrees celsius alive.

amy: talk about what you mean that this has become a marketing extravaganza. vanessa: apparently we have more than 600 fossil fuel lobbyists at this call and yet so many communities and activists from the front line of the climate crisis weren't able to make it here. the reason for that, i read recently if you are going to discuss about malaria, do not invite them. it is a worry that we have over 600 fossil fuel lobbyists, a worry for our future, our planet, and the people. amy: this has been described as africa's cop here in northern africa. do you see this as africa's cop? vanessa: many people are calling it an african cop and this can

only live up to that name if the climate crisis is addressed and it is what is needed, the community from the african continent are demanding for fulfilled. one thing is the loss and damage of financial facilities, the climate crisis is putting so many communities pass adaptation. you cannot adapt to extinction and that is what is happening right now. damage is affecting so many communities so for me what will make it an african cop is to make sure there is an establishment of a loss and damage facility, and a just transition to renewable energy while addressing the fossil fuels on the african continent. amy: we were talking to your colleague in nigeria who has probably gone to more cops then you have lived in years. he talked about this being the last and damaged cop.

it just rolls off your tongue the rest of the world without lingo, explain what you mean? who needs to pay for reparations? vanessa: damage looks like what i've just explained, what i saw. children, women, and people suffering, having access to water, and there are so many children in hospitals, because of malnutrition loss and damage is what we see happening in pakistan. over 1500 people dead and over 3 million people displaced. it is what is happening in nigeria. it is what has happened on the african continent with the cyclone. the impact of the climate crisis

is pushing communities beyond adaptation. amy: can you talk about ecop? you've spoken out been's the east african crude oil pipeline which will run through uganda and tanzania. what are your concerns? vanessa: my concerns about fossil fuel companies -- they are promising, the people in my country and all other investments in africa but they are bringing economic progress. we have seen fossil fuel investments on the african continent that haven't brought economic progress. the environment is going to be destroyed. we will find ourselves in an accelerated climate crisis and profits are going to end up in

pockets of already rich people. the energy will be loaded onto ships and taken to europe, and the people in africa will still not have access to the electricity that has been promised. if the fossil fuel industry really meant that they are bringing energy on the african continent, then we wouldn't have over 600 million people on the african continent traveling to find access to electricity. amy: you are talking about the massive travel that africa and other parts of the world face, yet you are also engaged in solutions at the local level. talk about what you are doing in uganda? vanessa: i am part of a movement and one thing that we do is carry out climate education in schools, and also reach out to communities to tell them about what is happening at about their role in addressing the climate crisis.

i also run a project which involves the installation of solar panels and eco-friendly -- in uganda. we have done installations in 31 schools. we started this project to drive the transition to renewable energy in schools and also carry out climate education, and ensure that schools have alternatives to clean up and alternatives to the energy they can use. amy: today is november 15. is it true it is your birthday? vanessa: yes. amy: that it is your b-earth day. and you are 26 years old. what would you consider the greatest birthday present coming out of this cop? happy birthday. vanessa: thank you so much. it would be having people and justice at the center of the

negotiations and that will look like a loss and damage facility. that will look like a just transition to renewable energy. that will look like no new fossil fuel investment and oil and gas. amy: by my calculation, you are 26 years old. this is cop 27 and that means 27 years of the u.s. climate summit. the cop has been meeting all of your life. vanessa: exactly, and it is worrying that we have had 27 cop's now and global temperatures continue to rise and the climate crisis continues to accelerate, and communities continue to suffer, and our leaders continue not to do anything about it. amy: let's talk about the leaders of the country that have historically emitted the most

greenhouse gases. you have the united states, historically the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world and per capita, one of the greatest. china is the largest current greenhouse gas emitter. xi and biden met on monday. what do they need to do? when people say why, if we are dealing with all these problems in the united states, should we be giving money to other countries? talk about why and how that money should be targeted. vanessa: i think that it is our responsibility for historic and current emitters to address the climate crisis. i was able to listen to president biden speak and i think that we desperately needed better leadership from president biden and the united states. i think the united states has a

huge responsibility to not only address the climate crisis, to not only address loss and damage, but to put money to communities suffering right now. when we talk about this money, we need this money to go to communities that need it and for this money to go -- not add to an already existing debt. for me, for the historic and current emitters, they have to take responsibility for the climate crisis and they have to pay for this crisis. amy: this is an unusual cop because of the interest in human rights. you have alla in prison amid tens of thousands of egyptians, taking place in egypt, this u.n. climate sub did -- summit. you will join together on

saturday, saying that you can't separate these two issues. talk about how that is integral for you as well? vanessa: our fight for climate justice is a fight for human rights. we've seen how the climate crisis is violating the rights of so many people across the world and to go back to the story of -- what i saw was children struggling to find water and food. some of the communities beyond uganda that are suffering from air pollution, these are people struggling to find access or to even breathe clean air. a fight for climate justice is indeed a fight for human rights, and you cannot have climate justice without ensuring the rights of the people are protected. amy: final words to this global audience that is listening to everything you say? vanessa: well, i mean, it's very

hard to find what to say when you know what is happening, especially in the negotiations and what is happening at the co p. i hope our leaders can inspire with action and inspire with true climate leadership. amy: vanessa nakate, you've shown what leadership looks like. vanessa: thank you. amy: happy, happy birthday. vanessa: thank you. amy: vanessa nakate, climate justice activists speaking to us. she is the author of her memoir "a bigger picture: my fight to , bring a new african voice to the climate crisis." that does it for our show. juan gonzalez will be giving a

speech friday at the columbia school of journalism, reflecting on his 40 years of fighting for racial and social justice in journalism. it begins at 4:10 p.m. friday. see democracynow.org for more information. a special thanks to our colleagues in sharm el-sheikh.

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