11/29/22 11/29/22 [captioning madeossible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> [indiscernible] we are supportive of women's rights. we always have been. amy: iran what's to kick the u.s. out of the world cup after the u.s. soccer federation changed iran's flag social media

show support for protesters in iran, one of many protests in qatar for a monday protester ran across the field waving a rainbow flag and wearing a superman shirt that read "save ukraine" on the front and " respect for iranian women" on the back at the u.s. and iran's teams are played today, we will speak with abdullah al-arian who wrote "why the world cup belongs in the middle east." and we will speak with former pro soccer player jules boykoff who says the world cup in qatar is a climate catastrophe. >> as the world cup unfolds, not only are we seeing sposwashing where we're seeing political users -- try to deflectuman rights at home, but we' also seeing fifa, the world's governing body of soccer, pull off a major green wash.

there is nothing that is green about this event. amy: in remarkable courtroom scene monday, manhattan da asked the judge to drop the murder charges against domestic violence survivor tracy mccarter who said she stabbed her estranged husband in self-defense but spent six months in rikers before a campaign to release her succeeded. >> i stand with tracy. >> i stand with tracy. >> i stand with tracy. >> i stand with my mom. amy: we will get an update from reporter victoria law. her piece is headlined "'the worst abuser you could ever have': tracy mccarter did everything we tell survivors to do, but that did not protect her from the abuse she suffered at the hands of the state." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. secretary of state antony

blinken and his nato counterparts are meeting in romania to discuss ways to provide ukraine with more military aid, including air defense systems. ahead of the meeting, nato secretary general jens stoltenberg accused russia of using winter as a weapon by targeting ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving millions of ukrainians without heat or electricity. earlier today, stoltenberg vowed nato would continue to support ukraine. >> create the conditions for lasting peace which ensures ukraine pervades as an independent soreigntate, we must continue to provide military support to ukraine. our message is that nato continue to stand with ukraine for as long as it takes. we will not back down. amy: the nato meeting is taking place as politico is reporting some european officials are privately accusing the united states of profiting from the war in ukraine. one senior european official

recently told politico -- "the fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the u.s. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons." authorities in china have moved to prevent more large protests against the country's zero covid policies. in beijing, police surrounded the site where protesters were planning to gather on monday. meanwhile, in shanghai, police erected large barriers where protesters -- protests were held over the weekend. police made several arrests at a small protest in the southern city of hangzhou on monday night. meanwhile, chinese officials have begun lifting some covid-19 restrictions following this weekend's unprecedented protests. china has also announced a new drive to vaccinate more residents over the age of 80. taiwan's president tsai ing-wen has resigned as head of the ruling democratic progressive party after her party suffered major losses in local elections saturday. voters in taiwan overwhelmingly backed the opposition nationalist party, which has

historically supported closer ties with china. in labor news, president biden has sided with big business and has urged congress to intervene to block freight rail workers from going on a nationwide strike saying it could devastate the economy. on monday, biden asked lawmakers to quickly pass legislation to impose a labor deal that has been opposed by the majority of freight rail workers. in a statement, biden said -- "as a proud pro-labor president, i am reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement. but in this case -- where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families -- i believe congress must use its powers to adopt this deal." many union activists criticized biden's move. ron kaminkow, a locomotive engineer and organizer for railroad workers united, spoke to democracy now! last night. >> we could have sn biden actually -- for lling congress

he would like to see legislation passed that mediates an en to e conflict under which more favorable terms for theorkers, whicis to say a hdful of sick day thats what this has come down to, road rkers tritionally have had no sick time and now harsattendance policies that we are facedith, railroad workers could very little time off work. amy: this comes as profits or for the real industry which has reduced the workforce by 30% over the last six years. in news from buffalo, new york, the white teenager who shot dead 10 people at a buffalo supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood in may has pleaded guilty to murder and hate-motivated terrorism charges. the guan faces a sentence of life in prison without parole. buffalo mayor byron brown spoke on monday. >> today as district attorney

flynn said, justice has been done. this individual has admitted their guilt, and the penalty for this horrific crime is for this individual never, ever to see the light of day again. life in prison meant -- life in prison without the possibility of parole. amy: a candlelight vigil was held in chesapeake, virginia, monday to remember the six walmart workers who were shot dead by a store manager a week ago. the victims in the mass shooting ranged in age from 16 to 70. authorities say the shooter used a 9 mm handgun that he had bought just hours earlier. five police officers in new haven, connecticut, have been arrested and charged for their role in an incident that left a black man named randy cox paralyzed. on june 19, police arrested the 36-year-old man on suspicion of illegally possessing a handgun. he was then handcuffed and placed in the back of a police

van without a seat belt. after the van made an abrupt stop, cox slid into the van's back metal wall, seriously injuring his neck and spine. officers then ignored his pleas for help. charges against the five officers include second degree reckless endangerment. the state of arizona has sued the republican-controlled county of cochise after its board of supervisors refused to certify the results of the 2022 election. the lawsuit was filed by arizona's secretary of state katie hobbs, who defeated republican trump-endorsed kari lake in the closely watched gubernatorial race. on monday, arizona's largest county, maricopa, certified the election results unanimously after a raucous public meeting where supporters of lake claimed the election was rigged without offering evidence. lake is a loyal supporter of trump false claims of a rigged 2020 presidential election and has refused to concede defeat after losing to katie hobbs.

"the new york times," "the guardian," and three major european newspapers are urging the biden administration to drop all charges against wikileaks founder julian assange. in a joint letter, the newspapers say -- "this indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine america's first amendment and the freedom of the press." the letter ends with the words "publishing is not a crime." julian assange, who is jailed in britain, faces up to 175 years in a u.s. prison on espionage and hacking charges for exposing u.s. war crimes in afghanistan and iraq. the five publications, which also include "le monde," "der spiegel," and "el país," had partnered with wikileaks in 2010 to report on documents leaked by chelsea manning. the biden administration has eased some sanctions on venezuela and has given chevron approval to resume pumping oil in venezuela. the announcement came after the government of president nicolás

maduro resumed talks with venezuelan opposition groups in mexico city to address venezuela's economic and humanitarian crisis. in news from the occupied west bank, israeli military forces have demolished a palestinian primary school south of hebron. video posted online shows young palestinian students in tears as they had to leave their classroom before a bulldozer destroyed their school in masafer yatta. the israeli human rights group b'tselem condemned the school demolition saying -- "this is part of a state effort to drive palestinians out of the area by making their lives unbearable. expelling residents is a war crime." the european union also condemned the school demolition. earlier today, israeli forces shot dead four palestinians, including a pair of brothers, in the west bank. at the united nations, the u.n. special coordinator for the middle east peace process tor wennesland warned monday that the situation in the occupied

west bank is reaching a boiling point. >> mr. president, after decades of persistent violence, dormant negotiation, deepening occupation, it is reaching a boiling point. amy: in news from northern ireland, a former british solider has been convicted of killing a catholic man in 1988. the soldier, david holden, shot 23-year-old aidan macinespie in the back near a british army checkpoint. holden is the first british veteran to be convicted of killing an irish civilian since the 1998 good friday agreement was signed. the missouri supreme court has refused to halt the execution of kevin johnson despite the special prosecutor's request for a state in order to fully investigate how the case was tainted by racism. the court's ruling was five to two. johnson, african-american, scheduled to be executed today.

visit democracynow.org to see our coverage of the case. donald trump is facing growing condemnation for hosting white supremacist nick fuentes at his mar-a-lago resort in florida last week. fuentes, who is a holocaust denier, dined with the president along with the rapper kanye west, who was suspended from twitter last month for making anti-semitic comments. trump's former vice president mike pence said -- "president trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an anti-semite, and a holocaust denier a seat at the table. i think he should apologize for it, and he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification." at the white house, press secretary karine jean-pierre also condemned trump's actions. >> this administration, this president totally rejects bigotry, racism, anti-semitism, and there is just no place for these types of vile forces in our society. amy: in texas, over 2 million

houston residents remain under a boil water notice after a power outage at a city water purification plant over the weekend. many businesses were forced to close and schools will remain closed through wednesday as houston officials review water samples to determine whether it's safe to drink or use. many residents said they didn't hear about the boil water advisory until monday, though it was issued a day earlier. houston officials said they expected the notice to be lifted tuesday morning. -- today. a federal judge has issued a cease and desist order forcing retail giant amazon to stop retaliating against workers involved in union organizing. amazon executives will also have to publicly read the 30-page ruling to workers at the staten island, new york amazon warehouse thursday. the warehouse, known as jfk8, became the first to pass a union vote in april. amazon has since launched an aggressive intimidation campaign against workers, fending off union elections in bessemer, alabama, and at least two other warehouses in new york.

the national labor relations board said in a statement -- "this relief is critical to ensure that amazon employees everywhere can fully and freely exercise their rights to join together and improve their working conditions, including by forming, assisting, or joining a union." meanwhile, in california, employees at two peet's coffee stores in davis have filed paperwork with the nlrb to hold the coffee chain's first-ever unionization vote. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in cutter looking at the fifa world cup. on monday, a protester streaked through a game between portugal and uruguay waving a rainbow flag and wearing a shirt that read "save ukraine" on the front and "respect for iranian women" on the back.

today, much of the focus is on a big game between iran and the united states that could determine who advances to the next round. iran's state media called for the u.s. to be kicked out of the games after the united states soccer federation changed iran's flag on its social media platforms to show support for antigovernment protests in iran. u.s. soccer said the change was "a one-time graphic." this is u.s. soccer player walker zimmerman. >> we are huge supporters of women's rights. i mentioned we did not know anything but your supporters of women's rights. we always have been. amy: this comes as human rights advocates have raised alarm over the harsh and deadly conditions faced by migrant workers in qatar who built the stadiums as part of the kafala sponsorship

system. tournament organizers put the official death toll of migrant workers at 40 but rights groups and media outlets like "the guardian" estite thousands have died. for more, we go to doha, qatar, to speak abdullah al-arian, history professor at georgetown university in qatar and the editor of "football in the middle east: state, society and the beautiful game." he just wrote a "the new york times" op-ed headlined "why the world cup belongs in the middle east." in it he writes -- "the palestinian poet mahmoud darwish once noted that football 'is the field of expression permitted by secret understanding between ruler and ruled in the prison cell of arab democracy.' the game, he added, 'represents a breathing space, allowing a splintered homeland an opportunity to join together around something shared.' in the decade since the arab uprisings, many countries in the

middle east have become even more repressive, making the breathing space of football feel more urgent than ever." abdullah al-arian, welcome to democracy now! elaborate on this and the whole contt of these gains. >> thank you, amy. when we conder the conversations that happen had around the qatar world cup in a process that began back in 2009 when they made the bid to host the games, it was approved in 2010 by fifa's boating body under a major plot -- cloud of suspicion given the kind of level of corruption we know about within fifa and then a number of questions and legitimate concerns will be raised around the conduct of planning for the world cup and so i think there are s many different conversations that are being had around this event.

the's something lost in this which i tried to kind of share little in some of what you just re in terms of thinking about what football represents, especially considering some of the critiques that were shared over the last take it or so tended to be around the ideis region lots of football culture, that it is not deserving in any way of hosting a major event of this sport, focusing all of this exclusively on the question of qatar as opposed to what it might represent for the region given what we know. qatar is a country which only about 10% to 15% of the population are actual qatari citizens. everyone else who lives here hails from elsewhere whether we are talking about the migrant worker population, the many generations of arabs coming from places like egypt and lebanon and palestine that are also sharing in this event. in that sense, there is an important historical component to the event in terms of what

football has represented historically in the region. this goes back to the colonial days when it was being introduced by british as a way of instilling discipline and kind of civilizing the local populations. of course, moving forward, it becomes internalized and embodied by nationalist movements that are using football as a means of organizing collectively on the basis of achieving their own liberation against colonial rule. we see that in the algerian case where the fln fought against france formed its own team and exile and went on to spread awareness about the algerian case to the entire international community in the late 1950's and early 1960's. so there is that historical component. even in qatar where football was introduced through the oil compans that came with the british colonial presce back in the late 1940's and qatari

league was established in the 1960's d it was not independent until the 1970's. so there is a deeper history there that i think often gets lost, especially when we consider the mower recent history and thinking about the uprising going back to 2010, 2011, the way football and groups had much deeper experience in terms of confronting the repression of state security forces in places like egypt and elsewhere. so we saw examples of them standing the brutality of the security forces when it was desperately trying to come into power in the space of a massive uprising. i think all of these stories interwoven with the daily experiences, with the political, social, economic development of the region i think was certainly part of the story that has been lost in the conversations around the world cup. i think we're seeing at manifesting in the success many of the teams in the region that have been performing quite well

here thinking about morocco's historic win even saudi arabia against argentina. there is an atmosphere of this being a home field advantage not just for the national team but for teams across the global south, asia and africa. amy: can you explain the sponsorship system? >> the kind of migrant labor governing structure that was put in place initially by british coloal authority set a time when they were trying to preserve their own interests as they were recognizing the fact in the process of trying to secure their economic interests in the form of the oral sector, gas sector, or in terms of maintaining security that they wanted to tie all of the migrant workers to their sponsorship. meaning their employer with diate the extent to which they would be allowed in the couny, for how long, and so things like

changing jobs were not pmitted without the permission of the employer. there was no real protectn over things like minimum wage or even safety consideration. so this was a system that was inherited by all of the independent states in the gulf, especially for those who found themselves essentially outnumbered. only about 50% of qatar -- 15% of qatar is its indigenous people. the kafala system has worked to serve that purpose. as we st for to e process by which you have the economy modernized, the state seen itself rapidly expanding its infrastructure, having major demand for construction projects as we have been talking about in the lead up to the world cup, we were seeing kind of the fray on

the system to where the point of exportation has become more stark. we are sing a lot more questions about things like the lack of basic safety provisions, questions about things like wage theft, retaliatory deportations. there are concerns that have been raised on the basis of the kind of rapid type of modernization that occurred, especially i would cite in last couple of decades -- not just in qatar but region-wide. amy: on monday, the u.s. coach and players were questioned by iranian journalists. this is the team captain tyler adams being questioned. >> first of all, you sayou support the iranianeople but you're pronouncing o countr's name wrong. our country is named -- once and r all, let's get this clear.

second, are you ok to be representing a country that has so much discrination against black people? we saw the black lives matter movement the past for years. are you ok to be representing u.s., meanwhile, there's so much discrimination happening against black people in america? >> my apologies on the mispronunciation of your country. that being said, there's discrimination everywhere you go. one thing that i have learned, especially from living abroad in the past years and having to fit in different cultures and assimilate to different cultures , is tt in the u.s. were we continue to make progress every single day. amy: earlier the world cup, iran's football coach carlos queiroz confronted the bbc correspondent shaimaa khalil as she tried to ask him about the protests in iran. >> i am asking one thing to you know.

[indiscernible] amy: professor, if you can talk about this? the logo within the iranian flag, but also the iranian team itself not singing the iranian national anthem which seem to be an solidarity with the protests in iran. extremely significant given they have family at home, not to mention returning home. if you can talk about this moment today said to teams are going to play each other? >> yeah, it is really interesting, especially when we

contrast the last time both of these teams met one another. so going back to the 1998 world cup in which the u.s. and iran met and at that time was solid more consolatory gestures, and attempt -- the u.s. team brought a bouquet of roses to present to the iranian team. we saw gestures from the iranian president at the time and bill clinton both kind of saying, maybe this is a chance for a new opening. we did not really see that happening. it is quite a stark contrast from what we seeing now. i think the u.s. kind of made protest on its web presence -- in some ways, it is unprecedented. i don't know if we have seen two teams going up against one another on the field from one team to kind of take on an outside protest against that team on a political basis. i think to that extent, this clearly demonstrates the extent to which there is a recognition there could be change coming or

at least the protest movement in iran is something to give a little more hope to post up at the same time, as many people appointed pointed out, the idea the united states and plea has the best interest of people who are seeking freedom or democracy, we have seen that time and again, that is never really been the case. these are alternately about narrow agendas and political agendas the u.s. has pursued, particularly in the middle east, as we see with the example that was brought up about afghanistan which could include iraq, not to mention the lack of support for democratization -- basically everywhere else in the arab region, the u.s. has far prefer to support authoritarian rulers that have been incredibly repressive other populations, men and women. so i think there is a kind of obvious hypocrisy here that is been called attention to time and again. at the same time, going back to the iranian players caught in a difficult situation, perhaps even impacted her ability to

remain focused on the task at hand, which is to perform on the field. they had a great performance in their second match, not so much in the first match. now all eyes will be on how they performed today. they are far more -- there are far more serious things going on back home. you mention having to balance the demand between what the state expects of its national teams and i think we see this basically with every national team there to represent their country, their government, their state, so the room for protesting or for speaking out against things that are happening at home is incredibly limited. there's a certain kind of bravery i thinkhen we consider some of the demonstraons -- not just in terms of the national anthem, but even remarks made by some of the iranian players that were expressing with the victims of the crackdown against the protests. these are obviously still precarious moments for the team as it is also coming up against a kind of incredibly important

moment in the careers, their football careers of these players. amy: finally, professor, what do you think the western media gets most wrong about coverage of the world cup? and what surprised you most about being there and participating and watching the games and what does not get conveyed? >> think it is really a question of covering things they exist as opposed to what we tend to hear about as being the situation on paper. certainly we know about qatar's system politically, economically. we know about the cultural questions that have come up. i think for people who tend to read s -- research on the region, on the groundovering with serious questions and important issues that have been raised and to get right in a way people doing all that work from

a distance and doing it from a context that kind of smacks sort of -- tends to treat the region as exceptional rather than thinking about it as part of a global system of exploitation for instance if we're talking about the migrant labor issue e. dictating the flow of labor and capital and many directions as opposed to kind of thinking about it is truly an isolated case word when we are think about cultural questions. the fact these things tend to be negotiated far more with society than the types of laws and things we tend to hear more about. and also the fact it is a place that has been kind of encountering change and encountering a lot of diversity in terms of the populations that have lived here for many years, in terms of it being a place of exchange, place of interaction between people not just in the region but also global communities that are sort of

down to the home here one way or another. i think there's something more happening quite often and what we have been led to believe on the basis of kind of them superficial or sensationalist reporting. it is not to say there not a lot of room for critique and i certainly welcome that, rticularly on the part of people who have been -- will continue hopefully to do so with the sears issues that exist here. but in terms of seeing the oftentimes reliance on just kind of cultural arguments are just referring to thias sort of -- i think we have seen this in the commentaries, particularly out of arab where the former u.s. national team coach may quite racist argument the other day in his commentary on the games. we have seen other examples of that. in terms of just references of dress and culture and things like that. i think none of those have been helpful in terms of thinking about the more serious issues that should be confronted. amy: abdullah al-arian, thank

you for being with us, history professor at georgetown university in qatar, editor of "football in the middle east: state, society and the beautiful game." we will link to your op-ed "why the world cup belongs in the middle east." next up, we speak with former pro soccer player jules boykoff who says the world cup in qatar is a climate catastrophe. we will talk about this and other issues with him. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "dog days are over" by florence and the machine. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we continue to cover the 2022 world cup underway in qatar now, with the soccer tournaments are taking place in the winter for the first time due to qatar's extreme summer temperatures. qatar claims this will be a fully carbon neutral world cup based on off-setting emissions. this is lancaster university many have refuted that.

professor mike berners-lee, whose research predicts the world cup will emit 10 million tons of carbon. he spoke on bbc sport. >> the idea that somehow made it green by two nasty so-called offsets that don't undo the damage from the emisons at all , you know, to become carbon neutral, that just does not stack up at all. amy: we're joined now from portland, oregon, by the former pro soccer player and author jules boykoff his latest article in scientific american is headlined "the world cup in qatar is a climate catastrophe" and he also published a piece in the open-access ssj journal headlined "toward a theory of sportswashing: mega-events, soft power, & political conflict." you are a former athlete, football player. what you think is the most important for people to take

away from this world cup? >> i would say there are two things we should be thinking about even during the tournament, and that is what you mentioned at the outset, sportswashing and greenwashing. we're seeing both in technicolor here with the qatar world cup. we're definitely seeing sportswashing where political leaders are using the sports event to try to deflect attention from human rights woes at home and chronic social problems at home while trying to furnish the reputation on the world stage. thereby setting a path forward for political and economic advancement. but we're also seeing greenwashing. fee claiming this is a carbon neutral type of event makes a mockery of the concept of sustainabity. carbon market watch did in analysis of stadiums in the carbon footprint in terms of what fifa said and they found fifa underestimated the carbon footprint of the stadiums by eightfold. it does not stop there.

it goes further. every day going in and out of qatar you see 1300 flights. this obviously adds to the emissions. it is not just humans flying in and out of qatar. the actual grass seed used to make the field, both the 130 plus practice fields but also the eight pitches that are hosting these games, that grassi came over from north america on climate-controlled flights. these things don't just water themselves. they require tons of water. some 50,000 liters of water every single day in the summer. i mentioned desalinated, carbon-intensive process. there's a whole lot to talk about when it comes to the green wash that we're seeing here as well as the sportswashing of this event. amy: can you talk about qatar energy being one of the sponsors of this event?

>> absolutely. this is especially ridiculous coming out of the cup 27 meetings we just had in egypt where everyone around the world is jumping up and down saying we need to take urgent action when it comes to global heating. then you have qatar energy come this company that has become a sponsor with fifa, that is a big purveyor of liquefied natural gas. they claim to be a bridge fuel between carbon fossil fuels and to this greener future of wind power, for example, but in reality, it can delay the actual move to wind power. in this moment post cup 27, there isfor the kind of petrol company sponsorships on these big platforms. it is just a pure green wash through and through. amy: can anyone of these giant sports events, whether the olympics, world cup, european games, actually ever be carbon-neutral? >> that is a really good

question, amy. it is difficult to make one of these events carbon neutral whether it is the world cup or the olympics simply because of the size of these events. rather than thinking about making the event smaller, listen to what fifa is doing next. talking about making the world cup field even bigger, having 48 teams instead of 32 as we have this year. we can expect that people will hold 4018 world cup in 2026 when the ms. world cup comes to north america. if you're going to get serious about creating a carbon neutral event, would also bring on independent monitors who could do audits of these numbers and offer best practices moving forward. unfortunately, fifa candy international olympic -- and the international olympic committee are moving in the opposite direction, getting more secretive and amplifying their green claims and not letting

independent get them. amy: you talk, make a political -- make events soft power and political conflict? >> absolutely. one thing that comes up when we hear about sportswashing is does this thing work? what people often have in the back of their minds is does this work on an international audience in terms of deflecting our attention from some of the problems in the host country or city? in reality, we should also be thinking about the domestic audiences. for example, a recent sportswashing event in russia, the winter olympics. head of the 2014 olympics, russia passed an anti-gay propaganda law that got all sorts of attention -- and rightly so -- around the world for the anti-lgbtq. it inside the country, this actually helped vladimir putin as he stood up to the west come the so-called decadent west, and

his ratings during the olympics went higher than ever. he actually had 80% -- 86% approval rating by the time the sochi elliptic's concluded and used those ratings to invade the crimea between the olympics and the paralympics in 2014. i think that points out to important dimensions of sportswashing that often push beneath service. domestic audiences matter and this is not just a mere branding exercise. this can be a conveyor belt of life and death. amy: i want to ask you about the issue of labor. 10 years ago almost to the day in 2012 we traveled to qatar's capital doha where we spoke with nepalese labor journalist devendra dhungana about the plight of qatar's migrant workers. >> what you expect to see this more people are going to die of

working in the stadiums than the number of players playing in the qatari stadiums. and can the qatari government accept to live by that precedent, that more workers will die of the unsafe working conditions here than the number of players playing in the field? amy: on thursday, the european union parliament voted in favor of a resolution calling on fifa to compensate the families of migrant workers who were injured and killed in preparation for the world cup. this is the dutch socialist lawmaker. >> no matter how much progress was made in qatar, it is not ok and i'm going to state the obvious, for people to die on building sites in the thousands. it is not ok for people to be jailed for asking for their wages. amy: what you think are the chances?

>> for starters, what we're seeing in qatar's sports our politics by other means. fifa did not expect all this pushback from the tournament being held in qatar. but since we're talking about politics, and i think we very much should be, we should think fiercely that fifa should act a put some of its money where its mouth is come and give the money to migrant workers and their families who have not been paid properly. some of them ha died and not receive proper compensation. if you win the world cup, your team gets $42 million. that should be the very minimum that should be thrown in the direction of these families who have suffered so greatly because of the world cup that is getting 70 people around the world so much joy. amy: the protests we have been seeing. you see the protester running across the yield during one of the soccer games, football games with lgbtq flag.

he has a superman t-shirt on and the back of it says something like "we stand with iranian women" and on the fronts has "save ukraine -- front says "save ukraine." also the banning of the one love armband. the british team wanted to wear it. can you talk about this? >> first in terms of the athlete activism we have seen in qatar, you mentioned earlier iran stood in silence in the first match against england in the national anthem played. what an incredible act of courage. putting both themselves in danger as well as their families who live in iran still. you can contrast that with what happened with the captains of numerous european teams. they plan on wearing a onelove armband to show solidarity with lgbtq people in qatar and around the world, but fifa threatened to issue yellow cards to the captains were they to where the

armband and collectively those european captains back down. i'm not saying fifa was right in putting that fourth the potential penalty, but it was interesting to see how quickly these teams folded. also have seen activists trying to piggy jack the event. let's not forget 5 million people are watching this world cup in qatar. enormous audience for which you could put your cause forward and get them to think about it. the activists you mentioned running on the field try to piggy jack off of that popularity, hijacking the world cup for their own political purposes, raising the number of important issues. i think there is enough space for politics in sports at the same time and i am happy to see we are seeing such robust discussions around politics even this far into the world cup. in my experience following the soccer world cup's commitment and women, it is rare to see the continued conversation around

politics even of the football or soccer has already started. amy: will continue to cover this issue. it is five weeks, this world cup tournament. we will see how it all plays out. jules boykoff's former professional soccer player. we will link to your piece "the world cup in qatar is a climate catastrophe" as well as your piece "toward a theory of sportswashing: mega-events, soft power, & political conflict." next up, the worst abuser you could ever have. tracy mccarter did everything we tell survivors to do but that did not protect her from the abuse she suffered at the hands of this day. this is an amazing story of a woman who ended up killing her abuser who had been violated for years. she ends up at rikers island. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "freedom facade" by contour. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. aunt a remarkable courtroom scene and new york city monday, manhattan district attorney bragg asked a judge to drop their murder charges against domestic violence survivor tracy mccarter. she stabbed her husband in self-defense when he had

attacked her and her new york city apartment in 2020. tracy mccarter spent six months at the rikers island jail until she was released things to pressure from successful solidarity campaign. this is d.a. bragg's exchange with the judge. listen closely. >> [indiscernible] >> yes, your honor. [indiscernible] amy: this comes as an estimated 90% of women in your car incarcerated have been subjected to domestic violence. for more we're joined by journalist victoria law. she was in the courtroom monday. she h followed the case from the beginning. her piece in "the nation" is

headlined "'the worst abuser you could ever have': tracy mccarter did everything we tell survivors to do, but that did not protect her from the abuse she suffered at the hands of the state." welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. describe the scene in the courtroom. we are watching the actual manhattan da call for the dropping of the charges. explain what happened to tracy mccarter. >> thank you for having me and for continuing to cover these types of issues of domestic violence and incarceration. as you said, tracy mccarter was arrested on march 2, 2020, a few weeks before new york went on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. she had done everything we tell domestic survivors to do. she separated herself from her increasingly abusive husband. she moved out. she found her own apartment. she continued working as a nurse

-- i want to emphasize she was working as a nurse because the pandemic would hit a few weeks later -- and one that she came home from work and her estranged husband jim murray had locked himself out of the airbnb of which he was staying. he rang her buzzer. she knew from past experience if she did not answer, he would ring the buzzer of every other apartment and into building until she let him in and she been threatened with eviction if you continue to do this. so she let him in, intending to let him sleep half his drunkenness. once he got inside, became belligerent. he started demanding money. when she initially refused to come he attacked her. she broke away. she grabbed a knife from her kitchen and held it out in a defensive posture. he continued to attack her. according to all court filings, his death was an accident.

he tripped and fell on the knife and there was one fatal stab wound. she neatly called 911. she being a nurse attempted to do first aid and police arrived and found her attempting first aid on him. she was arrested and brought to the precinct. he was brought to a hospital or he later died. the next day in court, the assistant district attorney sullivan announced her intention to seek second-degree murder charges against tracy. she was sent to rikers island because the district attorney's office argued she was a flight risk because she had family out of state and she also had a texas nursing license because that is where she had lived previously. she spent six months at rikers. during that time the pandemic broke out, rikers became a coronavirus hotspot. all hands were needed at local

hospitals around new york city and she was prevented from helping out as a nurse. it wasn't until september 2020 when she finally saw a grand jury, which returned an indictment for second-gree murder charges, not having heard about the abuse and violence she had endured at the hands of her estranged husband or his previous history of violence while intoxicated. her case became a talking point for several candidates for district attorney that year, including current district attorney often bragged who tweeted it was unjust and later tweeted that her prosecution was a travesty of justice. but it was not until 10 days before her trial was about to start, so the friday before

thanksgiving, that he actually filed a motion to dismiss the charges with the courts. her prosecution has gone on for more than 2.5 years. during that time, she has been in legal limbo waiting to see if she can try to start picking up the pieces of her life or if she will be facing trial for murder and a possible 19 or 25 to life sentence with that prosecution. amy: it is amazing that bragg tweeted when he was running that this woman should be freed but it took not only all this time, but the incredible work of the organization survived and punished that led a campaign for the charges to be dropped. can you talk about the significance of this movement? >> without this movement, tracy might still be on rikers island awaiting crges. we don't know how many survivors

are in similar situations facing charges related to their abuse, whether it is defending themselves against violence from their partners or whether it is being coerced into criminal actions because of abusive partners or family members. but tracy connected with organizers from "survived and punished" and they and tracy's family, her four adult children come have really advocated not only for her freedom, but to raise awareness about the intersection between domestic violence and criminalization. all the ways in which the legal system perpetuates the same types of abuse as abusive partners or abusive husbands. and while we don't know the number of people incarcerated for acts related to domestic violence, what we do know is race matters. as we have seen from the photos,

tracy mccarter is a black woman, a nurse. her estranged husband was a white man. in 2016 study, it found prosecutors are more likely to decrease charges against survivors who acted in tough defense if they are white women than they are for black women. we also know that black women are more likely to be incarcerated and their white counterparts and that black women experienced domestic violence at a much higher rate than white women. amy: you cite in your reporting beth richie, cofounder of incite! women, gender non-conforming, and trans people of color against violence and the author of multiple books about the intersections of interpersonal and state violence against black women. this is beth riche on democracy now! last year discussing a book she co-authored with angela davis and others called "abolition. feminism. now." >> he believed from our work, from our study, from our

discussion of people both inside prisons and jails, detention facilities, and our work outside in the community that it is essential to take up the question abolition, of policing prisons, of surveillance , of prisons, of surveillance strategies -- it's esntial to take up that work from the perspective of feminism. and the best example that i can think of from my own work is what happens when we don't do that to criminalize survivors -- that is, people who end up incarcerated or otherwise under control of the carceral state, people who experience gender violence, who turn sometimes to the state for protection, and in fact the state turns on them, because we know -- we know that one of the institutions that uses violence most is in fact the carceral state. so carceral feminism is the turning to that violent institution, the carceral state, to solve the problem of

-based violence. and we realize that the result of that is more people who experience gender-based violence, in fact, detained, incarcerated, serving long sentences in u.s. correctional facilities. amy: so if you, victoria law, can expand on what beth richie is saying and talk about whether you think that women who overwhelmingly in prison for murdering their abusers, if the cases with survivors are being treated differently now and if we are seeing this feed into the election a more progressive das around the country? >> i think we are seeing more attention being paid to the criminalization of survivors. i have been on your show previously talking about the cases of baldwin who was facing

trial twice for the death of her abusive boyfriend and meadows who is facing possible life in prison, the 15-year-old who killed her abusive father and was facing adult -- was being charged as an adult and life in prison stop what was onhe case of meadows and now what we see in the case of tracy mccarter, is there is an outpouring of support and attention and it has led the district attorneys to the poin where they're willing to say the case of meadows, i will offer a plea deal. i will not charge you as an adult and attempt to send you to prison for life. in the case of tracy mccarter, district attorney bragg saying, i cannot reasonably conclude this was intentional murder and i do not wish to seek these charges. these would not have happened had there not been a tremendous outpouring of support and organizing and advocacy from people, including family

members, both meadows and tracy mccarter. what we're seeing around the country does not necessarily play out in the same way. what we have seen in california, there is a case of a woman named wendy howard who shot her abusiveex who have been investigated by police for sexually abusing two of her daughters. she was acquitted of all charges except for one and the district attorney had the option of bringing her to trial for that charge. in the case of tracy mccarter, the district attorney has said he does not want -- joint amy: we just have 10 seconds. what you think the judges would rule? >> i certainly hope the judge rules in favor of a motion to dismiss and does not waste any resources, further punishing a survivor for surviving violence from her husband.

aim to victoria law, thank you for being with us, journalist who focuses on the intersections of incarceration, gender, and resistance. we will link your coverage of this case for the nation. that does it for our show. a very special happy birthday to deena guzder! democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed

♪ hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline" . i am takao minori in new york. commanders at the pentagon have alerted people to the perils of the nuclear programs in russia and iran and north korea. now, they have issued a warning about their rivals in china. they say the chinese have built up stockpiles to more than 400 warheads and are modernizing and diversifying and expanding their nuclear forces. >> the challge