11/23/22 11/23/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] cairo, egypt, this is democracy now! >> the protest began on septemr 16. over 300 people ve been killed including more than 40 children. 216-year-old was were among those killed over the weekend. protesters have been killed in

25 of iran's 31 provinces. amy: the situation in iran is critical with reports of children being killed, injured, and detained and antigovernment protests. we will get an update. then noam chomsky remembers staughton lynd, longtime peace and civil rights activist, lawyer, historian and author who died at the age of 92. >> haduite rarkable le boasted signifint intellectl contritions. one ofhe most important for me , american radicalism. amy: and finally, after vice president harris' visit to the philippines, we will speak with filipino climate activist yeb saño about the creation of a

loss and damage fund at the u.n. climate summit in sharm el-sheikh. >> it is an expression of human solidarity for those who bear the brunt. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from cairo, egypt. in chesapeake, virginia, a gunman shot dead at least six people inside a walmart tuesday night. cnn reports the suspect is believed to be an employee or former employee of the store, with reports he opened fire on other walmart workers in a break room.

he possibly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. the shooting comes just three days after a gunman shot dea five people at club q, an lgbtq+ nightclub in colorado springs. according to the gun violence archive, there have been more than 600 mass shootings in the united states this year. house democrats investigating donald trump may soon have access to six years of his tax returns. on tuesday, the u.s. supreme court rejected the former president's attempt to block the treasury department from turning over his tax returns. the court's ruling ends a three year legal battle but comes just weeks before the democrats lose control of the house. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy has accused russia of turning the cold winter weather into a "weapon of mass destruction" by attacking ukraine's energy infrastructure.

millions of ukrainians are expected to go months without heat or electricity following recent russian strikes. the head of the ukrainian power grid warned tuesday of mass blackouts. >> for you to understand the scale of these attacks and what we have to deal with practically all thermal and hydrogen operations we need your power stations have been damaged by missile attacks. amy: in other news on the war, russia has denounced ukrainian security forces for raiding a 1000-year-old russian orthodox christian monastery in kyiv as part of a probe into whether the religious site is being used to assist russia's war efforts. over the past nine months, ukrainian forces have arrested at least 33 orthodox priests on suspicion of aiding russia. meanwhile, in moscow, russian president vladimir putin met

tuesday with cuban president miguel diaz-canel who criticized u.s. sanctions targeting russia. >> cuba actively condemns sanctions that unilaterally and unfairly -- the expansion of nato toward russian borders. amy: turkey is threatening to launch a ground invasion of northern syria as part of its ongoing assault on kurdish groups in the area following a deadly bombing in istanbul on november 13. turkey is claiming it has killed 184 kurds in recent attacks on northern syria and iraq. meanwhile, iran is escalating its own attack on kurdish areas. one kurdish human rights group estimates 42 people have been killed over the last week. we will have more on iran after headlines. brazil's far-right president jair bolsonaro has formally

filed a petition with brazilian election authorities contesting the results of last month's runoff election, which he lost to former president luiz inacio lula da silva. bolsonaro has asked brazil's superior electoral court to toss out votes cast on older electronic voting machines claiming, without proof, that the machines are faulty. bolsonaro's request is expected to be rejected but could raise tensions in brazil ahead of lula's inauguration on january 1. in colombia, new peace talks have begun between the colombian government and the country's last remaining leftist guerrilla group, the national liberation army, or eln. colombia's first ever leftist president gustavo petro, who is a former member of the guerrilla group m-19, pushed for the negotiations to resume for the first time since 2019 in an effort to end nearly 60 years of conflict. this is danilo rueda, colombia's high peace commissioner.

>> we believe that respect for differences might trust towards a common purpose. respect for life and freedom and respect for the changes necessary to overcome a set of issues and qualities that have been denied to so many sectors of the colombian society, and this internal exercise that we are beginning to develop is what gives us certainty. amy: in jerusalem, at least one person has died and 14 were injured after bombs exploded at two crowded bus stops this morning. israeli authorities believe the bombs were likely detonated remotely. one of the blasts killed a 16-year-old israeli-canadian yeshiva student named aryeh shechopek. the attack in jerusalem came hours after israeli forces shot dead a 16-year-old palestinian boy named ahmed shehada in the occupied west bank.

palestinian officials say he was shot in the heart during an israeli military raid. so far this year israeli forces , have killed at least 200 palestinians, including more than 50 children. in china, hundreds of workers at the world's largest iphone factory have cshed with chinese police after walking off the job. tension has beenising at the foxconplant over strict covid lockdownand unpa wages. video sted on social med show workers bng tear gassed and aten outside the plant the biden administration has extended a pause on federal student loan payments until the end of june as a court battle drags on over biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 of student debt per borrower. in a statement, education secretary miguel cardona said -- "we're extending the payment pause because it would be deeply unfair to ask borrowers to pay a debt that they wouldn't have to pay, were it not for the baseless lawsuits brought by

republican officials and special interests." the city of atlanta has agree to pay $1 million to the family of rayshard brooks, an unarmed 27-year-old african-american man who was shot dead by the police in 2020. the incident began when officers found him sleeping in a car in the parking lot of a wendy's restaurant in 2020. police shot him in the back after he attempted to run away from them after grabbing one of their tasers. one officer was heard on a bodycam video saying, "i got him." a coalition of over 400 immigrant justice and human rights groups are urging the biden administration to grant temporary protected status, or tps, to more people from haiti as the island nation faces a political and economic crisis with violence increasing in the streets. the efforts led by the haitian bridge alliance are calling for current beneficiaries of tps to be given more time in the program and for biden officials to expand the relief to haitians who fled to the united states after july 2021. the program temporarily shields immigrants from deportation and grants them permission to work

in the u.s. tps for haitians is currently set to expire in february 2023. in labor news, the head of the american federation of teachers president randi weingarten is denouncing former secretary of state and possible presidential candidate mike pompeo after he claimed that she was the "the most dangerous person in the world." weingarten said she suspects pompeo made the comment in an appeal to billionaire republican funders who want to dismantle public education. >> this is the kind of rhetoric that creates the incitement and the hate and the divisiveness that we are seeing in america and around the world today. let me be clear, what the aft does and what teachers do every day in classrooms is they are the antidote to this kind of

destructive rhetoric. amy: in labor news, starbucks is closing the first shop to unionize in seattle, the coffee chain's home city. this is the fourth unionized starbucks store in seattle to be shut down since nationwide unionization efforts started. starbucks ceo howard schultz warned in a video more stores would be closed soon claiming safety concerns. but union leaders say the closures are part of the company's ongoing retaliation campaign against workers organizing. and bloomberg is reporting elon musk's fortune has shrunk by over $100 billion this year due to the falling value of tesla shares. despite losing $100 billion, the new owner of twitter remains the world's richest man. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, the situation in iran is critical to reports of dozens of children killed, injured, and detained at antigovernment protest. we will get an update.

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: the unofficial anthem of the iranian protests. the lyrics are taken entirely from messages iranians have posted online about why they are

protesting. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman. amy: and i am nermeen shaikh. we are broadcasting from downtown cairo, egypt. the now river flows behind us. we begin today's show in iran, where human rights authorities say the situation has become critical with reports of children being kild, injured and detained at recent anti-government demonstrations. the office of the high commissioner for human rights said tuesday that the response by security forces has resulted in a rising number of deaths, especially in kurdish cities. this is spokesperson jeremy laurence. >> since september6, over 300 people have been killed, incling more than 40 children. 216-year-old boys were among six killed over the weekend.

protesters have been killed and 25 of iran's 31 provinces, including more than 100 in baluchistan. iranian officials have also reported that a number of security forces have been killed since the start of the protests. we call on the authorities to release all those detained in relation to the exercise of their rights, including the right to peaceful assembly and to drop the charges against them. our office also calls on the iranian authorities to immediately impose a moratorium on the death penty and to revoke death sentences issued for crimes not qualifying as the most serious crimes under international law. nermeen: this comes as the bbc reports authorities have not been releasing protesters' bodies unless their families remain silent.

some say they were pressured by security officials to go along with state media reports that their loved ones were killed by "rioters." on monday, iran's world cup team declined to sing the national anthem before their opening world cup match in a sign of support for the protests. amy: meanwhile on sunday, two of iran's most prominent actresses were arrested after they voiced support for anti-government protests and appeared in public without wearing a hijab, as required by law. ahead of her arrest on sunday, hengameh ghaziani wrote, "whatever happens, know that as always i will stand with the people of iran. this may be my last post." katayoun riahi was also arrested and accused of acting against iran's authorities. cnn reports are on security forces are using sexual assaults of male and female activists

tookhile the protests. -- to quell the protests. this week, the u.nhuman rights council in geneva is set to hold a session on the protests with witnesses and victims in attendance and will discuss a proposal to establish a fact-finding mission on the crackdown in iran. evidence of abuses could later be used in court. for more, we're joined by nahid siamdoust, assistant professor in middle east and media studies at the university of texas at austin former journalist who has , a reported across the middle east, including in iran. welcome back to democracy now! if you could start off by talking about the critical situation in iran right now and also the escalating attacks by the iranian government on kurdish areas? >> we've seen especially within the kurdish areas, the kurdish people have risen up. authorities are going very harshly against protests.

we see photo after photo on social media of people with tens, sometimes hundreds of -- some of these people do not survive those shots. as you already mentioned, many of the people of the protesters who are killed our children, teenagers. teenagers who have taken their lives into their hands and gone into the streets to protest their living conditions. really asking for a different future. nermeen: could you explain specifically what is it the relationship between iran's central government and curtis dan? -- kurdistan? could you explain? >> iran is a system of

governors. governance is an states. each state, including the kurdish region, will have their own governance. the central system controls these regions via the governors they have in these areas and oftentimes -- the people have risen up and the religious leaders have spoken up in their defense. we have seen them joining others in asking for an independent international body to oversee a referendum in iran. so the forces we see, the officers and militia that we see in kurdistan suppressing the uprising or the revolution there, they come from all kinds of different backgrounds come

supported by the central state. kurdistan is very much part of iran and this is something the kurdish leaders in that region have also stated. when you talk about the central state and the kurdish region, we have to be careful not to play into the regimes on discourse being a separatist movement. nermeen: absolutely, you're right about that. i wanted to say also, if you could comment in addition to the reports that we are seeing now, that we said a bit in our introduction of the systematic use of sexual violence against prisoners, specifically women protesters but also men, what are you hring about this on the ground? there have been reports widely publicized attacks by security forces in public, but this is the first we are hearing of attacks on prisoners, protesters

who have been imprisoned. >> right. a couple of weeks ago, there was a video published of a woman sort of open and public being sort of -- absolutely and appropriately and that set of conversations about what is happening in terms of the sexual abuse of these prisoners. a couple of days ago, there was a report by cnn with women and others alleging they have been sexually abused and these interrogation rooms. we have seen other reports coming through on social media. hearing from the families of these very much pressured to keep silent. we don't really have a full account of what is happening in these interrogations. we know they are abused physically but the nature of the sexual abuse is something that still needs to be narrated and come to the fore.

amy: can you talk about the defiance of the iranian people? the women who are leading these protests and the significance of what is happening now in cutter with the iranian soccer team refusing to sing the national anthem of iran before the game? >> we've seen a run is across-the-board, all over the nation, people in 25 out of 30 states have been killed. so this is really a nationwide revolution. and the defiance has been astounding. their courage with which people have gone into the strts week after we despite the hrings that are happening, despite the severe injuries -- people losing their eyes, limbs. despite that, they are continuing to protest and now

they have enjoyed by actresses and athletes -- have been joined by actresses and athletes and teachers unions and so on. the iran national team at the world cup refused to sing the national anthem, however, they have not been fully supported by iranians. it is a very contested field. there are some that are supporting the national team but many are not because the national team had a visit with the conservative president right before their departure and iranians did not like to see her national team sort of bowing and being friendly with our president who they see as in the head of the repressive governing -- not the supreme leader, but leading the charges against women since he took office he promised to bring morality to the streets and this wave of protest we see was not at least caused by a year-long of the morality police against women in

public spaces. so the national team meeting the president did not sit well with many iranians. they had a historical defeat at the world cup. nermeen: professor, you, among others, have pointed out there of a mini protests in recent years in iran starting with the 2009 protest, which is the time we spoke to you on democracy now! but there is something come as you said, qualitatively different about the protests that are now ongoing. can you talk about how you see this playing out? do you think despite the brutality of the state response that these protests will go on? >> in 2009, the biggest protest movement since the 1979 revolution, we saw massive

amounts of people coming into the streets. one of the biggest, perhaps 2 million or 3 million people at once. still about reforming the system within. people engage in with the islamic discourse of the government, right? going to the rooftops and calling god to bring forth that kind of islamic morality and decency to bring the governance into a motion of reform. that is no longer the case. the revolution we see now -- there are people who say we should no longer be calling this an uprising, should be called a revolution. not just a matter of semantics. in the nature of the slogans, this movement is no longer at all engaging with government discourse. there is no reference whatsoever to islamic slogans or phrases that people had been using and the government itself had been using. people are calling for a new

system. in the 2009 uprising, people would band together and say don't be afraid, we are altogether. now people are saying you should be afraid, you should be afraid because we are altogether. when we look at the slogans, the harshness of it. this notion of persons likeness or any sense of respect for authority or any of that is completely out the window. we see this in the words use against the supreme leader. they are ferocious. the movement is ferocious. it is a different movement. this movement is leaderless. there are groups of people all across iran popping up here and there but there are no leaders. it is a leaderless movement. it is a smart movement that is

sort of coming together and dissolving and really sort of playing this strategic game, organic strategic game. nermeen: thank you so much, professor nahid siamdoust assistant professor in middle , east and media studies at the university of texas at austin. she is a former journalist who has reported across the middle east, including in iran. amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman with nermeen shaikh, broadcasting from downtown cairo, egypt, just in front of the nile. we look now at the life and legacy of staughton lynd, the longtime peace and civil rights activist, lawyer, historian, and lawyer and author who has died at the age of 92. in the early 1960's, lynd taught alongside his friend howard zinn at spelman college in atlanta and served as director of the

sncc freedom schools of mississippi. nermeen: he was a leading early critic of the vietnam war. the state department stripped him of his passport after he traveled to north vietnam in 1965. staughton lynd was a conscientious objector in the 1950's and later supported u.s. soldiers who refused to fight in iraq. as the london review of books writes -- "along with roslyn and howard zinn, and carol and noam chomsky, alice and staughton lynd belonged to a generation of radical married couples in the united states who took controversial, unpopular public stands -- on civil rights at home, on vietnam and subsequent wars abroad -- regardless of the consequences, and held fast to lifelong commitments." amy: in a minute, we'll feature part of his interview on democracy now! staughton lynd back years ago. but first, we hear from one of his contemporary radical

academics. that's right, noam chomsky. the world-renowned political dissident, linguist, and author. he is a laureate professor in the department of linguistics at the university of arizona and professor emeritus at massachusetts institute of technology where he taught for more than half a century. he spoke to democracy now! this week about staughton lynd. >> he had quite a remarkable life. he he snificantntellectl contributions. one of the most important for me , intellectual origins of american radicalism tt came out in a late 1960's. . extensive and courageous work in the earlyays ear days ofhe

otests against theietnam war . e measures he tk, nscienous measures in opposition to the greatest crime since the second world war at a time when very few werengaged later on through other activities. was treated very shabbily by the ademic pfession anbyhe tellectual world, political world. went on -- went to law school. we on to become prominent in many important activities. the most significant, in my view, were the critical ros he played in working with working

people in cmuniti in the rust belt trying to orcome the wrkage of neoliberal -- supporting programs for worker control of industrynd services. very significa itself in the future, que important for the people trying to reconstruct their lives frothe destructive aspects of the neoliberal sault. altogether, it is truly exemplary life. very hard find people like that i never actually knew him personally, only his life and work. amy: so that is noam chomsky remembering staughton lynd, the

longtime peace and civil rights activist, lawyer, historian and author who just recently died at the age of 92. in 2006, staughton lynd appeared democracy now! on this is an extended excerpt from our conversation. what is your assessment of the situation in iraq right now? >> i think it is vietnam in spades. that is to say illegitimate and corrupt as every south vietnamese government was, i don't think they hold a candle to what we've created in iraq, where before the government of iraq can blow its nose, it has to seek permission from the united states military. and i think that it's clear -- i'm not saying anything new --

that the majority of iraqis, the majority of iraqis and the majority of united states servicemen at the moment feel the same thing. whatever problems might are arise from the withdrawal of united states troops, whatever conflicts there may be within iraq, they are less, they are more manageable than the conflicts that we create by our presence. so we should leave immediately. amy: and what was your reaction to president bush in talking to abc news, comparing iraq to vietnam, to the tet offensive. >> well, isn't it interesting that they've finally come around to that after saying that it wasn't an insurgency, it wasn't a civil war. now they have finally conceded that they were wrong when they forever denied the parallel to

vietnam. it's the same thing. anyone who passed through those experiences of the 1960's has to be mortified, just covered with shame and distress by the inability of the people who run this country to learn anything from their experience. amy: when did you apply for conscientious objector status? >> in -- i suppose it would have been 1952. and the particular status i applied for was to be an unarmed medic within the military. i didn't fancy myself planting pine trees while someone else my age who didn't know about the possibility of conscientious objection was getting his behind shot off, so i chose an option

where i wouldn't have to carry a gun or shoot anyone, where the rate of casualties was as high or higher as among infantrymen, and there was a way to do that within selective service law at that time. and that's what i did. amy: we are talking to staughton lynd, legendary peace activist,lo longtime social justice advocate, helped direct the mississippi freedom schools, went to hanoi with tom hayden, lost his, well, his tenure at yale and wrote the definitive history of the 1993 ohio prison uprising in lucasville. can you summarize that for people? >> well, there were three big prison rebellions between 1970 and 1995 -- attica, 1971, santa fe, tragic situation where

prisoners slaughtered one another, and then finally in 1993, lucasville, ohio. it lasted 11 days. nine prisoners and a hostage officer were killed. a surrender was negotiated and no sooner was the surrender negotiated with various prisoner spokespersons than the state of ohio turned around and began to build death penalty cases against those very leaders and spokespersons. they didn't care who had really done things. they wanted to nail the leaders so that no prisoner would ever have this idea again. and we're still deep in the process of resisting those executions. three of the five leaders who were sentenced to death are now in federal court.

the person closest to execution is a man named siddique abdullah hasan, who was the imam, the prayer leader of the muslim prisoners. i've just filed a friend of the court brief for the aclu pointing out that 14 prisoners have stated under oath that it was not hasan who was responsible for the death of the officer. and, you know, you hope and pray that if there can be -- as with mumia -- if there can be enough concern outside the courtroom, sooner or later the folks inside will get the message. amy: wasn't this an unusual situation where you had different sectors of the prison together? >> it was. and i'll never forget the moment when my wife, who was reading

transcripts, came running to me and she said, "staughton, read this. read this." and it was the testimony of the chief investigator for the state, a man named sergeant hudson. and the question was, well, "what did you find when you went into the occupied cellblock after the surrender?" and he said, "well, there were all kinds of graffiti on the walls and in the gymnasium." "well, what did the graffiti say?" the graffiti said, "black and white together," "convict unity," and my favorite, "convict race." some people may think we're black and white -- no, no, we're all convicts. we are a convict race. and i was very moved. i hadn't seen anything quite like that since the south, 30 years before. and the extraordinary thing is that those five men, the five

men sentenced to death -- three black, two white, one of the whites a leader of the aryan brotherhood -- have maintained their solidarity just like this for the last 13 years. amy: staughton lynd, as we wrap up this conversation, what gives you hope today? >> well, it's funny. i suppose as you get older, people ask you that question, why are you still plugging away? i guess what gives me hope is the kind of thing that i've just described or what we see going on in latin america today, of which your earlier guest was a spokesperson. i mean, can you imagine people taking factories over in argentina, a woman who used to be a house servant becoming the minister of justice in bolivia,

the teachers in oaxaca going on strike and demanding shoes for their children? i mean, how can you not have hope when things like this are happening in the world? amy: so that is staughton lynd speaking into thousand six on democracy now! to see our full interview, go to democracynow.org. coming up, we speak with climate activist yeb saño. he was at the climate summit in sharm el-sheikh as a climate peace activist, head of greenpeace southeast asia. before that, he was chief climate negotiator for the philippines. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we are broadcasting from cairo, egypt.

amy: this week vice president kamala harris wrapped up a two-day visit to the philippines that included a meeting with president ferdinand marcos, jr. amy: in a speech aboard a philippine coast guard patrol ship docked at the edge of disputed waters of the south china sea, harris said the u.s. would defend the philippines "in the face of intimidation and coercion" from china. amy: she vowed to expend the u.s. military presence in the country. amy: last friday, i had a chance to speak with yeb saño. he is a well-known filipino climate activist. we sat down together at the u.n. climate summit in sharm el sheikh, egypt. he used to be the climate negotiator. but after he made an emotional plea in 2013 at the climate

summit in warsaw, poland, after typhoon haiyan devastated the philippines, well, we will talk about what happened next. this is what he said. >> what my country is going through as a result of this climate event is madness. the climate crisis is madness. mr. president, we can stop this madness right here in warsaw. nermeen: so, that was 2013. the next year, as another deadly storm battered the philippines, saño was unexpectedly absent from the u.n. climate summit in lima, peru. he had been pulled from the delegation at the last minute. since then, saño has returned to cop every year. amy: i spoke to him friday in sharm el-sheikh, egypt, about the assessment of this summit this year. what had been accomplished and what hadn't.

>> we came to sharm el-sheikh to demand action for the interests of those most impacted by the climate crisis. and we hope to bring justice and accountability into the heart of these talks by way of establishing a fund, a fund for loss and damage. and when we talk about loss and damage, it is because we live in an era where we have realized the limits to being able to adapt to climate change. what's happening to the negotiations, there -- amy: what do you mean exactly by "loss and damage"? >> so, when we talk about climate change, there is a notion of being able to adapt, to adjust, so that you don't get impacted so severely. but when you talk about not being able to do that, meaning you lose lives, you lose cultures, you lose noneconomic and economic losses and damage, that is inflicted on so many communities, we're talking about an entirely different proposition here now. communities can no longer adapt.

they can no longer adjust or they have no means to be able to access resources that will allow them to do so. and then they lose, basically losing homes, losing land, losing livelihoods, and even losing entire cultures. some islands are even disappearing. and especially when we talk about slow-onset events like sea level rise, there is no recourse for the most impacted. that's why we now talk about loss and damage. and that was established as the third pillar under the paris agreement. amy: you've said that rich countries are rich for a reason, and that reason is injustice. explain. >> oh, absolutely. the kind of comfort and the kind of progress, you can say, that is now being enjoyed in the global north is a product of, you know, decades, maybe centuries, of subjugation of the

global south, including, of course, slavery, including racial injustice, including plundering resources in the global south. and so that was a product of all of that. and now, of course, including the use of atmospheric space by way of burning fossil fuels. and then the global south countries, which have the least contribution to this problem, are those who are suffering the most. it's really a simple story. it's very unfair and that is unjust. amy: so you were already, as a negotiator in warsaw, talking about loss and damage. here you're talking about putting money into that mechanism. and that's what the whole debate is about. you had john kerry weeks ago in an event with "the new york times" saying loss and damage means liability and compensation, and that's a place we can't go. he might have modified that over the last few weeks because of enormous pressure.

but if you can talk about specifically the u.s.? it's a country you have called out as the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases. what role are they playing at the cop27? >> what we're seeing at cop27, in particular on the outcome on establishing this fund, is that the u.s. is favoring the nonestablishment of it. that we just continue talking and spend more resources to organize more dialogues and organize more meetings so that we don't get to establish a fund. that is very blatant in the face of real loss and damage affecting many people and communities. and i still struggle to understand the u.s. position on this one. when we acknowledge, of course, the importance of responsibility, especially historical responsibility -- that's why we have climate change -- we're not even talking about compensation and liability here.

maybe there's something they imagine that could be a result of this entire conversation that they're really afraid of. but, of course, at the heart of it is, in fact, being held liable and accountable for all of the harms inflicted on people as a result of climate change impacts. this is really basic human fairness, right? so it's -- those countries in the global north that have created much of this problem should be leading the way towards demonstrating the human solidarity. i think just establishing this fund is an expression of human solidarity for those who did not cause this problem but bear the brunt of its impacts. amy: so if you can give advice to activists? you were the chief climate negotiator for the philippines in 2012, then in 2013 in warsaw.

2014, you were abruptly -- well, just you don't show up. i remember when we were in lima, because of your powerful speeches the year before, we were looking forward to talking to you but you just weren't there. explain why you were pulled from the delegation. 2015, you're a major activist in paris. you go on a hunger fast for climate justice. talk about your transformation. and since you were a negotiator, a chief negotiator, what you think the different -- what kind of impact organizers can have? >> oh, when i left this job, i decided i think the institutions we have built will never be enough for us to truly make a difference. and i decided to join the people's movement to fight climate change. amy: why were you tossed in 2014? >> well, in 2014, to be perfectly honest, i have never bothered to find out why. but i have -- i suspect it is

because of my vocal critique of the west. amy: the philippines actually often taking a line that is critical of the west, even the government, but in the end, you say that they're actually working together? >> i don't have any information on that. but i think being pulled from the delegation for negotiators who are vocal against the responsibility of rich countries in this whole process, i think it happens to smaller countries, to countries that have less power. it happens. there are a lot of strings attached in these negotiations. amy: so talk about -- you're talking about the pressures you're under as a negotiator. but what filtered through to you which gives you a sense of how you can be most effective on the outside? >> well, i've always -- i've always cared about making people understand that this is not just

a scientific issue. this is not just a technical issue. and it's not just an environmental issue. at the heart of the climate crisis is deeply rooted -- is a deeply rooted, broken system. and then the kind of economic world order that dominates all of us is something that we must change. and system change must be at the center of our struggle against climate change. and i think that could only be done at the grassroots. i don't think this battle will be won or lost in these plenary halls, nor in chambers of law. this will be won in the chambers of people's hearts. and therefore, that will have to be done by organizing people. there is no magic wand. there is no silver bullet to this. organizing means talking to people, organizing communities, and making people understand the root causes of the climate crisis. amy: so can you talk about the dangers that environmental activists face? in 2021, the nonprofit group

global witness said it had recorded that for the eighth straight year, the philippines, asia's deadliest country for land defenders. last year, it recorded a total of 29 documented killings of people defending their homes, land, livelihoods and ecosystems in the philippines alone. >> this is a very sad reality for filipino activists, and in particular, land defenders. most of them coming from indigenous communities. we have seen the impunity. we have witnessed the impunity. i know friends who have given up their life just to be able to speak truth to power and to defend their land. and it's shameful to live in a country such as my country, that -- where environmental defenders are murdered, are not given the space that is necessary to truly

be able to protect the environment and fight for social justice. it's sad. it's sad. and it's something that the world needs to pay attention to. and many people around the world should stand with people of the philippines in solidarity. amy: this week, the new president ferdinand marcos jr., the son of the dictator ferdinand marcos, called bongbong marcos, is at apec, the asia-pacific economic cooperation summit in thailand where he's pushing other heads of state, he says, for climate change adaptation. in september, president marcos called for climate action when he addressed the u.n. general assembly. let's watch. >> the effects of climate change are uneven and reflect an historal injustice. those who are least responsible suffer the most.

the philippines, for example, is a net carbon sink. we absorb more carbon dioxide than we emit. and yet we are the fourth most vulnerable country to the effects of climate change. this injustice must be corrected. and those who need to do more must act now. amy: so that's the new president ferdinand marcos, bongbong marcos. if you can talk about your assessment of him on climate and also when it comes to threats against activists? we know how duterte was so devastating when it came to violence against activists. >> so marcos jr. has a legacy to carry with him, and that part of that legacy is the inability and the lack of willingness to acknowledge historical responsibility for human rights violations committed by his father.

and for me, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anytime and anywhere, like what martin luther king, jr. said. and this failure to acknowledge that responsibility is blatant. and that would reflect on him in -- as he is now in power as president. and i would think that until he acknowledges that, all of the violation -- human rights violations in the past, it would be very difficult for us to trust that he can deliver justice in any form. and talking about his climate change rhetoric, we need to see that in action. the philippines continues to be powered mostly by coal power, and there is no indication that renewable energy, for example, will be a priority for this government. there is still a lot of coal-fired power plants being built. and we need to see rhetoric translated into action. even if he's championing climate

justice in the world, we would be -- it would be very hard for us to believe that until we see real, real sincerity in the con text of being able to espouse justice and fighting for human rights for the filipino people. amy: also, maria ressa's rappler just ran a story headlined the "philippine delegation to cop27 faces leadership shake-up," and reported the 29-member delegation of the philippine team finds itself without its original head of delegation, as well as top officials of the climate change commission. do you know anything about what's happening there? >> honestly, no. i have not been following that particular issue. i do know that there are members of the philippine delegation here i see doing the all-nighters. so i think some members of the delegation are doing their jobs really well. amy: you know, climate change is attributed to a lot of things, most significantly fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emissions.

i understand you're a vegan now. is that true? >> i am a vegetarian. amy: you're a vegetarian. how does that play into climate action? why do you see that as a part of it? >> oh, this is truly important, because when we -- when we will live our values as activists, it's really important for us to understand the big picture. and a part of that big picture is how the meat industry affects climate change in so profound ways. and that's something that i care about, although that's a very personal choice for me. amy: so can you talk, finally, about your life as what you called yourself a climate pilgrim? talk about what that meant, when you went from negotiator to activist, the many miles you spent walking to educate people about climate change.

>> so we've embarked on these special journeys, some of them in conjunction with the unfccc conference of the parties, the climate summits, as we call it, in 2015, from rome to paris, and in 2018, from italy to poland, over six countries. these journeys pay homage to people and communities affected by the climate crisis. and part of the intention is to be able to have conversations in every town that we pass through and carrying the stories from the most vulnerable communities in -- especially in my coury. amy: that is yeb saño. i spoke to him friday at the u.n. climate summit in sharm el-sheikh, egypt. that concludes our broadcast from egypt for the last two weeks. nermeen: a special thank you to

the crew here. amy: and special thanks to the democracy now! team here in cairo. and in new york. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013

hello and welcome to nhk newsline in new york. ukraine ended up spending their night in the dark and little hope their predicament might change. they have endured nine months of russian attacks and have seen another barrage cut powe