12/21/22 12/21/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the u.n. convention just wrapped up the cop15 and this was a significant gathering where laura -- wld leaders are coming together to make a global agreemt for the protection about diversity yet indigenous pele continued to be sidelid in these negotiations yet we are responsible for 80% of the

world's remaining biodiversity. amy: more than 190 nations have agreed to protect at least 30% of the planet's land and oceans by 2030, but will the deal at the recent u.n. summit on biodiversity in montréal do enough to protect the earth? we look also at the latest on title 42, the trump-era pandemic border policy. the biden administration has asked the supremcourt to allow it to halt the policy but not until after christmas. we will also look at why tens of thousands of venezuelans have been trapped in mexico while trying to reach the u.s. at a time when the biden administration is moving to ease some sanctions on venezuela that have devastated the country. plus, we go to atlanta, georgia, where five activists are facing domestic terrorism charges for taking part in a forest encampment to protest the building of what's known as cop city.

>> cop city is basically where the're going to the police department will practice urban warfare. thfact they need this kind of facility, the largest in the country, to fight so-called crime is a disgrace and a dishonest use of resources. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the irs failed to audit former president trump for his first two years in president, while trump paid little or no federal income taxes between 2015 and 2020. the long-awaited revelations came to light tuesday after the house ways and means committee voted to release trump's tax returns after a years-long battle to obtain them.

trump paid just $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017, despite making tens of millions of dollars, by reporting huge losses. in 2020, trump paid zero dollars. meanwhile, the irs only started auditing trump in 2019 after democrats started pushing the issue. despite this being irs policy for decades. trump had refused for years to release his tax info by claiming he was being audited. democratic committee chair richard neal said a redacted version of the taxes will be released publicly in the coming days. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is in washgton, d.c., on a surprise visit to meet with president biden and address a joint session of congress. it's his first time leaving ukraine since russia invaded in -- last february. biden is announcing another $1.8

llion in immediate funding for ukraine, including itsatriot missile system. on tuesday, zelenskyy met with -- members of the russian orthodox church right, "we urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war ukraine to an end supporting calls for a cease-fire and negotiated settlement move before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world's ecosystems and annihilate all of god's creation. meanwhile, the world health organization reports 10 million people come around a quarter of ukraine's population, may suffer from mental health disorders because of the war. in afghanistan, the taliban-has banned women and girls from accessing higher education. the taliban have already barred female students from secondary schools since last year despite

pledges the move was temporary. the decision was met with immediate condemnation from afghan women and rights groups, including the united nations. >> what it is is clearly another broken promise from the taliban. we have seen since their takeover, also in the past months, a lessening of the space for women not only an education, but access to public areas. their nonparticipation in the public debate. amy: in other news from afghanistan, the taliban has freed two american prisoners, including independent filmmaker ivor shearer who was detained in august while filming near the site of a drone strike that killed al qaeda leader ayman al-zawahri. he was arrested along with his afghan producer. it is unknown whether he is still detained.

the peruvian government on tuesday ordered mexico's ambassador to leave the country within three days, declaring him "persona non grata." the move comes after mexico granted asylum to the family of ousted former peruvian president pedro castillo, who was impeached and detained earlier this month. castillo was arrested while on his way to the mexican embassy in lima to seek prection. his removal triggered mass protests across peru that have left at least 25 people dead and many of them teens come and hundreds injured by the police and military. in germany, a court convicted a 97-year-old woman who worked as a typist at a nazi concentration camp for aiding and abetting the murder of over 10,000 people. irmgard furchner was given a suspended two-year sentence. this is state prosecutor maxi wantzen. >> i am only a secretary post up

at the role of the secretary at the time and the bureaucracy of concentration camps was significant. amy: in immigration news, the biden administration on tuesday urged the supreme court to reject calls from republican-led states to continue enforcing the trump-era title 42 pandemic policy used to quickly expel migrants at the u.s.-mexico border without due process. the policy was scheduled to end today, but the court temporarily blocked its termination after several states, led by arizona, filed an emergency appeal. biden officials, however, asked the court to give them until at these december 27 -- least december 27 to prepare for the arrival of what's expected to be thousands of asylum seekers who have been blocked from entering the u.s.. we will have more on this later in the broadcast. the u.s. postal service says it will purchase 66,000electric

delivery trucks over the next few years, and aims to almost exclusively acquire 100% electric starting in 2026. about a third of the usps's $9.6 billion budget for its electric fleet will come from the inflation reduction act. biden has ordered federal agencies to purchase only zero-emission vehicles by 2035. a new rule from the environmental protection agency will require heavy-duty vehicles like buses, delivery vans, and trucks to start drastically cutting nitrogen dioxide emissions in models starting from 2027. the epa says the rule will reduce emissions of the harmful pollutant from these vehicles, linked to heart and lung disease, by 48% by 2045. 72 million people in the u.s. live near major truck routes, mostly low income and communities of color.

environmental groups say the measure doesn't go nearly far enough and that zero-emission alternatives should be more aggressively pushed. in another setback for environmental advocates, the epa has delayed a decision on granting california waivers so it can set its own truck pollution standards to be stricter than federal ones. a texas jury has sentenced former police officer aaron dean to nearly 12 years in prison for killing atatiana jefferson in 2019. dean shot and killed jefferson while conducting a wellness check and as she was babysitting her eight-year-old nephew at her mother's home. jefferson's family said they are also pursuing federal charges against dean. elon musk said he will resign as twitter ceo once he finds someone "foolish enough to take the job."

musk tweeted the announcement tuesday evening after twitter users voted "yes" on his poll over whether he should step down. musk waited a day and a half before commenting on the results. this comes amid deepening turmoil at twitter. on tuesday, 100 former employees filed complaints against musk and the company alleging illegal termination, sex-based discrimination, and failure to pay severance. meanwhile, twitter continues to leak internal documents via selected reporters in what they're calling the "twitter files." on tuesday, the intercept reporter lee fang posted part 8 of the release, which show how twitter assisted the pentagon in an online influence campaign by protecting certain accounts at the military's behest, including fake ones. the consumer financial

protection bureau, or cfpb, has directed wells fargo to pay $3.7 billion in penalties and damages for mistreating consumers, including unjustified foreclosures and vehicle seizures. the cfpb says the bank failed to properly record home and car loans, leading to wrongful repossessions and overdraft fees. it's the largest fine ever imposed by the federal regulator. the previous record of $1 billion was also set by wells fargo. wells fargo has been fined by the u.s. government to the tune of nearly $20 billion since the financial crisis for consumer violations. the senate advanced a $1.7 trillion spending package tuesday that would keep the government funded through the next fall. the measure includes $858 billion in military spending and $45 billion for ukraine.

to secure enough republican support, democrats sacrificed a number of socialrogram including thhugely popular child tax credit which cut the childhood poverty rate by half. california congressmember barbara lee tweeted, "our child poverty epidemic is a choice made by the so-called pro-life party." the sweeping bill also leaves out emergency pandemic funding, a path to permanent legal status for afghan evacuees in the u.s., and includes a medicaid provision that could lead to states dis-enrolling up to 19 million low-income people. congress must pass the bill this week in order to avoid a government shutdown by a deadline of midnight on friday. and those are some of the stories. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now! co-host

juan from his home in chicago, illinois. juan: welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: i'm sitting here with the new york city council proclamation that was given to you on the last of your three lectures as you left new york, speaking on issues from immigration to harvest of empire , talking about worker rights and also talking about your 40 years as a journalist, many of those decades spent here in new york city. the new york city proclamation cites all of your work and contributions to new york. congratulations. juan: thank you. it was great to see a terrific turnout at the last presentation i gave on december 12. i saw a lot of old friends i have not seen in years.

amy: we will link to those speeches you gave at democracynow.org. today we begin our segments looking at what is happening around the world when it comes to the climate crisis. more than 190 nations have agreed to protect at least 30% of the planet's land and oceans for wildlife by 2030. thegrment w reached in montréal at the u.n. biodiversity summit, known as cop15. the landmark agreement seeks to halt the earth's sixth major mass extinction event, currently underway due to human activity. as part of the deal, indigenous communities will have an increased role in protecting wildlife. attendees at the summit included helena gualinga of the sarayaku community in thecuadorian amazon. >>'s talk about indigenous people being 5% of the worlds

population and 80% of the roots biodiversity. so we are automatically when we are talking about biodiversity, we're talking about indigenous territories and indigenous people. amy: ayisha siddiqa from the tribal lands of mochiwala in northern pakistan said indigenous knowledge was key to preserving biodiversity. >> that knowledge comes from being part of that land. you cannot just go into a place like the amazon rain forest and take samples of soil, take it back to her petri dishes and over aewonths,, but the solution. it is going to fail. amy: the united states did not participate in the formal drafting of the new agreement. that's because the u.s. and the vatican are the only two countries in the world which have not signed on to the u.n. convention on biological diversity. we are joined by two guests. leila salazar-lópez, executive director of amazon watch.

eriel tsekwie deranger is the executive director of ingenous climate action and a member of the athabasca chipewyan first nation. joining us from edmonton, canada. let's begin with you. can you talk about the significance of this cop15, happened after the u.n. clinic summit in sharm el-sheikh. many people headed right to montréal for this key meeting. what was accomplished and what wasn't? >> i think there were some really good accomplishments at the cop15, including many, many references -- believe there over 20 references to indigenous peoples, our rights. as the earlier segment stated, it is impossible to create a biodiversity agreement without the inclusion of indigenous rights because 80% of remaining biodiversity is indigenous lands and territories.

while we are seeing massive progress to recognize the rights on paper, some of the biggest challenges and risks that have come out of this cop is the factor are not real mechanisms with real tooth similar to cop27 and protect our rights come our culture, and our ability to advance our right to say yes and no to these types of agreements that are pushing forward, not just we're going to protect biodiversity and save the planet, but sintering colonial economic ideas in the center of a still giving national and colonial states that power to determine what indigenous rights look like when they're implemented in these agreements, and how lands will be developed, protected, so on, and so forth. there's a lot of flowery language but lacks any substantive ways for indigenous people to be leaders in this movement lactate lane they're hoping to advance. juan: could you talk about the significance of cop15 being cohosted by china and canada,

two of the biggest polluters in the world and nations that still promote extractive industry and fossil fuels? >> both of these countries have a really vague interest in being leaders -- or at least the optics of being leaders and advancing biodiversity safeguarding because of that, but for as they are massive leaders in crating omissions on the planet. we are downstream from one of the largest industrial products, the tar sands cap and we are in a world heritage site that is being degraded to this point cop cop we attended this to -- how it continues to be degraded. countries like canada and china have a vested interest in appearing as though they are leading the way. there are reports candidate is leading the way, that china is

advancing technologies to help us meet these commitments, at the reality is there creating these objects and diversion tactic so they can continue business as usual. in canada, i can speak to this directly, we are committing to 30 by 30, millions and millions of dollars for biodiversity protection, indigenous protection and conservation areas, yet we are not talking about ending the expansion of the alberta tar sands, not talking about ending the instruction to biodiversity and other areas, creating the optics a sacrifice own so we can choose which areas to save and which areas to diminish. this results in human rights abuses, indigenous rights abuse , risking the planetary health for everyone. juan: i would like to bring in leila salazar-lópez, executive director of amazon watch. from your perspective, what are some of the victories and what is missing from this agreement? how would some of the key

aspects be implemented from what you can tell? >> good morning. so glad to be on the show would you all today. there are lots to reflect on of this cop15. as eriel mentioned, this is something we are on one side looking at, yes, it is good that there is an agreement. there are a lot of comparisons tohe paris climate agreement. this agreement is to climate -- similar to how we were looking at -- how we see that paris climate agreement to biodiversity. think of what is really happening on our mother earth, we think of the climaterisis,

would we think of the mass extinction crisis we are facing mother earth, we are in multiple crises -- i don't need to name them all, but this is in advance, yes, and she mentioned, it is -- it acknowledges indigenous people and that is advance inomparison to wt we would see in past years. it is better than nothing. it is a framework for looking at this as a framework for biodiversity and how we can move forward to avoid further extinction and further harm to biodiversity. yet there still a long way to go. the aim, we look at target 3, the aim is 30 by 30. that means protecting 30% of land, water, resources by 2030.

and that is what the majority -- that is what the agreement calls for, one of the key elements of the agreement. however, there are others were calling for 50 by 2030. so this is an advance a -- but there is still a long way to go. when i think of the amazon rain forest and the threats to the amazon rain forest -- the amazon rain forest is already at a tipping point. it is at a tipping point. so that is the tipping point of ecological collapse in parts of the amazon because of the deforestation and the degradation caused by many of the factors eriel was mentioning, including oil extraction, fossiluel

extraction, and mini. indigenous peoples, together with academics and activists and ngo organizations like amazon watch, we are calling for much beyond 30 by 30 or even 50 by 30. they are calling for 80 by 2025. yes, that is ambitious. it is very ambitious. but what we are calling for is a permanent commitment to a permanent protection of the amazon rain forest by 2025. we did not get that. we definitely advanced the call and the urgency of protecting the amazon from industrial mining from countries like canada. amy: you named some names. talk about the corporations that have caused the most harm in the amazon and the private investors promoting open minds, mega dams, so forth like canada's test plans for the massive open pit

goldmine in the brazilian amazon , their stock-taking a major hit while cop15 was taken place in montréal. what do you attribute this to? >> thank you for that question, amy. yes, many of you may remember the dam fight. this is th biggest dam in the middle of the amazon rain forest. in the midst of that fight 12 years ago, many of our allies, indigenous people on the ground, brazilians, said this -- remember, this dam is not for energy, it is for mining. we are seeing that now. we are seeing the company, from back then it was already eyeing

the region to develop this massive goldmine. so the company is a canadian mining company and it has plans to build the largest open pit goldmine in the middle of the amazon near the dam in the home of indigenous peoples who are already threatened by this mega dam, already threatened by cattle grazing, by agribusiness, by land grabbing. the company is a major culprit and they are financed by the royal bank of canada. so one of the things we did as an ally to indigenous peoples and working to defend the amazon in solidarity with indigenous peoples, we supported a delegation of indigenous peoples from resilient amazon and other

parts of the amazon to call out the company in canada. this was an opportunity because on the ground they are not convincing indigenous peoples. so we went to call out the company. the investment risks of the company. and held events and also held actions outside of banks like the royal bank of canada. just last week, the stock price of this company tanked. go ahead. amy: we're going to be wrapping and i wanted to ask eriel, as you talk about what is happening in canada, the lack of participation by the u.s. and the vatican, what it means that

it did not participate in the cop15 agreement, did not join the u.n. convention on biological diversity. do you think it's lack of involvement may have in what led to it being less water down then for example, what happened in paris, the well-known cop climate agreement? >> absolutely. i think without these key players, the vatican, the origin of the colonial empire with the idea -- ideology of man's dominion over nature not being there, and the united states, which has a deep history of the conservation movement, including the displacement invisiblization, valuing, and genocide of indigenous peoples not being there, absolutely is not a surprise -- let's get that out of the way. not surprising they did not see this as a priority. secondarily, led to the strong

language. the concern with the language that came out of this is to distill up to the states, still centers the economy -- which is something u.s. and the vatican are still going to applied -- and still puts our communities, lands, territories at risk for the ongoing colonial conservation movement that sees us as just someone to be consulted. we have consent throughout this document, but we all know when it comes down to the states, it doesn't matter what kind of language we have in the international agreement if the states are still leading the way. we are still going to see the destruction of the amazon come the destruction of the forest. unesco world heritage has been in place for over 100 years, its anniversary where my community lives and my community saying, stop sending the government money. give it to us. let us protect the caribou and the lands on the water. for us, conservation and biodiversity management means taking it out of the hands like the vatican and colonial empires

that have created genocide for our community's. amy: eriel tsekwie deranger, member of the athabasca chipewyan first nation and the executive director of indigenous climate action. and leila salazar-lópez, executive director of amazon watch. thank you so much for being with us. we will continue to cover the issue of the climate crisis. if people want to go to our website at democracynow.org, you will see our complete coverage of the u.n. climate summit in sharm el-sheikh, egypt. coming up, the bagman has asked the supreme court to allow to halt the title 42 but not until after christmas. we will also look at u.s. relationship with venezuela. deals that are not getting covered very much. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "agua" by lido pimienta. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to immigration news. the biden administration has asked the supreme court to temporarily keep in place title 42 until after christmas. the trump-era pandemic policy has been used to block over 2 million migrants from seeking asylum in the country. in a filing tuesday, the biden administration asked the court to allow it to end the policy but not until at least december 27 to give border communities more time to prepare for what is expected to be an increase in the number of people seeking refuge in the united states. on monday, supreme court chief justice john roberts temporarily blocked the biden administration from ending title 42 siding, at least for the moment, with a group of u.s. states with republican attorneys general who

want to keep title 42 in place. we go now to san francisco, where we are joined by julia neusner, research and policy attorney with human rights first. she helped write a new report titled "human rights stain, public health farce." the group has tracked over 13,400 reports of murder, torture, kidnapping, rape, and other violent attacks on migrants and asylum seekers blocked in or expelled to mexico under title 42 since president biden took office. julia, welcome to democracy now! talk about your findings and the significance of what is taking place right now at the highest court. what is going to happen? >> good morning, amy. thank you so much for having me. so we have been tracking the title 42 policy under the biden administration since its inception. as you said, we have tracked

13,480 kidnappings and other violent attacks against migrants and asylum seekers stranded in mexico or expelled under title 42. that number is absolutely staggering and continues to climb for as long as the policy is in progress. we know migrants and asylum-seekers who are stranded on the border are specifically targeted for organized criminal groups and even police and state actors for extortion, kidnappings, and other attacks. this policy has made it so much worse. as you explain, the supreme court has stayed the termination of the policy and the u.s. government yesterday submitted its response opposing the statement requesting additional days to be able to implement --

to be able to prepare for the lifting of title 42. so we don't know how the court will decide on that but the government did indicate it has to policies that it is planning to implement in preparation. juan: julia, could you talk about the erroneous view and the americans have that taught 42 has helped to reduce the migrant -- the asylum-seekers and migrants flows from along our southern border? >> yeah. title 42 has absolutely not had that effect at the southern border. what it has done is it has prevented people from seeking asylum at ports of entry, which is very legal. people previously under u.s. and international law were able to present themselves at a port of entry and request protection.

they were taken into u.s. custody and go through the asylum process. the title 42 closes off that avenue to seek protection. so it has forced people to css between ports of entry and kept many just trapped at the border. but we are sing the number of people crossing between ports of entry are much, much higher than they were before the policy was implemente that is because the same forces that are forcing people to leave their homes, organized crime, climate disasters, political persecution -- many of the people are flaying authoritarian governments. in many cases, those issues have gotten worse over the pandemic. so people are still coming. this policy -- any attempt to

determine at using cruelty to deter people from coming has been completely ineffective. it is counterproductive because it encourages repeat entries. that is why the statistics we hear from border patrol about crossings are very inflated because many of the people they count as individual counters are in fact people who have attempted to cross many times because of this policy have been expelled right back to mexico. another consequence of these rising crossings between ports of entry that title 42 has forest is that people -- these crossings are extremely dangerous. forcing people to walk through deserts or make their way across very, very dangerous rivers off at the mercy of organized criminal groups who control border crossings and we have

seen more deaths of people crossing the border this year than any year since the government started tracking the deaths in 1998. so it has been a total disaster. juan: in terms of the legal situation with title 42, which chief justice roberts issuing this order, what happens now? doesn't go to the full supreme court or how do you see the legal unraveling or the resolution? >> the states that sought to intervene in this case claim and government was inadequately representing their interests -- again, this is a case and initially brought by plaintiffs represented by the aclu or interacted by title 42 -- and packed if i title 42 and the government --

[indiscernible] the state sought to intervene. they were denied by the circuit court and by the appellate court because cash their request to intervene was made after final judgment. it was very late. the last ditch effort, they went to the supreme court and sought this stay and [indiscernible] the government has submitted its brief opposing request back to state who are seeking to intervene. the states have asked the court stay the policy pending its decision on the question of whether the states should be

allowed to intervene. and government has asked that stay lifted, but with time to implement some new policies to prepare for the lifting of title 42. they have asked until at least december 27. before that -- dylan amy: we're going to follow that. julia neusner, research and policy attorney with human rights first. you mention venezuela and we are going to look at venezuela right now. this all coming as tens of thousands of venezuelans are tracked in mexico while trying to reach the united states. in october, the biden administration expanded title 42 to turn away venezuelan asylum seekers at the u.s.-mexico border. venezuela has faced a years-long economic crisis in part due to u.s. sanctions. however, u.s.-venezuelan

relations are now shifting. the biden administration recently moved to ease some sanctions on venezuela and the administration gave chevron the green light to resume oil production in venezuela. to talk more about these issues we are joined by miguel tinker salas. miguel tinker salas is a professor at pomona college in claremont, california. he is the author of "the enduring legacy: oil, culture, and society in vezuela" and "venezuela: what everyone needs to know." professor, welcome post of does everyone need to know about what has gotten very little coverage may be because of worsening relationships between the united states and saudi arabia and its dependence there, the u.s. changing its attitude toward venezuela and the deal that was just struck?

>> -- [inaudible] i checked money goes to pay debt the venezuelan government has poured chevron. what has also happened, they have targeted millions of abroad in agreement with an opposition to allow the united nations to use that money for humanitarian aid within the country. [inaudible] building upon earlier conversations that released of vigils that worked for citco -- individuals that worked for citco. we have to consider in the ascendant, they passed an act

that prohibited any federal agency from having dealings with the venezuelan -- juan: i wanted to ask you about this do united states policy allowing 24,000 venezuelans to seek asylum. the venezuela population in the united states is the fastest growing group now among people of latin american descent. the particular requirements of not only having a valid passport and airfare but economic benefactor in the u.s.. could you talk about this policy and how it came about? >> it came about shortly after the biden administration and a decision decided to apply title 42 to venezuela and not allow them to seek asylum at the border. something largely unattainable. 24,000 people who have valid passports who can request asylum from within venezuela when there is no u.s. embassy or consulate,

have a plane ticket and have u.s. economic sponsor. this favors those individuals with resources and makes it more difficult for individuals that are at the border were title 42 has been applied, therefore, makes it much more complicated. for some people, it is highly unattainable. juan: you were talking before about chevron. obviously, the united states imposed heavy sanctions on venezuelan-owned citgo. what is the situation? >> that has not changed at all. citgo handed over to the opposition so the venezuelan government [inaudible] the respin very little that has changed in that sense over the term of the sanctions. sanctions have not worked

anywhere. they increase the suffering for the ordinary venezuelan people. that is what is really tragic about the immigration policy and the application of title 42 and continued sanctions in venezuela as well. amy: i wanted to ask you, professor, about the agreement. the government of maduro and guaido, what has been brokered? >> the negotiations will resume. there's another problem. guaido's term in office is set to expire. with a new year comes a new assembly of leadership. there is a major potential split

within a unified opposition over whether guaido should continue or not. [inaudible] other say that policy has failed and we need new leadership and therefore, there is a split right now between several parties over what will be the character of the opposition going forward into negotiations. juan: in terms of those who are coming, honestly a long trek through central america into mexico, what -- what is your sense of who is actually coming from venezuela, from what sectors of the population, and are they being treated

differently at all from other migrants or asylum-seekers from central america? >> good question. there are several layers of contact. many venezuelans traveled to colombia, peru, ecuador, chile, faced anti-venezuelan reaction, moved back north again. others coming out of venezuela began to trek the various straits. that path have been established earlier by patients and cubans who migrated to the u.s. several years ago, utilizing the samepaths through central america and mexico. we have a variety of forces. their new individuals coming out of venezuela. not all are confronting --

the key thing is that route was mapped by the haitians and the cubans and has an infrastructure, so venezuelans enjoyed that track and crossed into america and got into mexico. the problem was when they got to the u.s., they experienced the cubans of 1980 experienced. here we have new venezuelans coming, many working-class, and confronted in they did not expect from other venezuelans who saw them as somehow not worthy of the same hubris, lower socioeconomic class, were rabble-rousers. that confronted a reaction they had not expected. they had two conditions they confronted. one was the title 42 been applied to them and not being a

request asylum and the other was a reaction from existing venezuelans that saw them with suspicion, going to the point they were sent to destabilize post of amy: we want to end with a clip from a venezuelan who attempted to make it to the united states. cokes in the jungle, many died next to me, drowned, and etc.. i would give some advice to all these people. migrating is not easy. imagine if you do it with children, more than one. you put your life at risk in the jungle. amy: miguel tinker salas, would you like to comment? what he says is true. there's an article last week

where we document that trek is immigrants are creating their own immigrant culture through social media and exposing the realities along that trek and along the u.s.-mexican border. amy: miguel tinker salas is a professor at pomona college in claremont, california. author of "the enduring legacy: oil, culture, and society in venezuela" and "venezuela: what everyone needs to know." coming up, would go to atlanta, georgia, where five activists are facing domestic terrorism charges for protesting a massive police training center known as cop city. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "friday night saturday morning" by the specials. lead singer terry hall passed away this week at the age of 63. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show in atlanta, where five people have been charged with domestic terrorism for taking part in protests against a massive new police training facility known as cop city. the protesters were taking part in a months-long encampment in a forested area of atlanta where the city wants to build a $90 million, 85-acre training center on the site of a former prison farm.

conservationists have long thought to protect the area, the south river forest, from future development. protesters are also urging the atlanta officials to invest in communities not more policing. this is jasmine burnett. >>eoplere askinfor afrdable hsing,aving th stre, having sidewks, bett acss. stead, ty'reupportina projt that $9million proje to construct tarst urban warfare aining fility in th country whilwe underand this is a very loc issue, is haening ght her we kn this ia nationroblem, global problem. the sa tacticshey' using e the sehe israe governme is usinagainst palestinns. thsame tactics u.s. military is employingn aica through the africoprogram. th is a global struggle against the occupation of our

community's. amy: we go now to atlanta where we are joined by kamau franklin, the founder of the organization community movement builders, part of a coalition trying to stop the contraction of cop city in atlanta. welcome to democracy now! we knew you in new york when you are part of the constitutional rights, moved to atlanta. talk about the significance and five activists being charged with domestic terrorism? >> thank you for having me. in an update, and essex activists most of the day after the initial raid, another raid and another activist was arrested and is now being charged. we think these charges are setting up the idea of criminalizing dissent around cop city. so far they have been denied bail. there's a second bail hearing coming up. because of the outrageous charges, generalized charge of domestic terrorism under georgia law, these folks are still being held.

this is a concerted effort by law enforcement agencies on the city and the atlanta police department, the state georgia bureau of investigation. at the federal level, homeland security and fbi have all been involved in a task force which is targeting these organizers and activists on the ground for being opposed to cop city. juan: what are the specific actions they allegedly have taken to warrant these kinds of charges? >> the interesting things about these arrests, they were basically a push to destroy everything that was built in terms of the resistance movement, group of people who have moved or spent days camping out as an active civil disobedience. georgia is the place where john lewis and good trouble is

supposed to be accepted. civil disobedience in the forest is something that is not accepted. they were raided by the georgia bureau of investigation, please, where folks were literally sitting in tree huts where all of their cap equipment was destroyed step rubber bullets were used. guns were pointed at their head. they were involved in no activity whatsoever except the active being in the forest and they were all taken and charged in this conspiracy idea that the act of civil disobedience, direct action is something that is now being criminalized. in a statute that doesn't get used in georgia but has been on the books for a of years. these folks were doing absolutely nothing.

juan: could you tell us more about cop city? how did this idea originate? who backed it, what politicians were behind it? >> cop city came out after the george floyd uprising of 2020, after george floyd was killed, breonna taylor was killed by the police. there were massive protests around the country, even around the world around police violence, police brutality. there were calls for defining the police, to abolish the police, calls to find new ways to bring safety to various communities, particularly like and brown working-class communities. it was during that time he shall answer bottoms -- keisha lance bottoms then the l.a. to police foundation -- atlanta police department came up with the idea to basically give a gift to police, to make them feel better as a way of changing the narrative. as we have seen over the last two years, democrats and

republicans, elected officials, private companies -- the same that claim they were supporting black lives matter -- 10 samantha dollars and a this police apparatus, this cop city. during that timeframe, the idea was we, in atlanta, should give to the police of this training center which basically stated in your clip is an urban warfare center where there are going to be over a dozen changes, and explosive range, mock cities to practice warfare, going to be a helicopter pad for blackhawk helicopters to land. this is being done right in the middle of a working-class and poor black city -- i mean, black area, in atlanta. this is all planned around changing the narrative, talking about crime and how this facility will be used to fight crime -- which is a light on its

face because the facility, even without protests, would take four to five years to build. this is to make the police feel better. amy: can you talk about the alternatives to militarize the police that your coalition is calling for and what is going to happen to these six activists charged with domestic terrorism? >> our groups have called for alternatives to policing in terms of having outside agencies that deal with homeless issues, mental health issues. we have called for community's the ability to control any policing that happens which means the ability to hire or fire police, discipline police in our community. we call for cop watches where we watch -- we create other avenues

of safety which are not around the police. we are continuing to support the organizers and activists who are arrested and we are gathering bail as we speak, getting lawyers for these folks. another bail hearing is scheduled for the 27th. we need solidarity and support for these folks to continue to fight against cop city being built. amy: activist and attorney kamau franklin is the founder of the organization community movement builders, speaking to us from atlanta, georgia. that does it for our show. 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!]

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hello and welcome to nhk newsline. president vladimir zelenskyy has remained in ukraine since russian forces