03/08/23 03/08/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we are here -- amy: millions are taking to the streets today across the world on international women's day, celebrating half the planet's population. even as many continue to face discrimination, violence, and

abuse. >> t taliban's intentional policy is to repudiate the human rights of women and girls and to erase them from public life. it may amount to the international crime of gender persecution for which the authorities can be held accountable. america we will u.n. look at afghanistan, what the u.n. is calling the world's most repressive country for women, and get an update on the women-led protests in iran. we will look at the impact of abortion ban and the criminalization of abortion from the united states to el salvador where teodora vásquez served a decade in prison after her baby was born dead in a stillbirth at nine months. >> first they said it was an abortion and they may change from abortion to aggravated homicide. they sentenced me to 30 years. amy: all that and more, coming

up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the occupied west bank is observing a general strike today, one day after isrli forces raided a jenin refugee camp, killing six palestinians , the deadliest attack by israel which has killed at least 73 palestinians since the start of the year. meanwhile, in the palestinian village of huwara, israeli settlers ambushed and attacked a family, including an elderly man and a toddler. this is the family's grandmother describing the attack. >> we were done with shopping and got into the car. he was about to switch the car on. suddenly, we don't know where they came from, they were like rabid dogs attacking all at once. we did not see them. the road was d. it seemed like a weight and lay low and hunt people down.

amy: on jenin, it was the deadliest attack. in ukraine, the mercenary wagner group says it has ptured eastern bakhmut, the site of protract deadly fighting. ukraine has vowed to keep defending the city, saying it has repelled significant attacks and warning its loss would lead an open road through ukraine's east for russian forces. meanwhile, kyiv has denied any involvement in september's attack on the nord stream pipelines after "the new york times" reported unnamed u. intelligence officials suggested a pro-ukrainian group was responsible but that there is no evidence the group was directed by ukrainian officials meanwhile, in russia, student blogger dmitry ivanov has been sentenced to over eight years in prison for being critical of russia's invasion of ukraine. ivanov addressed reporters from the courtroom. >> russia is not putin.

he did not ask us about starting this war. i knew people here in russia are against the criminal war. i also asked that friends and relatives of ukraine -- amy: in the country of georgia, police used water cannon and tear gas against protesters in the capital tbilisi as thousands of people turned out to condemn a proposed law on so-called foreign agents. the contested bill would require non-governmental organizations and independent media outlets that receive more than 20% of their funding from international sources to declare themselves as agents of foreign influence. critics slammed the move as a violation of press freedom and civil society. georgians also fear it would jeopardize the country's bid for european union membership. georgian president salome zourabichvili vowed to veto the

bill, though the ruling party has enough tes to override that >> no one needed this law. itame from nowre. but maybe it was diated from moscow and needs to go. it needs to be repealed anyway you want. amy: in egypt, three journalists from the independent news website mada masr are on trial, facing up to two years in prison and $10,000 fines for allegedly misusing social media and offending members of parliament. rana mamdouh, sara seif eddin, and beesan kassab are being tried over an article last year about a government watchdog that uncovered gross financial misconduct among politicians. it's the latest attack on mada masr by the government of abdel fattah el-sisi, who amnesty international has accused of turning journalism into a crime. reporters without borders says 73 women journalists in -- around the world are spending international women's day behind bars.

spain's government approved a draft law aimed at bolstering equal representation of women in politics, business, and other institutions. the measure, announced by prime minister pedro sanchez at a rally for the socialist party over the weekend, will now be debated and voted on by the spanish parliament. this is spain's economy minister nadia calvino. >> it establishes a target of 40% female participation in public and private management and decision-making bodies with a realistic timetable. onhe political level, electoral candidacies must have an equal composition in men and women alternate lists. finally, to stipulated the spanish government will also be governed by the principle of a balanced presence of women and men. amy: the number of pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls experiencing malnutrition has skyrocketed since 2020 across 12 countries in africa and asia. that's according to unicef, which says nearly 7 million

mothers are suffering from hunger as food shorte crisis has worsened due to the war in ukraine, the climate crisis, ongoing conflict, and the pandemic. the hardest hit nations include afghanistan, yemen, ethiopia, somalia, and sudan. children born to malnourished mothers are more likely to develop chronic health issues and have a higher risk of mortality. back in the united states, five women are suing texas after they were denied abortions even as their pregnancies posed serious risks to their health and were nonviable. the center for reproductive rights is bringing the lawsuit on behalf of the women and two doctors. this is plaintiff amanda zurawski. >> i cannot adequately put into words the trauma and despair that comes with twitter to -- with waiting to take your own life, your child's love, or both. for days, i was locked in this bizarre and avoidable hell.

in a matter minutes, i went from being healthy to developing sepsis with the ability to kill in under an hour. amy: it's the first such lawsuit since the supreme court overturned roe v wade last year, triggering a rash of abortion bans in states across the united states. gigi sohn, president biden's pick for the federal communications commission and a champion of net neutrality and consumer rights, has withdrawn her nomination following an onslaught of attacks by industry lobbyists. on tuesday, conservative democrat joe manchin confirmed he would not vote to confirm sohn. companies like at&t, verizon, and comcast killed her nomination over sohn's support of net neutrality and low-cost broadband. right-wing outlets also launched a homophobic smear campaign against her. she is a lesbian.

she said in a statement -- "it is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant industries, with assistance from unlimited dark money, get to choose their regulators. and with the help of their friends in the senate, the powerful cable and media companies have done just that." the fcc, which should have five commissioners, has been at a partisan 2-to-2 deadlock since december 2020. the justice department has sued to block jetblue's $3.8 billion acquisition of spirit airlines. it's the first time in over two decades the u.s. government has intervened to block an airline merger and is the latest anti-trust action from the biden administration. this is vanita gupta, associate attorney general. >> cost because carriers like spirit play key role in the economy. they make air travel possible so more americans can take a hard earned family vacation or celebrate and mourn together with loved ones. we allege the proposed merger would lead to higher prices for

travelers and we allege that the proposed merger would heighten the risk that remaining airlines would coordinate to raise prices. amy: and in france, 1.3 million people took to the streets tuesday in the sixth and largest-yet nationwide protest against rising the pension age from 62 to 64. train services were disrupted, schools were shut, and fuel deliveries blocked. police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse some of the crowds. union leaders say they will continue disrupting public life until the government acquiesces to the widespread public opposition to their plan. this is a retired worker speaking at the march in paris. >> it is about our children, our grandchildren. imagine how it will be in 50 years. intolerable profits. amy: and those are some of the headlines.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan -- nermeen shaikh. happy international women's day. nermeen: happy international image day to you and to our audiences. welcome across the country and around the world. amy: today, march 8, marks international women's day around the world, celebrating half of the planet's population even as many continue to face discrimination, violence, and abuse. some women are using the day to speak back to corporate co-optation of the holiday on social media by posting about pay gaps at places that pay men more than women. women and their allies are also gathering in person for events big and small. millions are demonstrating in spain, which on tuesday passed a new gender equality mandate for large companies, civil service, and government institutions. meanwhile, in pakistan, women

marched despite threats by conservative groups to stop them by force, and neighboring afghanistan is now the world's most repressive country for women according to the united nations. we will talk about that later in the show. we will also talk about the women-led protests in iran, and calls to address the abortion ban crisis in el salvador and other countries. but we begin here in the united states, which ended the constitutional right to abortion last year. we begin with nancy krieger, renowned professor of social epidemiology at harvard university's school of public health and director of the interdisciplinary concentration on women, gender, and health. she's also co-founder and chair of the spirit of 1848 caucus in the american public health association, which links social justice and public health. she gives the introduction each year to the school's international women's day event by laying out its radical history. so, professor krieger, welcome to democracy now!

tell us about this day's roots in socialism and more. >> thank you very much for having me. it is wonderful to be with you. international women's day has a very long progressive history that is often not well-known and we've been celebrating it now for over 11 years at the school of public health to bring that history back to life so people can make the connections. the very first international -- national women state took place in 1909 in the u.s. was on the last sunday in february and organized by american socialist tied to the labor organizing going on at that time and the push for women's suffrage. one year later, the proposal was made for international women's day at the second ever international compass of socialist women, and they made good on the promise in 1911. it was held in vienna and organized by socialist and communist women at the time. it was held importantly on march

18. this was to be a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the paris commune which started on march 18, 1871. it was violently suppressed. they were remembering it 40 years later just as we in 2023 would remember an event and 1983 which is back to the reagan presidency in the united states, among other things, not that far ago. what happened is it was observed in other countries and back 1917, march 8, became the official date for international women's day. that day corresponded to figure 22nd which was equal to march 8 on the gregorian calendar. huge demonstration in russia led by women about food and wages and rights. that was a key demonstration that led to the overthrow of the russian czar and the provisional

government that came into power thereafter immediately among other things and acted suffrage for women, which is actually three years before the u.s. that is when international women's day really began to take off and it became the establishment of a holiday i knew what was then the soviet union in 1922 and was key here earlier in your broadcast about demonstrations in spain in 1936 there was an enormous international women's day demonstration led by a woman fighting for protecting the spanish republic against the fascist government at that time. so basically until -- from 1945 to 1966, international women's day was pretty much observed only in communist countries and became a kind of mother's day. it lost the radical edge it had at the beginning but it was rediscovered in 1967 by a group of women in chicago, women's liberation consciousness group. they began to call for revising the history of international

women's day and was eventually picked up in 1975 by the u.n. and became an internationally recognized day. so here we are in 2011, the 100 they never street. -- the 100 anniversary. here we are today in 2023, effectively the 112th anniversary. nermeen: thank you for that history. even us men are not aware of the socialist origins as you pointed out. could you talk about how it has been linked to other causes for social justice, not just here in the u.s. but also across the world, including as we were mentioning earlier reproductive justice and rights? >> international women's day has its roots saying women and their families, however they are defined, however the women are defined, should have the ability to thrive, engage productively in the world, to live joyful

lives. that means having children or not and having opportunities for those children to thrive. it is been tied to domains around reproductive justice, around labor rights, and good jobs and access to education and safe and sustainable communities and more. it is inseparable from the other demands. that was the original spirit. we think about who was stepping up asking and demanding for political enfranchisement, to have their lives and their views represented in government and pass laws and legislation and policies that protect people's right to thrive, and is crucially important. right now very much so to the framework of reproductive justice, particularly by black feminist organizations and leaders in this country 20 years ago, linking not just the reproductive choice but justice. to be able to have the conditions in which people can thrive and that means for the

children they have and it also means they choose not have children. these are very connected struggles. they cannot be unlinked from other struggles for health justice, whether environment old , climate justice, you name it. they are embodied by people and they are embodied through what we see fraternal and reproductive health data that you see that are wildly different across different social groups, racialized groups, economic groups in the u.s. and throughout the world between countries. nermeen: professor krieger, could you talk about what happened in particular as we mark this day in 2023, but the impact of the pandemic on exacerbating inequities with respect to women, not just in terms of health but auto in the dust but also in the workplace come as result of what happened during the pandemic? >> the covid pandemic effectively ripped the band-aid

off to reveal wide inequities that were already known by those paying attention to them and above all those living and experiencing them. these inequities were shown in the first particular year of the pandemic while there was work going underweight try to figure out how to reduce mortality amongst those affected. what happened was the first people that were most likely to die, particularly i can speak to the u.s. data, were people that were both front-line workers, people that were being open essential" but were ultimately treated as expendable, predominantly low income workers of color and many of those in caring occupations which are considered to be women. high mortality amongst people that work in copper good homes, elderly homes, nursing homes, which were understaffed, workers overworked, predominantly low income of color a predominantly

women in those occupations. they and those people in the nursing homes were put at risk. you see the inequity. it was excess deaths. there was not covid testing for everyone. not all confidence are accurately recorded. -- not all covid deaths are accurately recorded. obviously, not just about the loss of the individual who died, it is all the people and their family and networks. you have to understand the ripple effects. understand the impact of what it means for the kids who have been orphaned, when there are no caregivers for elderly if their children have died. so the toll continues. amy: professor krieger, you are a renowned professor of social epidemiology. i think the world learned how to pronounce epidemiologist in the

last three years. if you can talk about reproductive health care. we just had inner headlines today five women suing texas after they were denied abortions even as their pregnancy posed serious risks to their health and were nonviable. one woman describing how no texas ob/gyn would perform an abortion which meant she went into sepsis which meant she may not be able to have another child when that is all she wanted. we are going to also talk about the ban on abortion in el salvador. if you can talk about reproductive rights, the attack on it, and why this year you're celebrating a birthing center in roxbury. >> sure. the reproductive justice encompasses reproductive rights and goes beyond that but reproductive rights are very essential. that means the capacity to access the appropriate medical care for what once reproductive needs are. it could be involving in vitro

fertilization, not having children and getting access to appropriate contraception, actually terminating a pregnancy including abortion. these are norm health care procedures. they are necessary for people's health period. that affects the people around the because people can be worried about loved ones when they can't get the health care care they absolutely need. these fights are there and they are tied fundamentally to issues around the fights around gender ideology, which has been castigated by people who are conservative, right-wing, often from religious find a middle standpoint that somehow degree there is no such thing as gender, there's only sex. at the same time, they want people having babies but they don't want them to have abortions but they would actually are not tied to understanding the reproductive autonomy is a crucial part of whether one has children or not. these are the attacks underway. it is a global phenomenon.

it is playing a particularly in the u.s., those who have seen a predominance of deserve it politicians -- conservative politicians voted in. popular public opinion really supports in many states, the states rights for reproductive choice, rights for reproductive justice. that is also shown in terms of the recent attempts -- legislatures to rule out and have popular referenda say, no, we should be protecting reproductive rights. what we do at our school -- just to say quickly, we have this international women's day celebration. this year we wanted to have speakers featured, key to organizing what is going to be opening boston's birthing center for those who have been excluded and marginalized. it will open in roxbury.

we wanted something where it both represents the struggle, the radical history of reproductive justice and fighting for it, but also because it is about joy and bringing people into the world, bringing new little ones in a context that is welcoming and inclusive. that is part of the fight, too. amy: finally, i know every internatnal women's day, wherever you are, you sing " bread and roses" and we are about to play that for our music break. can you talk about its radical roots? >> we close our ceremony that we have with that song because it comes from very close to harvard. it was in lawrence, massachusetts. a big strike was held by immigrant groups. the songbook was there. they gave rise to the song "bread and roses," which is about what the women were

fighting for. that song is self comes from actually a letter that was written to mother jones, legendary organizer before she died, which is about fighting for bread and roses. it is both. in the person who was renting a radical report -- writing a radical report covering the lord's march said beware the movement that generates those songs because songs do carry the spirit of the people and that is what the song was about and that is what we try to teach every year. amy: thank you for being with us. as emme gomez has come if i can't dance, i do want to be part of your revolution. nancy krieger, renowned professor of social epidemiology at harvard university's school of public health and director of the interdisciplinary concentration on women, gender, and health. next up, as the u.n. because afghanistan the most repressive country for women, we will go to look at the afghan women-led

marches and resistance, i should say, that is taking place in afghanistan. the first, "bread and roses." ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "bread and roses" performed by the twin cities labor chorus. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. as we continue to mark international women's day, we turn to afghanistan. earlier this week, a top united nations official accused the ruling taliban of gender apartheid by erasing women from public life. this is richard bennett, the u.n. special rapporteur on human rights in afghanistan. >> the taliban's intentional and calculated policy is to repudiate the human rights of women and girls and to erase them from public life. it may mount to the international crime of gender persecution for which the authorities can be held accountable.

a cute little effect of the restrictions on women and girls has a devastating -- a cupola to affect other section on women and girls has a devastating effect on the population and tantamount to gender apartheid. amy: earlier today, another top u.n. official in kabul said -- "afghanistan under the taliban remains the most repressive country in the world regarding women's rights." since taking power nearly 19 months ago, the taliban has moved to erase women from public life, banning women and girls from schools, from working with non-governmental organizations, and from traveling without a male relative. on monday, young afghan women gathered outside kabul university to protest the taliban's ban on female education. cell phone video shows young women sitting on the ground outside the university reading their books in open defiance of the taliban. we are joined now by zahra nader. she is a freelance afghan journalist who was formerly a

reporter for "the new york times" in kabul and is now based in canada. she is the editor-in-chief of zan times, a new afghan women-led outlet documenting human rights issues in afghanistan. thank you so much for joining us on democracy now! can you talk about the state of women in your country? >> thank you, amy, for having me on this special day and giving me an opportunity to speak about the situation for women in afghanistan. as you mentioned, afghanistan is now effectively one of the biggest prisons in the world for women. what you are seeing and what is happening in the past 19 months is a continuation. i think what is happening is going beyond what we understand is the concept of gender apartheid because at least and a gender apartheid, people are allowed to interact with each other. that is not happening in afghanistan. we are women are effectively

prisoners in our homes. the u.n. special rapporteur -- amount to crimes against humanity. women are no longer allowed in afghanistan to go to school. they cannot go to university. they cannot work in public sectors nor ngos, which affects 11.6 million women in afghanistan according to u.n. data. afghanistan is one of the countries with the largest population of women -- there's a lot going on. what is happening is unfortunately we are having little sense of how to limit

afghanistan their lives, not having access to public life, not being able to fully and even very minorly participate in life and afghanistan. what we're hearing is there is no legal protection for women and afghanistan, especially for those who are fleeing domestic violence. even before the taliban takeover, across the country, it was a harsh country to be a woman in. we had recourse before sing 95% of violence haening against women -- violence against women in afghanistan, i don't feel we have a clear view of what is taking place. a lot of independent journalists and media are shut down. they cannot function because of the taliban censorship and

threat of intimidation that continues to hear and experience as a journalist afghanistan and working and trying to be the voice of women from afghanistan. what we're hearing is a lot of concern, a lot of strong language in terms of saying what is happening but what they're seeing is little action to reverse the human rights violations. to take a powerful stance that this should not be tolerated. i should mention -- and should not be normalized. what we're seeing is a level of normalization of this violation. nermeen: can you talk about how life for women, everyday life for women in afghanistan has changed in these last 19 months? your newspaper spoke to some women. tell us what they told you add

of international women's day -- ahead of international women's day. >> a sense that you wake up every day in your life and you have nothing to go for. there's nothing for you to stand up and say, this is what i'm going to do today. there is no hope for education. there is no hope to contribute in society. we're hearing a lot of sense of hopelessness among women. there committing suicide in greater number. the taliban are suppressing the media and freedom of information in afghanistan. there's a lot going on in the lives of women. at the end of the tunnel. we see and read about in here from the people from my colleagues that are working and afghanistan. those protesting in kabul, they

know they might be killed on the streets and nothing will be changed but they're still willing to take that risk because that is what is going to bring them hope. to risk their life for what they want even if that comes at the cost of their own life, they're willing to take that. we see there a lot of crackdown. the taliban are torturing, arresting, beating them on the streets and kidnapping them. we have women in prison because they protested, because the asked for the rights. there are other they continue the resistance and recently i wrote a piece about women creating online spaces for themselves to come together and keep hope alive for themselves.

they know it is darkness they're facing, that there is no hope. they need to survive because they need to think beyond what is happening today and that is something -- they are trying to read books, to have a sense -- they have to be ready and have motivation. their hope is still there that they can continue. the resistance, the women in afghanistan are courageously continuing. but there is little we are seeing in the international community being supportiv, demanding the rights for these women and afghanistan who are ha the population. they deserve and they need and their rights must be protected. if it doesn't, i think it is very hard to think of the international community and think of human rights as universal standard. nermeen: what do you think the international community can do

to stand in solidarity with women? speak specifically about how afghanistan is also confronting this horrific humanitarian catastrophe and how that has been exacerbated by sanctions as well as massive cuts in foreign aid. >> thank you. i am going to go back to the humanitarian crisis. right now as we speak, millions and afghanistan need urgent assistance. what that means is since the taliban takeover, the humanitarian crisis did not happen by itse. itappened wi the withdrawa and the taliban. whatas exacerbed this is the taliban cap half of society from essentially making it impossible for them to earn a living. that is one crucial point we

have to consider. how the people in afghanistan can overcome the humanitarian crisis if the taliban what allow women to work. the taliban said music is illegal. there is a lot of the humanitarian crisis crated directly by the taliban's politics. and we are seeing humanitarian aid continue and we have the u.n. appealing for $4.6 billion. we are also concerned about the money, $40 million, which arrives weekly. we have that money being spent is a huge question -- how that money is being spent is a huge question. they are telling us this money

is not reachinthe intended recipients. those who are most at need say they are not able to access the aide. we are very worried the people on the ground telling us this money is helping the taliban. i am here to raise accountability where this money is going because we don't want this money to go to the taliban. that is part of the humanitarian crisis happening in afghanistan. but how can we go beyond this is actually thinking about as a society, all the people in afghanistahave rights. they have to earn a living. that ability right now is taken away by the taliban from half of society, to say the least.

for the other half, there so many problems created by the taliban which won't allow them to continue their work, continue their living. when we are talking about the crisis -- amy: we have 30 seconds. >> we have to see all of this. the humanitarian crisis cannot be seen as only one single issue and something -- to engage with the taliban. the action that needs to be taken, the european union taken to sanction to the taliban, but that is not enough. we have to go beyond that. what can be done is standing together, especially the countrie -- the countries who have a strong demand on human rights, they have to come together and have to see this as a global issue. this is not afghanistan only. this is about women globally.

if we cannot deal with this in afghanistan, we have shown it to be extended to other countries and that is very unfortunate. i hope we can call on the special day to all women across the world, please stand up for afghan women. please stand up for their rights because they don't have the means to fight back that you see other women in other untries cafight. make sure their voices are heard . they're being tortured and dnapped. they nd your help. they need to stand for their rights and speak and pressure their governments to be accountable. you need to make them accountable and say what is happening in afghanistan is intolerable and must be stopped now. amy: zahra nader, thank you for been with us, freelance afghan journalist who was formerly a reporter for "the new york times" in kabul and is now based

in ottawa where she is the editor-in-chief of zan times, a new afghan women-led outlet documenting human rights issues in afghanistan. when we come back, we go to iran . stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "revolution" by iranian singer, rapper, and songwriter who goes by her stage name justina. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we go now from afghanistan to iran, where parents and teachers have been holding protests in tehran and other cities following a spate of apparent poisonings at girls' schools since november. according to the group human rights activists in iran, there have been at least 290 suspected school poisonings in recent months. the group estimates at least 7000 students have been affected. i never have gone to hospital. they just collapse. -- a number have gone to the hospital. they just collapse. meanwhile, the head of iran's judiciary said earlier this week that iranian women could be punished for violating the islamic dress code. his remarks came just months after the death of 22-year-old

mahsa amini in police custody sparked nationwide protests. we are joined now by manijeh moradian. she is an assistant professor of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at barnard college at columbia university. her new book is titled "this flame within: iranian revolutionaries in the united states." she is part of the feminists for jina network. we welcome you to democracy now! professor, if you can start off by talking about the significance of international women's day in iran and what is happening with women today, especially this spate of the horror of these what look like poisonings. >> absolutely. thank you for having me today on international women's day. it is a very significant day in the history of iran and maybe i will start there because in 1979, just after the popular revolution that overturned the shawl, he was an uprising of tens of thousands of women that

began on march 8, 1979 in tehran that posed the first challenge to the authoritarian term you could say of the revolution. it was those women who poured into the street on international women's day 43 years ago who rightly understood that the enforcement of mandatory islamic dress code, mandatory hijab was part and parcel of the erosion of the democratic promises of the revolution. unfortunately at that time, their demands, their desires to continue the revolution comes to actually achieve gender equality were sidelined and undermined and ignored. that is why it is so historically significant and really unprecedented that this current uprisings has had at its starting point demands for gender and sexual freedom, liberation, and equality.

the poisonings you refer to, these horrific chemical attacks on girls schools that have swept the nation, have to be understood as a punishment against women and girls who have been leading this nationwide revolt for several months now. in response, people have been protesting. the national teachers union called for nationwide strikes, sit ins, demonstrations. i my latest count, there been such demonstrations in at least 17 cities. this is the nation in revolt. in the base of the imprisonment of the sit ins, in the face of the executions of dissidents and mass torture of dissidents in and now the latest poisonings, people are not accepting this. they understand after many years of experience that the system i personally cannot be reformed in iran. people have drawn revolution

conclusions. it is significant that right now in the hometown of mahsa amini, the teachers are on strike defending the right of women and girls to education but also condemning their broader state repression and economic crisis that is impoverishing ordinary people in iran. this is where the uprising began in september with the slogan "women, life, freedom" which is all about life and joy come echoing somef the themes earlier in your show. the islamic republic seems to have nothing to offer but prison and torture and death were as this uprising is all about life, celebration of concting wi other hum beings, oveoming ienation, ercomi that fear and shamand humiation tt theslam dictatohip h imposed people and tually ying to reorient the entire

society in a new direction. nermeen: professor, could you talk about the origins of this protest? you are a member of the feminist for jina network. these protests were largely exusively led by women and men joined about women were really at the forefront of these protests. >> absolutely. in many ways we have to understand what is happening now. the continuation of that women's uprising that was all too fleeting in march 1979. in other words, women have paid a very heavy price for the fact the islamic republic has built its sovereignty, has built its ideas of nationhood and authentic shiite culture on the body said of women. there's been legal discrimination, second-class citizenship, and just the daily

humiliation of having to move through public space under the threat of police harassment, detainment, torture, and even worse. so when mahsa amini was killed in police custody, supposedly picked up for wearing a proper hijab, it was the straw that broke the camels back in a sense. it just crossed a line for people. iranian women in many ways never stopped struggling for their rights. there been many women's rights campaigns, many efforts throughout the last 43 years to change the disk of editorial loss through parliament, courts. through many avenues. some people have gotten to this point through struggle and learning very painful lessons, that this regime is not willing to change. so when the movement erupted in iranian -- it was incredibly significant because it also meant the kind of feminist

politics that have been leading the struggle have been what we call intersectional stop some iranians use that word but even if they don't, the point is the marginalization of kurdish people, the ethnic and religious discrimination, and incredible inequality has been at the heart of this movement. in other words, people understand we cannot separate out the oppression of women from all the other oppressions in society, including that of ethnic and religious minorities. this is a moment in which a nationwide uprising was triggered in response to state patriarchal violence. against women. and a kind of refusal to go along with that anymore. the repression of women has become a catalyst for all the other grievances in society, and really lead millions of people to conclude that they need a new government -- not just a new government, they want to

transform society had every level. i think that is the revolution of everyday life that no amount of state repressions may be able to stop. amy: manijeh moradian,, thank you for being with us, assistant professor of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at barnard college at columbia university. author of "this flame within: iranian revolutionaries in the united states." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we end today's international women's day special looking at abortion bans. five women are suing texas after they were denied abortions even as their pregnancies posed serious risks to their health and were nonviable. this is the first such lawsuit since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. this comes as women's rights activists on monday called for the inter-american court of human rights to condemn el

salvador's total ban on abortions which has been in place since 1998. it centered around a case brought a decade ago by a woman, beatriz, who died after being forced to carry a pregnancy although the fetus could not survive. for more, we are joined by celina escher, a salvadoran-swiss filmmaker who directed the award-winning documentary "fly so far" about the criminalization of abortion in el salvador, where dozens of people have been convicted and imprisoned after having miscarriages, stillbirths, and other obstetric emergencies. welcome back to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. we look from the united states to el salvador. is el salvador united states' future? talk about the tot ban but also the resistance. >> thank you for having me. el salvador, abortion is still criminalized.

there's no possibility to have an abortion. women are still criminalized and imprisoned. but there is a big resistae still happening in el salvador. people have lost their human rights and people are being unjustly incarcerated in el salvador. there's a big movement to try to legalize abortion and four cases and also in three cases, but now i feminist leader is facing -- she's being persecuted. she is the woman also in my film. she wanted to legalize abortion in four paces and now she is facing persecution, political persecution. in general, there is an authoritarian regime happening in el salvador and feminist, activists, journalists -- everybody is being persecuted.

this is a difficult situation that people are facing in el salvador right now. nermeen: could you talk about what happened with the release of your film, which was banned in el salvador, and the stories of the people you feature in the film, if you couldlaborate on those? >> last year in august, we wanted to have the premier in el salvador. we have shown our film in 19 international film festival so we decided to have this premier but an anti-choice ornizations -- 12 organizations made threats to our -- threats to the cinema. the cinema had to take down our film so we did not have the cinema premier. they tried to silence the voices and the stories of the women, but we have shown our film in communy screenings together

with teodora vásquez and her organization across the country. we are trying to sw our film inany ways. but antichoi gups ha so muchow. theyre trying to silence us and the stories of the women. nermeen: could you talk more about the origins of this law? you mentioned in 1998 this new abortion law. how did it begin? where do you see it going now? >> well, abortion was legal in three cases before 1998 and then it was a total ban of abortion in all cases. it was not possibltoave any abortion even if your life is in danger, in the case of rape or the child will not survive outside the womb. feminist organizations of the try to legalize abortion in more

than 30 years but has been really difficult and almost impossible to legalize abortion in el salvador. now feminist organizations have brought the case of beatr and hope this will force theiz like to be change. last year the case of manwell was held in the american courts in the american court ruled in favor of manuella. the government has done nothing and boo kelly does not want to change the abortion law. he already said he would keep -- life begins at conception so healing was to be reelected but does not want to change the

abortion law. we tried with this case to open up and make more pressure to the el salvador and government. amy: tell us about these cases that are before the inter-american court of human rights, the case of manuella and beatriz. >>manuella live in the countryside, could not reaand write. she was pregnant and had cancer and had a miscarriage because of the cancer. then she was criminal i's and hospitalsentenced 30 years in prison and died in prison leaving two sons behind. we wanted justice for her a also -- th women live in a situation of poverty. they need to have an abortion. for example -- the case of bea triz, she has lupus and was prnant but the fetus had no brain so it had no chance of survival outside the womb.

she asked to the courts for an orti but ty denied h and forced her to keep the pregnancy and it was torture for her for seven months. it was torture for her. she gave birth with a c-section and then the fetus died after three hours and then she died hours later because of the health issues that she had. so the state is forcing women to keep pregnancy and forcing young girls who have been raped to keep their pregnancies. this is torre for the women and girls. amy: we just have a minute, but i wanted to ask you to put el salvador in the context of central america and latin america overall, where you have come argentina and colombia legalizing abortion. what is happening in centl amica overall? >> i knew colombia, abortion was legalized. in -- central america, major

setback because more and more nservative right wing evangelical politician said power are creating major setbacks. in honduras, it is illegal to even talk about it in parliament. in guatemala, they made a family law that also says abortion is totally prohibited for nicaragua, it is totally prohibited. el salvador, most extreme law -- amy: and mexo? >> criminalized with 30, 40, 50 years of prison. amy: and mexico? >> mexico now it is legal to have an abortion and it is unconstitutional to criminalize abortion. amy: we want to thank you so much for being with us. celina escher is a salvadoran-swiss filmmaker and the director of the award-winning documentary "fly so far."

speaking to us from stockholm, sweden. that does it for our show. have a productive, successful, happy international women's day [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

o;o;ó7ó7 (sophie fouron) we're right in the middle of the atlantic. and out of nowhere are these nine volcanic islands. the azores were and still are a point of transit for sailors and fishermen. there's a strong sense of hospitality here, and generosity. everywhere you go, people offer food or drink. it's very charming. in the azores, there are more cows than there are humans.