11/28/22 11/28/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> in shanghai, a lot of people have already been detained. they did it for all the people. for the delivery guys, for everybody to be able to receive medicine and food we need to help these people. amy: protests have erupted in

shanghai, beijing, and other large chinese cities over the government's strict zero covid policies. the demonstrations mark an unprecedented challenge to xi . we will get the latest. with the tumors are where the state is preparing to execute kevin johnson but a special prosecutor is urging the supreme court to stay the execution because the case was tainted by racism. johnson's 19-year-old daughter has been barred from witnessing the execution because she i under 21. >> it hard. he is not going to be here watch grow. is not going to see me be a tter parent an what was able to be. what my mom was t able to . america activists and western sahara accused morocco of greenwashing. plus the spanish equivalent of

the oscars suggested -- has given an award to a jury as a refugee camp as well as its from school. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. protests have erupted in beijing, shanghai, and other chinese cities over china's strict zero-covid policy. the protests were triggered by a deadly fire thursday at an apartment building in urumqi, the capital of xinjiang. unrest had been brewing in recent weeks with rare public protests against the government's restrictions. there are reports that local protocols prevented firefighters from reaching residents trapped in the burning building resulting the deaths of at these 10 people, including children. on friday, crowds took to the street in urumqi. protests then spread to other large cities and campuses, including tsinghua university in

beijing where chinese leader xi jinping studied. many of the protesters held up blank pieces of white paper. when man in beijing told reuters, "the white paper represent everything we want to say but cannot say." on saturday night, hundreds gathered in shanghai for a candlelight vigil for the victims of the urumqi fire, where clashes with police were caught on camera. >> you guys have a job. >> you guys have a job to make a living and make money. how about us? it has been three years. amy: videos show some protesters chanting "down with xi jinping!" and "we want freedom." we'll have more on this story after headlines. ukrainians are bracing for more frigid conditions as president volodymyr zelenskyy warned more russian missile strikes are coming, while utility companies struggle to restore power to damaged infrastructure. the national energy company asked residents to keep

conserving electricity as not to overwhelm the power grid. ukrainian nuclr authorities said russian forces may be preparing to leave the occupied zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, though russia has denied this claim. over the weekend, ukrainians commemorated the holodomor, the famine of 1932 to 1933, which was brought on by soviet leader josef stalin's policies and killed at least 4 million people by many estimates. german lawmakers are planning to pass a resolution this week declaring the holodor a genocide. in iran, then he set the supreme leader urged foreign powers to cut ties with the iranian regime over its brutal crime down on protests. >> tell your government stop killing.

[indiscernib] amy: she was arrested last week according to her brother just days before the video started circulating. the u.n. human rights council voted to start a fact-finding mission into human rights abuses. 18,000 people of and arrested while cicada forces have killed 450 protesters in the past two months, including 63 children. other high profile protest supporters have been targeted by authorities. rapper toomaj salehi has been charged with corruption on earth and could be sentenced to death. meanwhile, the soccer player voria ghafouri was arrested last week on charges of incitement against the regime. this comes as iran called for the u.s. team to be expelled from the fifa world cup after it

posted a picture of the iranian flag social media without the emblem of the islamic republic. moran will face the u.s. on the field tomorrow. the iranian team did not sing the iranian national anthem as well. in israel, extreme right politician will become the new national security minister as part of a deal with incoming prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the ultranationalist maker was convicted in 2007 of racist incitement against arabs and supporting a terrorist group. ben-gvir will be responsible for border police in the occupied west bank at a time when violence and the killing of palestinians has been surging. this is bassam al-salhi of the palestine liberation organization. >> now more than ever israel becomes an occupier state, apartheid state, and fascist. now we can say the upcoming israeli government, which will be led by netanyahu, contains all the ingredients of a

terrorist. amy: opposition leader anwar ibrahim has become malaysia's 10th prime minister. his victory came a week after a heated general election resulted in malaysia's first-ever hung parliament as no major parties were able to secure enough votes to form a new government. ibram vowed to fight corruption, revive the economy, and tackle racial divisions and discrimination. he is a former student activist. he was jailed twice on charges denounced by supporters and human rights groups as politically motivated. in hong kong, six high-profile pro-democracy advocates, including the 90-year old bishop joseph zen, were found guilty friday for failing to register a fund that helped people arrested during mass protests in 2019. the defendants will be fined up to around $500 each. observers say the case is meant to further deter pro-democracy organizing in hong kong. the prime minister of the central african nation of são tomé and príncipe said government forces thwarted a coup attempt friday.

authorities say four people were killed. two have been arrested, including an opposition politician. the small island nation, located in the gulf of guinea on the atlantic ocean, has a population of under a quarter of a million people and a relatively stable democracy. in the democratic republic of congo, fighting continues between m23 rebels and congolese troops. heavy fighting in eastern drc has displaced tens of thousands in recent weeks. the ceasefire agreement was brokered by east african leaders last week but m23 was not present as the congolese government refuses direct talks with the rebels. the drc accuses rwanda of backing the m23 fighters. local groups have also rejected the talks and are demanding foreign forces leave the country. >> for us the people, these agreements do not interest us. what interests us is peace and security that is a right for us. we must not remain in this misery for decades. we are asking for an immediate

withdrawal of the rwandan and ugandan armies. amy: italy has declared a state of emergency on the southern island of ischia after at least seven people, including a newborn baby and two children, were killed saturday in a massive landslide triggered by days of torrential rain. it was the worst storm reported in ischia in the last 20 years. rescue teams continue to search for missing people through the mud and debris. many are blaming the illegal construction of buildings and homes, in a region that's already extremely vulnerable to landslides and seismic activity, for exacerbating the destruction. >> it is the fault of our politicians who do not do preventative work on the mountains. they cut down the trees and this is the consequence. amy: in sweden, greta thunberg joined over 600 other young climate activists to sue their government over its failure to respond to the climate catastrophe.

the activists marched from the parliament building in stockholm to the court to file the lawsuit during their weekly fridays for future protest. in other climate news, a report released last week finds europe's record-breaking summer heatwave may have caused some 20,000 excess deaths. in panama, new protections for hundreds of threatened animal and plant species were approved last week at the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora. after two weeks of talks, member states agreed to enact new or revise regulations to protect dozens of species of sharks, songbirds, glass frogs, and tropical timber from illegal international trade. nations also discuss efforts to address the illegal trade of jaguars, pangolins, and elephants. advocates are criticizing the failure to increase protections for hippos threatened by legal worldwide trained, mainly of

their ivory teeth for commercial purpos. back in the united states in georgia, early voting has begun in the senate run-off between democrat raphael warnock and republican challenger herschel walker. reverend senator warnock received 37,000 more votes than walker but did not clear the 50% threshold to prevent a runoff. president obama is scheduled to appear at a warnock rally in georgia on thursday. while campaigning saturday, senator warnock addressed reproductive rights just three days after the georgia supreme court reinstated the state's abortion ban, one week after the ban had been overturned by a lower court. >> has a man of faith, i have a profound reverence for life. as a man of faith, i have a deep and abiding respect for choice. i think it is too narrow and cramped space for woman and dr. and united states government.

amy: twitter is expected to reinstate most suspended accounts this week after new owner elon musk announced thursday a general amnesty for previously banned users. imran ahmed from the group center for countering digital hate said -- "superspreaders of hate, abuse and harassment will be the only people to benefit from this latest decision by twitter." this comes as a new report found half of twitter's top 100 advertisers have left the platform since musk's takeover. former columnist and writer e. jean carroll is suing donald ump for rape. carroll was already ing the former president for defamation but filed her sexual assault lawsuit on thursday, minutes after new york's adult survivors act took effect which opens up a one-year window for adult survivors to sue their attackers, even if the statute of limitations had passed. carroll has accused trump of raping her in a manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990's. trump has denied the claim. in other trump news, the former president came under fire,

including from some republicans, after he hosted far-right persality whe supmaci holocat denierick fuens anrapper kye west mar-a-go last ek. inhe u.k.,ver 70,000 university employees went on strike thursday and friday over salary, pensions, and working conditions. another strike is planned for wednesday. it's thought to be the largest ever strike affecting higher education in the u.k. meanwhile, nurses with britain's national health service are planning to strike for two days in december in the nurses' union's first strike in its 106-year history. nurses say the government's refusal to provide adequate pay raises mean many are not able to make ends meet or are forced to quit their jobs. and amazon warehouse workers in the u.s. and around the world walked out on black friday as part of the make amazon pay campaign, calling for better wages and working conditions. this is a union representative from germany, which is experiencing its highest inflation rate in decades.

>> there is a black week now, not just black friday. everybody's looking for bargains. quite honestly, these are made off the backs of our colleagues. they just don't earn enough money for it. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. protests have erupted in beijing, shanghai, wuhan, guangzhou, and other chinese cities over china's strict zero-covid policies. the protests were triggered by a deadly fire thursday at an apartment building in urumqi, the capital of xinjiang. there are reports that local covid-19 protoco prevented firefighters from reaching residents trapped in the burning building, resulting in t deaths of at least 10 people. on friday, crowds took to the streets in urumqi. protests then spread to other

large cities and campuses, including tsinghua university in beijing where chinese leader xi jinping studied. many of the protesters held up blank pieces of white paper. one man in beijing told reuters, "the white paper represent everything we want to say but cannot say." protesters say police in shanghai have begun detaining people who took part in the demonstrations. >> in shanghai, a lot of people have already been detained. not only last night. they did it for everybody, for all the people. for the delivery guys not to be locked in their apartments, for everybody to be able to receive medicine and food we need to help these people. free the people in shanghai. amy: on sunday, police in shanghai arrested bbc reporter ed lawrence while he was covering a protest. he was hel for the bbc says he hours. was beaten and kicked by police officers. the protests in china mark an

unprecedented challenge to xi jinping's zero-covid policies, which has resulted in extended strict lockdowns across china. last week, hundreds of workers at the world's largest iphone factory clashed with chinese police over covid restrictions which have forced many workers to live at the foxconn factory. videos posted on social media show workers being tear-gassed and beaten outside the plant. earlier today, china announced it would ease some covid restrictions but affirmed its zero-covid strategy. the protests come as covid cases are at record high in china. there were just over 40,000 new infections reported on sunday, a new single day high. throughout the pandemic, china has reported far fewer covid cases and deaths than the united states and many other nations. the united states is currently recording an average of 42,000 cases a day.

since the start of the pandemic, the u.s. has recorded nearly 1.1 million deaths. last week china recorded its first covid death in six months. to talk more about the protests in china, we are joined by eli friedman. he is an associate professor and chair of international and comparative labor at cornell university. he is the author of "the urbanization of people: the politics of development, labor markets, and schooling in the chinese city." he is also co-editor of the new book "the china question: toward ft perspectives." his recent article for the asian labor review is titled "foxconn's great escape." professor, thank you so much for being with us. let's start off by talking about this uprising over the last few days in beijing, in the financial capital shanghai, and other places, the significance of this? >> this is unbelievably significant for a number of reasons. it is the largest protest

movement that xi jinping has faced in the tenure since he came to power. there was a big protest that was probab larger in scalen 2012 just before he came to power which was an anti-japanese protest over some disputed islands. but we have not seen anything like this. there are a couple of things really significant. the first is that it is nationwide. as we just heard, these protests are appeari in cities across the country from the far west of the more populist coast and that is extremely unusual. we see localized small-scale protest but this is nationwide and is unprecedented. the other thing i think is really important and may be of greater concern to the authorities is the fact it has incorporated a really diverse group of people. we see across class lines. you mentioned the workers at foxconn and we have the students

at the university. we see middle-class people in shanghai. it is also across ethnic movement and i think that has not necessarily been fully appreciated. the fact this is a response to a fire that happened in urumqi is incredibly important given the background of mass incarceratn that has happened to muslim minorities there. so this is really one of the first times across ethnic form of mobilization. for all these reasons, it does present a really big challenge. amy: you're talking about the uighurs in xinjiang and then the belief, whether it is true or not, the firefighters, video has come out on social media of the fire trucks tried to get to that building where the fire was. but for people to understand how strict this covid crackdown has been -- i have been talking to

people who have family in china, talking about throughout the level of people not being able -- 180-year-old man in a city that is not a crackdown city has had 100 test in a month. if you go on the subway, your card will detect -- they will see where you were so if someone four cars down comes down positive with covid, you will all be locked down wherever you live. talk about what the protesters are saying, the law will be sarcastic say more crackdown, more testss. >> i think it is difficult for people outside of china understand the intensity of the law down. for those of us the united states will be think out the period of "lot down," back in the spring of 2020, they were ner rigorously enforced. most people were still able to leave their house. china for three years has seen a

level of lockdown that is simply inconceivable, in some cases, with apartment buildings locked so people report their own personal doors being chained so they could not leave. it is a kind of house arrest. one of the other things that is really significant, and we can get into the underlying causes of this, but i think we should al think othis as a movement against surveillance. over the last three years, the state has unrolled a really encompassing an extremely invasive surveillance system through health codes. as you are suggesting, if you were in close contact or even a secondary contact of someone who may have tested positive then your health code turns red. if it turns red, you could not your house until you have a series of negative tests. the wayt intervenes people's lives, the way it disrupts basic

social patterns, disrupts livelihood, particularly a problem for working-class people, for informal workers out and about in the city or just white-collar workers who can hop on a zoom call and do their job from home, it has had a significant effect for people. again, imagine this has gone on for three years. it really has a huge impact on people's mental well-being. we have seen a huge increasen mental health crises and suicides and domestic violence. one final point on this, the chinese government as well as society more broadly did a great job broadly crushing the virus 2020, saved millions of lives but there are unaccounted for consequences and it is been truly difficult for people to get access to health care for non-covid problems.

you've had pregnant women who have miscarried, people who have not been able to get dialysis. there are real health consequences that come from this intensity of lockdown as well for non-cov related things. amy: and people not being able to get insulin and other medications. professor, the white paper being held up. talk about the sigficance this. >> well, it is interestingo see how this developed. this is something i think that people are referencing a movement that came out of hong kong back in 2019, whether or not they are doing it subconsciously or not. this emerged in hong kong. this is a situation where nsorship is so overwhelming, of course, the chinese internet is scrubbed of things that the government deems to be inappropriate. so one of the things people have been doing online is just

repeating these words like "good, good, good" these are things that cannot be censored and the white paper is another indicator of that in situation where you catch say anything, just hold up the piece of paper and that is a form of resistance. i think the white paper is interesting. it is a different kind of demand than those that originally emerged in the foxconn riot, workplace-oriented, different than the fire safety and health stuff. this is freedom of speech in censorship. it has gotten more currency among students at intellectuals and middle-class people in large cities. it is also open to interpretation. , a form of resistance when all kinds of speech can be criminalized. amy: you have in the chinese national anthem the reference to

overthrowi slavery and yet this repeated in many different places. the issue, this particular issue. explain what is meant by this and how this is now triggered by covid policies but going to a level of challenge of xi jinping that has not been seen before. >> that is the first thing worth emphasizing is this nd of direct challenge to xi's power. we have not seen it in recent years. there was this incidentust before the 20th party congress earlier this fall, this guy on a bridge who called on -- called for xi to step down and a couple of days ago, something that previously wouldave been unimaginable, people in the streets saying down with xi jinping andown with the communist party. so that is just a significant shift i think from where we have been. with respect to the question of

slavery, i think one of the realizations, particularly the middle class chinese people have gone back to the xinjiang lockdown of april, was the unchecked power of the state. the state's capacity to surveillance and repress and exploit i think has been long known by lots of people of china, by migrant workers who come to the rural areas to the cities who don't enjoy rights, by the uighurs, tibetans. during the shanghai locked out and over the last several months comes the attention of other people that there are no -- if the state wants to lock you in your house indefinitely until they say you're free to go, they have the capacity to do that. i think for people, particularly young people who grew up without the same kind of provisions the parents may have, this has been really shocking. i've seen many of my students

and friends that i have in china as well. so, yeah. amy: professor, you mentioned foxconn. we are talking about the largest iphone factory in the world. talking about hundreds of thousands of people who work there. explain how this is also been a hotbed of unrest with the crackdown there and what has happened. >> theoxconn piece ireally important. i am a labor scholar and activist and a hope this does not get erased from the story of what is happening because it was an important catalyst for all the protest we are sick nationwide. it is also important because what foxconn highlights is while the zero covid policy is implemented by the chinese government, she's inching takes responsibility -- xi jinping takes responsibility, these corporations like apple and tesla are implicated, so what they have done, and again this

highlights the nature of this locked tha people experience differently, wking-class people have been subjected to what is called -- this happened at foxconn and earlier in shanghai at the tesla factory and other apple suppliers. crisco into the factory and they are not allowed to leave until they're told the outbreak is under control. in some cases, like in shanghai, they were in the shop for 70 days, cut off from their communities and friends. in foxconn, people were being put into quarantine and unsafe conditions. they were not given adequate medical attention. they were not given adequate food. thousands of people escaped. the employer wasn't letting them, they literally escaped. subsequently, they try to bring people in. they were not forthcoming about how much money they would be receiving. this led to probably the most

significant worker uprising of the past 10 years, incredibly violent. the significance of this is when we have this kind of resistance against covid, yes against specific chinese government policy, but america's most valuable corporations are implicated in this so i think it is important for them to respond to this. amy: eli friedman, thank you for being with us. associate professor and chair of international and comparative labor at cornell university and the author of "the urbanization of people: the politics of development, labor markets, and schooling in the chinese city." also co-editor of "the china question: toward left perspeives." we will link to your article for the asian they were review titled "foxconn's great escape." next up in missouri, the state is preparing to execute kevin johnson tuesday. a special prosecutors urging the supreme court to stay the execution because of racism. johnson's 19-year-old daughter

has been barred from witnessing the execution because she is under the age of 21. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: don newkirk passed away this weekend at the age of 56. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

as we turn now to missouri where there's growing pressure to stop the execution of kevin johnson said to take place tuesday. johnson was sentenced to die for the 2005 murder of kirkwood police officer william macko and t. during his incarceration, johnson stayed in close contact with his family and has been and nurturing son, father, and more recently grandfather. this is kevin johnson speaking about his close relationship with his daughter khorry ramey during an interview on missouri's death row with his legal team. folks my daughter was born. i did not have anything. no money.

her mother, dana, she was 14. neither one of us had anything. in september 2007, dana was murdered. she was 18 years old. khorry was four years old. when she came to the county jail, she was like, my mama is dead. she had kool-aid cominout of her head. [indiscernible]

i try to findeoplin the free world to be good inuence on heife. amy: kevin johnson speaking from missouri death row. he is said to die tuesday. he was 19 years old at the time of his crime. now his 19-year-old daughter khorry filed a lawsuit with the help of the aclu in order to witness execution, even though the minimum age for witnesses in missouri is 21. khorry spoke about her relationship with her father in an interview with his legal team. >> he is like a normal parent who probably see once or twice a week i talked to my dad. he always tells me to do my best . regular stuff that fathers and

daughters talk about, what is going on in my life, how he is feeling come how i am feeling, what steps i'm taking to do more in my life. my dad was very excited when i graduated. especially since i graduated early. even though he has been away in prison, he has been more supportive in my life than most of my friends' fathers that are out in the regular world that have their freedom. he tried to send me stuff like scholarships or people who i can get in contact with to help me further my career in the field i want to do. he has always been there. he does way more than what most people would feel like they would be able to do. it is hard.

i know -- he is not going to be here to watch me grow. he is not going to be able to see me be a better parent than what he was able to be, what my mom wasn't able to be. amy: last week, federal judge denied khorry ramey's request to witness her father kevin johnson's execution tuesday since she is under the state' age threshold of 21 saint it could cause emotional harm did not violate her constitutional rights. she responded briefly in an emotional press conference. >> my name is khorry ramey. i am 19 years old. i am a new mom. amy: as the case draws international attention, there was an editorial headlined "upcoming execution shows the inherent defensibility of capital punishment. kevin johnson's past teachers have also joined protest calling

to commute his death sentence to life in prison. this comes as missouri supreme court is set to hear arguments today from kevin johnson's lawyers for a stay of execution based on racial discrimination in prosecution and conviction and death sentence. among those who support the claim is a special prosecutor who was appointed by the st. louis county prosecuting attorney and found that "purposeful racial discrimination infected the process." >> this is a case where it is a prosecut asking to stop the execution. i've been doing this for a long time and i've never had a case for the prosecutor asks to stop the execution. amy: it would be there fit execution by a state in november, making it the busiest month of 2022 for capital punishment in the u.s. for more we go to st. louis to speak with michelle smith.

welcome to democracy now! bring us up-to-date on what we should understand this case and the agony of khorry, the 19-year-old daughter, who wants to witness her father's execution but the state says no, she has to be 21. only one of two states in the country who have this rule. >> thank you for havg me, amy. every step of this has been an injustice and more pain and harm to khorry. she is an innocent person in this entire situation. she is just trying to be there for her father and have those last moments. peop say, why would she want to be there? i don't know anyone who would not want to be with their parent when they pass away, right? the situation is a little

different, but not so different because kevin is scheduled to be executed tomorrow and his daughter would like to be as close by his side as she possibly canthe fact the court is saying she is not old enough and say she is not mature enough at 19 to do so, again, is more injustice on her life. amy: i want to ask you about the whole issue of racism and the editorial in the st. louis post dispatch. it was headlined, as i said before, "upcoming execution shows the inherent end of capital punishment." it read in part, but what many like defendants, johnson did not face an all-white jury that race was a factor in his trial. the judge said he intended to ensure racial mix in the jury come the prosecutor derided that as silly and asked, why my being

penalized, imply more black jurors would make a conviction less likely. six black and six white jurors could not agree on the first-degree murder verdict. johnson was later convicted by a second jury which had just three black members. this whole issue of racism infecting the trial? >> i would say racism, discrimination embedded in every institution in this nation. and that shows up in the court system. our prosecutor -- our past are secure, no longer in the office -- a case where a black man years ago sued because there was an all-white jury in the case and he felt like it was discriminatory because it was not a jury of his peers. the court established prosecutor

purposefully making sure lecturers where not on the jury is unconstitutional, however our former prosecutor -- was known in legal circles meaning he disregarded e ft the supreme court had deemed it unconstitutional, he was going to do what he could to get the verdict he wanted. all these cases with black men were 3.5 times more likely to get capital punishment than white people. he took it upon himself to make sure racism, discrination or well embedded it is prosecutorial practices. amy: can you talk about eric schmitt, the birds in general who vowed to become u.s. senator ? people may remember there was an execution spree in the united states. talk about this being the ending

of eric schmitt's attorney general career? >> to be honest, i believe eric schmitt tried to re-create and follow in the footsteps of donald trump and bill barr because, like you said, there was an execution spree two years ago on their way out and they killed 13 people. eric schmitt several months ago, he started running for the u.s. senate, and he decided -- to me that is what it felt like. he felt like he was going to do his own execution spree in missouri. he asked for five execution dates. three have been scheduled and two more are pending. normally in our state there's one execution everyear, which is one to many, buto ve a prosecutor ask for five exution dates within a span of months, i definite feel like

eric schmitt is trying to follow in those footsteps a establish a pattern of execution on his way out because he did when the senate race and he will be the next u.s. senator from missouri. amy: the missouri congress members cori bush and emanuel cleaver sent a letter to the missouri governor mike parson urging him to halt the execution of johnson by granting clemency. saying -- "mr. johnson's cruel execution will not solve any of the systemic problems facing missourians and people all across america, including the scourge of gun violence. it will simply destroy yet another family and community while using the concepts of fairness and justice as a cynical pretext. you have it in your power to save a life by granting clemency. we urge you to use it." your final comments, michelle smith? >> i would say first, a lot of times people blow understand what clemency means. clemency does not mean letting

kevin out of prison. he gives them a life in prison sentence. that is what we are asking in kevin's case because there other people who have killed policeenn with a life sentence and we are asking for the same treatment. that is what we mean by equity and fairness, not to be punished more severely because you are black. in this particular case, kevin is definitely being punished more severely so we are asking governor parson's for clemency to switch his sentence from a death sentence to life in prison. where he can at least still visit and talk to his daughter. we definitely appreciate the congress women for their letter. we understand -- the family of mr. mcentee, we understand they are grieving.

this is not something that solves anything. it definitely instills more trauma and pain in the families, including kevin's family. amy: michelle smith, thank you for been with us. calling for a stay of execution for kevin johnson and supporting his daughter khorry ramey. he is scheduled to die on tuesday. coming up, i met activists in occupied western sahara accused morocco of washing and we will hear about spanish film academy giving a social justice award for the western sahara international film festival and its film school. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "golden cage." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we ended today show looking at two stories about occupied western sahara. morocco has occupied western sahara since 1975 in defiance of the united nations and international law. for the past four decades, thousands of indigenous people have been tortured, imprisoned, disappeared while resisting the moroccan occupation. on thursday, the spanish film academy which gives the goya awards, the spanish equivalent to the oscars, gave its social justice award to the western sahara internation film festival and its film school, abidin kaid saleh. known as fisahara, the festiva takes place in the sahrawi refugee camps in southwestern

algeria. last month celebrated its 17th edition of the film festival. the film school is training the first generation of sahrawi filmmakers, who are pioneering sahrawi-made cinema, a brand new art in western sahara. their short films now tour the world giving voice to sahrawi refugee youth who were born in exile and are still awaiting for a u.n.-promised referendum on self-determination that would allow them to return to their land, western sahara. the festival and the film school operate in one of the world's remotest and toughest environments in the heart of the sahara desert. this is director of the film festival and film school. >> on behalf of the sahrawi refugees dedicate their lives to cinema, we're truly proud and grateful of the men and women who showed daily playing fictional rules are far more committed than those who play their real selves.

>> we thank the organization and the spanish film comnity. this festival, born from a shared dream between the sahrawi people, spanish film makers, organizations wld not exist without you. amy: that was maria carrion former democracy now! news , producer. she is joining us from madrid, spain. maria, congratulations on this remarkable award that you won this year. talk aut the significance of this moment. >> thank you so much, amy, for having me on. it was such an honor to receive the highest award the film academy gives social justice projects. it is very significant because

the concept in western sahara, the conflict, and in spain our own government has taken the side of morocco, which occupied western sahara over the people that it wants to call in eyes, the sahraw -- colonize, the sahrawi. there's complete media blockade. spanish public tv and radio journalists are banned from going to cover anything with western sahara. the fact the day bore we left the festival we got the news and it was made public that the film academy gave us this award forced spanish media to cover it because they can't keep the film academy from being covered. it is a festival that celebrates sahrawi identity, culture, that

lonizes the western sahara culturally to celebrate what sahrawi people are about through film and music and community. amy: i wanted you to talk about the significance also of what we are about to play, sahrawi activist came to sharm el-sheikh. we just came back from egypt. they came to the u.n. climate summit to talk about their plight and what they call the greenwashing of -- by morocco. >> it is very important that the sahrawi voices find a space at cops because they're are so excluded from international events and by the united nations itself. so to have mahfud bechri and his colleagues there to talk about what morocco is doing -- morocco has built a reputation of being one of the greenest countries in africa. but isoing so at the expense

of sahrawi people. it is powering it to the green projects. it is incredibly significant that they were able to be there and speak to the media and also get to know the activists that were there from around the world. a lot of people don't know about western sahara. amy: i want to thank you, maria, r joining us. final thoughts on what you think are the possibilities of the recognition of this occupied territory around the world? >> the possibility of actuly getting the ice out that this is a colonization -- decolonization that is pending. th projects managed to bring to the world's attention to this matter, the more chances tre are that governments will be pressured into doi the right

thing. the issue is in th hands of the secud counsel, the u.n. security council which prosed referendum and is not doing so. not getting enough pressure. i think if we can all sort of make surthe world knows about this cflict through culture, art, politics, and many other ways, the better chances the sahrawi people going back to their homeland. amy: maria carrion, congratulations on this award from the spanish film institute, the equivalent of the academy that gives out the oscars. maria carrion's executive director of fisahara. as we continue to look at occupied western sahara, we turn now to the sahrawi climate activist mahfud bechri. he's a member of the platform western sahara is not for sale. we just returned from egypt. i spoke to him last week in sharm el-sheikh at the u.n. climate summit. >> [indiscernible]

occupied by morocco since 1975. suffering from violations of human rights. the other part of the sahrawi people are like refugees in algeria in refugee camps. different resolutions calling for the rights of the sahrawi people. this has not been possible because morocco is blocking this . our military occupation. including a greenwashing the occupation like -- speaking about green projects in morocco,

including the occupied territory of western sahara. basically, the people of western sahara are still waiting. what morocco is doing is happening without any consequences at the international level. the international community is turning a blind eye on what is happening in western sahara and the people are demanding and asking for justice for the people of western sahara. amy: the sahrawi campaign has long morocco f taft of its natural resources. can you talk about what exactly it is doing? not only about their own projects in morocco which you don't criticize but talking about occupied lands using the conference to green wash this.

>> absolutely. unfortunately, what morocco has been doing, that is also what the u.n. has accepted so far is morocco includes -- has no recognition. the contributions of morocco [indiscernible] this is one of the objectives of all we come to this cop to basically speak up about this and to say unf basically violating the international law by accepting -- including projects and occupied western sahara. so morocco, together with some international companies, are

blundering natural resources and renewable energy projects in western sahara despite the different resolutions by the united nations that states that the territory -- [indiscernible] annette morocco and western sahara are two different territories. also plundering the mining and other resources like fish where morocco is also using the resources and the wealth of the sahara people without any consequence of the people which -- amy: and a western sahara, phosphates are one of the largest resources in the world

come from western sahara. and also if you can talk about the sand itself? >> exposing sand to the canary islands and to other parts as well despite this is a renewable -- belongs only to the sahrawi people but getting lots of profits from selling the sand. an large amounts of fish and phosphates as we said. this is why we have been campaign against another sahrawi landforms. asking these companies to not be complicit with the military occupation and we ask them that their participation in exploiting western sahara natural resources is basically participation in this human rights abuses the sahrawi are suffering in the occupied territories. amy: if you can talk more about

the goals, for example, even right here how you highlight the case of the sahrawi people, how do you want to be represented at these cops? >> unfortunately, unf doesn't give a chair for the sahrawis themselves. they will have to find a way to come to other international organizations to be part of the cop. amy: how is, for example, the european union and other entities and countries dealing with resources that you say are stolen from the sahrawi people? how successful have you been in getting them to stop buying? >> of the main achievements of the sahrawis, the resolutions from 2015 until the last one september 2021 when it says the

european union morocco could not engage in the commercial agreement that involves western sahara because european courts of justice considers the western sahara separate existing from the moroccan territory. and this is one of the main achievements. however -- amy: sahrawi climate activist mahfud bechri with "western sahara is not for sale." i spoke to him in sharm el-sheikh, egypt. to see all of our coverage of the cop in sharm el-sheikh as well as our coverage from cairo, egypt, you can go to democracynow.org. also there you can watch our documentary "four days in occupied western sahara: africa's last colony." democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

... dave severin: give me a "c." all: c. dave: give me an "o." all: o. eric campbell: from europe to the us, coal is under fire. dave: what's it spell? all: coal! eric: environmentalists are circling. mines and power plants are closing. even big corporations say it's not worth the trouble. josé rodriguez: we used to make money with coal, but this is not happening anymore. eric: are these the dying days for coal? and what's going to happen to mining communities? we're going to the coalface to find out.