03/28/23 03/28/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> out of national responsibility, i have decided to suspend the second and third readings of the law in order to allow the time to reach the wide consensus during the next knesset. amy: following months of mass protests and a general strike on

and and the prime minister firing the defense minister benjamin netanyahu has agreed to , delay plans to overhaul and weaken israel's judiciary. as a concession to the far right, he has agreed to establish a new national guard under the control of israel's national security minister ben gvir, who was once convicted of racist incitement against arabs and supporting a terrorist group. we will look at what this means for palestinians. >> iimportant to keep in mind there protests taking place today are not to sa what is bein calledemocracbut rather protests to hang to a particular political ord, one that privileges israelis jews over the entirety of the territory. amy: then to nashville, tennessee, where a heavily armed former student attacked a

private christian school, killing six people. half of them, nine-year-old students. >> now i am overwhelmed at the thought of the loss of these families, of the future lost by these children and their families. and of the leading cause of kids death now is guns and gunfire. that is unacceptable. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in northern mexico, more than three dozen asylum-seekers at an immigration detention center in the border city of ciudad juarez died in a fire that broke out at the facility overnight.

at least 39 people are dead, 29 others injured -- most of them venezuelans. multiple news outlets report the fire broke out after officials with mexico's national migration institute began cracking down on migrants earlier in the day. this comes just two weeks after hundreds of asylum seekers, mostly from venezuela, were blocked by barbed wire and riot police as they tried to cross from juarez into el paso, texas, apply for relief. the deaths in mexico came just hours after the united nations high commissioner for refugees urged the biden administration not to adopt a proposed anti-asylum rule that would deny claims made by refugees who lack "documents sufficient for lawful admission." in a statement, the u.n. refugee agency said the regulation would restrict the fundamental human rights to seek asylum, adding -- "unhcr is particularly concerned that this would lead to cases of refoulement -- the forced return

of people to situations where their lives and safety would be at risk -- which is prohibited under international law." nashville, tennessee, is mourning after six people were killed in a shooting monday at a private christian elementary school. all three students shot and killed were nine years old. they were identified as evelyn dieckhaus, hallie scruggs, and william kinney. the adults killed in the shooting were identified as katherine koonce, the head of the school, cynthia peak, a substitute teacher, and mike hill, a custodian who'd worked at the school for 13 years . police say the shooter was armed with two assault-style weapons and a handgun and shot their way through a side door to enter the school before being killed by police. officials say the shooter was a former student at the school and had written a manifesto laying out plans for the attack that included maps of the building.

a fox news report in nashville about the shooting was interrupted live by ashbey beasley, a gun control advocate and survivor of the july 4, 2022 mass shooting in highland park, illinois. >> aren't you tired of covering this? aren't you tired of having to color all of these mass shootings? i am from highland park, illinois. my son and i survived a mass shooting. i am in tennessee on a family vacation with my son visiting my sister-in-law. i have been lobbying in d.c. since we survived the mass shooting in july. i have met over 130 lawmakers. how is this still happening? how are our children still dying and why are we failing them? gun violence is the number one killer of children and teens. it has overtaken cars. amy: at the white house, president biden once again called on congress to pass in

assault weapons ban. later in the broadcast we will go to nashville, tennessee, for the latest. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has agreed to delay a push to overhaul and weaken israel's judiciary until the knesset pass of a recess. netanyahu made the announcement on monday after much of israel was shut down by a general strike. as a concession to the far right, netanyahu agreed to establish a new national guard under the control of itamar ben-gvir, israel's ultranationalist national security minister who was once convicted of racist incitement against palestinians and supporting a terrorist group. while the general strike was called off after netanyahu's announcement, protests have continued. on monday night, israeli police fired water cannons and stun grenades to disperse protesters in tel aviv. we'll have more on israel after headlines. -- we will have more on israel and palestine after headlines. north korean leader kim jong un

has said he stands ready to use nuclear weapons anytime and anywhere. north korean state television reported the comments as it broadcast pictures of kim inspecting nuclear warheads as part of what the north calls a program to produce more nuclear material. on monday, north korea test-fired two tactical ballistic missiles into waters off the coast of japan, the north korea's seventh missile test this month. the launches came after the u.s. navynd south korea completed their biggest springtime wargames in years and as the nuclear-armed uss nimitz aircraft carrier battle group arrived at the busan naval base in south korea. meanwhile, "the financial times" reports north korea is preparing to resume foreign diplomatic activity as kim jong un gradually reopens the country after three years of isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. in afghanistan, the taliban has arrested a prominent education advocate who publicly criticized

the taliban's restrictions on girls going to school. matiullah wesa is the founder of pen path, a group that traveled across afghanistan campaigning for bring education to rural areas. in his last post on social media, wesa shared a video showing penpath women volunteers protesting for the right to education. he wrote -- "men, women, elderly, young, everyone from every corner of the country are asking for the islamic rights to education for their daughters." in france, hundreds of thousands of people have joined strikes and protests nationwide today in the latest demonstrations calling on president emmanuel macron to cancel a measure raising the age of retirement from 62 to 64. unions have shut down airports, train stations, schools, garbage collection, oil refineries, and more. the strikes came as the head of

france's largest labor union laurent berger called on macron to put the deeply unpopular pension reform on hold. >> if the trade unions were received by the president of the republic, something we have been askingor almost a month now and we were tolyou cannot lk about pensio, that would ke no sse at al there armillions of people wh are opped to this reform and are monstratin if we want to avoid clashes, and i want to avoid them, what the unions are proposing is a gesture of appeasement to find a way out. it must be seized. amy: in florida, a dual haitian and chilean citizen has pleaded guilty to three charges related to the july 2021 assassination of former haitian president jovenel moïse. rodolphe jaar signed a plea agreement with the u.s. attorney's office in southern florida friday, admitting he provided funds to purchase weapons while allowing at least five other suspects to stage

their operation at a property he owned. california residents are bracing for yet another atmospheric river, with forecasters predicting high winds and heavy rain and snow this week. this follows at 11 similar stms over the winter that shattered daily rainfall records and flooded tens of thousands of acres of farmland in california's central san joaquin valley. advocates for california farmworkers have described the floods as catastrophic, leaving them with fewer job opportunities and fewer spaces to live. eloy ortiz of the center for farmworker families told a local abc affiliate -- "all the donations from the public will not be able to resolve this situation. we need federal assistance." officials in philadelphia are continuing to monitor water quity after as mh as 12,0 galls ofcrylic lex polym leakedrom a chical pressinglant inta tribary of t delawarriver. based curre testing authories say p water ll

beafe to dnk unt at least 3:30 p.m. today. environmental advocates have criticized how locals officials have responded to the chemical spill. th is mayaan rossu leader of the daware rirkeeper networ >> we think it is absotely important there is a crical focuon ensing drking water suppes are se. t athe sameime, we so want to ma sure that oustate d federa ancies e ensuring that the critical ecosystems of the delaware river are also being monitored. amy: minnesota's largest electric utility has temporarily shut down the monticello nuclear power plant after reporting radioactive tritium was released into the surrounding groundwater near the mississippi river. it's the second such spill reported by xcel energy since november. minnesota's pollution control agency reports the plant's shutdown caused a massive die-off of fish due to a change in water temperature in the mississippi.

police in atlanta, georgia, raided the weelaunee forest monday in an attempt to clear protesters who have camped in the area for months as part of a campaign to block the construction of a massive police training facility known as cop city. it would be the largest in the country. according to the atlanta justice alliance, one of the first things destroyed during the raid was a memorial to tortuguita, a forest defender who was shot dead by police in january. there are reports authorities may be planning to begin clear cutting parts of the forest in the coming days. arizona's democratic governor katie hobbs signaled monday she will delay the planned april 6 execution of death row prisoner aaron gunches, who's set to receive a lethal injection after pleading guilty to murder in 2002. hobbs has vowed she would not sign off on any executions unless she's confident that arizona isn't violating constitutional rights when enforcing the death penalty. meanwhile, idaho's republican governor brad little signed a bill friday allowing execution

by firing squad. mississippi, utah, oklahoma, and south carolina have passed similar laws. and new york city's chapter of the audubon society has voted to change its name, joining several other local chapters of the bird conservation group dissociating themselves from the so-called founding father of american birding. earlier this month, the national audubon society voted to retain the name of john james audubon, the 19th-century french-american naturalist who enslaved at least nine people and espoused racist views. that set off a revolt among leaders of local chapters of the society. in a statement, nyc audubon's board of directors wrote -- "we recognize that audubon's views and actions towards people of color and indigenous people were harmful and offensive -- and that the harm continues today, presenting a barrier to people who might otherwise become involved in or support our work." nyc audubon says it has begun

the process of finding a new, more inclusive name. 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 gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we are starting with international news. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has agreed to delay a push to overhaul and weaken israel's judiciary until the next parliamentary session following unprecedented mass protests. netanyahu made the announcement on monday after much of israel was shut down by a general strike. >> insist on the need to bring forth the necessary amendments to the judicial system and will allow the opportunity to achieve them through a wide consensus. it is in utmost or the cause,

therefore, out of national responsibility, the will to prevent a rift in the nation, i decided to suspend the second and third readings of the law in this term of the knesset in order to allow the time to reach the wide consensus during the next knesset. preserving and strengthening civil rights. amy: netanyahu spoke on monday, one day after he fired israel's defense minister who had warned that the judicial overhaul represents a "clear, immediate and tangible threat to the security of the state." while the general strike was called off after netanyahu's announcement, protests have continued. on monday night, israeli police fired water cannons and stun grenades to disperse protesters in tel aviv. in a concession to the far right, netanyahu agreed to establish a new national guard under the control of itamar ben-gvir, israel's

ultranationalist national security minister who was once convicted of racist incitement against palestinians and supporting a terrorist group. we are joined by two guests. natasha roth-rowland is editor and writer at +972 magazine. she just completed her history doctoral dissertation which focuses on the jewish far-right in israel-palestine and the united states. she joins us now in new york city. and from alexandria, virginia, we are joined by yousef munayyer. he is a palestinian american analyst and is the senior nonresident fellow at arab center washington, d.c. we welcome you both to democracy now! let's again by talking about exactly what is happening now in the streets. yousef munayyer, these are mass protests, unprecedented in the history of the state of israel. they are protesting the overhaul

and weakening of israel's judiciary. they are not talking about the palestinian-israeli conflict as palestinians continue to be killed on the west bank. if you can talk from your perspective overall what is happening. >> thank you for having me. you are absolutely right. the protesters in the streets are focused on what they see as a threat to them and not really a threat to palestinians by these legislative reforms, which aim to further weaken the court system in israel. it is important to point out this is a process that did not start with this government and the court system in israel has been weaken for some time. but with this government, religious nationalist

government, many see it as a paragraph to shape israeli society in a way that will disadvantage them. them being primarily nonreligious nationalist israel is and secularist israelis. they're perceiving for the first of a threat not to the court system but a court system that will weaken their rights. the rights of palestinians have not been upheld. they have not been upheld by these courts for a very long time. it was not until these communities in israel who are protesting today recognized a direct threat to their own rights that they decided to mobilize in this way. i think this underscores just how deep the consensus is within

israel about the apartheid system and discrimination against palestinians. clearly, israeli society has had the capacity -- we are seeing it now -- to challenge the government policies when they understand them to be unfair. but it seems israeli society does not think his treatments of post-indians, the human rights committee and many others including israeli human rights organizations, -- they don't seem to see a problem with that. what we're seeing in the streets today is unprecedented as far as israeli society goes but the mistreatment and discrimination against palestinians is not unprecedented at all and is baked into the foundation of the political system in israel. juan: speaking about the foundation of the political system, made a point tt israel does not have a written constitution. why and what is the significance of that in the present moment?

>> this is one of the core pots here because you have two different branches of government. the parliament, the government that was put together through the parliamentary elections. and the courts, which are centrally locked in a battle of power -- are essentially locked in the battle of power. the parliamentnd government are demanding it has the authority to essentially claim greater powers over t courts, be able to oveide court decisions with a simple majority. these kinds of matters are usually outlined in a foundational document, in a supreme law like the constitution thalimits the powers of different branches of government. and makes clearules about where power lies in what situations.

israel does not have a constitution f a very important reason. when iael was created and declared in 1948 in the declaration of independence, they promised they would adopt a constitution within a few months after declaring independence in line with the expectations of the international community and the united nations when they put forward the 1947 plan. in fact, the declaration of independence copied language from that partition plan about the need to guarantee rights of equali for people regardless of religion and ethnic origin and so on and so forth. at the time israel was interested in getting legitimacy but they were finding if they're going to adopt a constitution, they would have to limit state power in ways that would make it much harder for them to carry out their separate colonial project of kalus dine. --

palestine. they could not take land away from palestinians and privileged jews coming from outside the country to take their place. they did not end up adopting a constitution and allow the state to have maximum flexibility to carry out the settler colonial project. that project, which continues to this day, is one of the main reasons why israeli politics has gone so far right that you see the kind of extremist government today that in years prior were on the fringes of society. amy: i want to go to natasha roth-rowland to ask about the history of ben gvir, someone you have studied for a while. netanyahu has agreed to establish a new national guard under his control, ben gvir, israel's national security minister. he is an ultranationalist

politician who openly supports the ethnic cleansing of palestinians. in 2007, he was convicted of racist incitement against palestinian's and supporting a terrorist group. his radicalism dates back decades. i want to go to a few clips. in october 1995 interview, ben gvir can be seen holding an ornament taken from the slain prime minister yitzhak rabin's car by far-right israeli activists during a protest against him when he was alive and the oslo-accords. >> will managed to gethis from rabin's car. it symbolizes just as we got this symbol, we can get to rabin. amy: just weeks later, a jewish extremist assassinated rabin. for years, ben gvir hung a

picture of the israeli-american who killed 29 palestinians at a mosque in hebron in 1994. in 2011, ben gvir told a reporter why he chose to put goldstein's photograph on the wall of his home. >>e waa rightes man, hero. amy: in october, itamar ben gvir waved a gun and shouted during a confrontation in the sheikh jarrah neighborhood of jerusalem where settlers have attempted to violently evict palestinian residents from their homes. >> throw stones, shoot them. amy: and this is mahmoud sa'u, a palestinian who lives in sheikh jarrar, describing itamar ben-gvir's actions in his neighborhood. >> his field office is within the planned -- my house is

under threat. my neighbor's houses under threat. we all received eviction orders. also orders not to build or renovate. he ud to come here make trouble for everyone. imagine a knesset member pulling out his gutoward the people in the neighborhood. we have children and women here. what you expect? of course he will be more confident and relieved. but as my neighbor said, we don't care. even if he was a prime minister, we are staying in our houses here. it is our legitimate right to defend our houses and children. amy: it was after this the now once again prime minister netanyahu named ben gvir the secretary of national security. natasha roth-rowland, talk more

about his significance ending put in charge of what they are now shaping to be a national guard, some calling it ben gvir 's private militia. >> absolutely. thank you for having me. as we saw from these clips, not summit who sees violence as a legitimate means to political end whether he is engaging in that violence himself or inciting it directly or indirectly. he has a long track record of aggression, provocation, showing up the side of physical tensions and encouraging further tensions, further violence. he has pulled a gun on palestinians himself at least twice. that is what we have evidence. he has encouraged police to shoot protesters. that was before he became

national security minister. he was appointed by benjamin netanyahu. he is in charge of all of israel 's police. regular police and border police. he already has an immense amount of power over police forces that regularly inflict violence on palestinians. now there's talk of him having this national guard, which he has been lobbying for for some time. he is not the first person to have this idea. it was they need a rabbi the previous government -- it was bandied around by the previous government. netanyahu has given ben gvir even more potential power. netanyahu is responsible for a lot of the power ben gvir has right now. he is helped shackle him into the mainstream, giving him this

unprecedented level of influence. what happened yesterday is another step in that direction. it is not clear at the moment when the national guard will be established and what form it will take but the terminology of calling it basically ben gvir's private militia is quite accurate. if you put it in the context of some of the civil violence we have seen and acted by settlers against palestinians both in the occupied territories and inside the green line, we get a frightening preview of what this national guard might look like. as we saw in may 2021 during the period of immense violence on both sides of the greenline, and as we saw at the end of last month when around 400 far right religious settlers invaded this palestinian town in the west bank smashing homes and setting homes on fire while families were still inside, assaulting palestinians -- one palestinian

killed. before this collusion between settlers and israeli security forces, there is video of security forces idling by the side of the road while settlers were attacking a house. while you look at this combination of settlers and soldiers and israeli police either colluding to assault palestinians or israeli security forces simply standing by and you take into the account there is this potential new guard being set up at the behest of a figurehead of the national cap that saw what happened and liked they saw and said they wanted to see more of it, it is a terrifying prospect. juan: natosha, i would ask you what is occurring within the israeli defense forces. clearly, the firing by netanyahu of the defense minister over the weekend and then the open letter of a bunch of pilots and

reservists protesting these judicial reforms, what is the potential impact on the military of these actions by this extreme right wing government? >> actually this morning, the main reservist protest group that is reserved to let terry offices signaled they were going to suspend their protestecause of netyahu's announcement he is putting the judicial overhaul plan on pause but they said they don't trust that he is going to scale back these plans. that is what a lot of other protest leaders have said over the last 48 hours. but this was the main reason that the defense minister said he believed the overhaul should be frozen or they should take more time to negotiate with the overhaul was going to look like before pressing had with legislation.

this was a security issue. he were the increasing number of reservists signaling they were not going to show it to their duties was going to cause real security concerns for the country and thought it made the country look weak to its enemies in the middle east. that was the impact on the israeli military establishment. it is not that clear what gallant's future looks like. as of last night, netanyahu had not sent the editorial letter giving him 48 hours of his firing -- 48 hours notice of his firing. until that is in place, g allant is still essentially in his position. it remains to see whether the reservists go back on strike if the judicial overhaul plans ahead in the few weeks time. amy: finally, yousef munayyer, your response and how you

sensing palestinians feel about ben gvir being put in charge of this new national guard, this w national guard unit? >> i think in response to everything that is going on, palestinians feel very much excluded from the conversation and also don't want to be included in conversation that ostracizes them as the israeli debate largely has. but palestinians, even though israel is going through tremendous unrest right now, are not just sitting back and enjoying the show. they are in a position of extreme vulnerability right now as they always have been, but in a heightened way because these religious nationalists who carried out scores of attacks against palestinians, villages in the west bank, and elsewhere,

are increasingly being empowered right now. we talk about ben gvir's militia. his militia hasong existed in the west bank in these settlements thaare routely carrying out violence against palestinians, often in tandem or with at least the protection of the israeli villa terry. we are talking about a militia that will become increasingly formalized under the direction of the minister in the government with the protection of a government that has a majority and with access to greater weapons and resources. make no mistake about it, these people are looking to harm and eliminate the palestinian people and are quite transparent about that in their rhetoric. they see this space as space that only belongs to israeli jews and palestinians havethere.

that type of illumination and genocida rhetoric will now be headed back to a government minister -- have the backing of a government minister that it did not have before. there certainly greater concern now than i think ever before about the physical safety of the palestinians who are, as always, going to pay the heaviest price for what is taking place in israel today. amy: yousef munayyer, i get for being with us, palestinian-american analyst, now senior nonresident fellow at arab center washington, d.c. and natasha roth-rowland, editor and writer at +972 magazine. next up, we go to nashville where former student killed six people, three of them nine-year-old kids. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: klezmer projekt orchester

from the album klezmer musicians against the wall. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. nashville, tennessee, is mourning after six people were killed in a shooting monday at a private christian elementary school. all three students shot and killed were nine years old. they were identified as evelyn dieckhaus, hallie scruggs, and william kinney. the adults killed in the mass shooting were identified as katherine koonce, the head of the school, cynthia peak, a substitute teacher, and mike hill, a custodian who'd worked at the school for 13 years. police say the shooter was armed with two assault-style weapons and a handgun and shot their way through a side door to enter the school before being killed by police. the shooter was a former student and had written a manifesto laying out plans for the attack that included maps of the

building. a live fox news report in nashville about the shooting was interrupted by ashbey beasley, a gun control advocate and survivor of the july 4, 2022 mass shooting in highland park, illinois. >> aren't you guys tired of covering this? aren't you tired of having to cover all of these mass shootings? i am from highland park, illinois. my son and i survived i missed shooting i am in tennessee on vacation with my son visiting my sister-in-law. i have been lobbying in d.c. since we survived i mass shooting in july. i have met with over 130 lawmakers. how is this still happening? how are our children still dying and why are we failing them? gun violence is the number one killer of children and teens. it has overtaken course. amy: monday's attack marked the 129th mast shooting in united states this year alone,

including 13 school shootings. at the white house, president biden called on congress to pass an assault weapons ban. from where we go to nashville, tennessee, where we are joined by holly mccall, the editor in chief of the tennessee lookout. describe what is happening and what you understand this one, the horror of the mass shooting at this private christian school. >> america sees a lot of mass shootings but i think to the residence of the city where it occurs, doesn't matter what has happened in other cities. nashville is in many ways a small enough city that people know each other. they have some connections to the school. there was shock yesterday morning when the news started to come in very quickly there was a large police presence in an affluent area of town with several private hools. details are still emerging. you did a good job of

encapsulating what we know right now, but -- yes, there's was a former student. why they target the school, we know they went there. we have not seen the manifesto yet. honestly, i think people are still just in shock. it is not even our first mass shooting. we had one less than five years ago at a waffle house that was responsible for killing five people. juan: what do we know so far on how the shooter obtained the guns? can you talk about the legislation that has been passed in tennessee recently on guns? >> according to the metro nashville police department, the shooter had three weapons with them at the time of the shooting, two semi automatic rifles. they appear to be obtained illegally. they also had a handgun. at the home, police found

two sawed-off shotguns and another weapon. it is not unusual to get any type of weapon. we have seen the legislature increasingly passing laws that even law enforcement officials and organizations oppose. the department of safety and homeland security opposed a bill in the legislature right now to drop open carry to 18. it has been 21. in the house, the bills has you can carry long guns at the age of 18. technically, you can walk down the hall of the legislative building with a long gun. the senate dropped that provision that i don't know what will happen in the house. we have lawmakers who said the department of homeland security have no constitutional right to protest the bill even though these law enforcement officers are the ones on the street dealing with this. lester the legislature with the governor's approval past a permit list. bill.

you don't even need so much as a permit to get a weapon in tennessee. we have gotten a handgun, weapons companies moving to tennessee post the governor went out of his way last year to sign the permitless here a lot in a beretta factory that is moving to tennessee. it is bizarre to me there 70 lawmakers who can only talk about the second amendment. -- so many lawmakers who can only talk about the second amendment. amy: police have said the nashville school shooter is named audrey hale and identified as transgender using male pronouns. police say the motive for the attack mains unclear. just before the attack, hale messaged a friend cigna would die by suicide saying "one day

, this will make more senser. i've left behind more than enuf evidence that something bad is about to happen." the person they messaged call police and neatly. hale once attended the school. "the new york times close what reports the church is -- "the new york times goes court reports the church knows the sinfulness of was central and transgender desire as well as conduct. so this is police chief john drake being questioned by nbc's lester holt monday night. >> als saihale identified as trans. do you believe there is a connection to that? >> we feel identified as trans but it was still in the initial investigation and to all of that and if it actually played a role and to this incident. amy: this has set social media ablaze. the far right conservative congressmember marjorie taylor

greene drew outrage after she tweeted in response to the shooting -- "how much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender nashville school shooter taking? everyone can stop blaming guns now." to this, new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez responded -- "it's absolutely disgusting and she should be looking into a mirror as to why she's defending and posing with the same weapons that are being used to kill children, teachers and educators." we just have a minute left, holly mccall, if you can respond to what is developing right now and the mourning of the overall community? >> we are trying to figure out what our next steps are. i will comment on your last remark. it is absurd to imply this person who committed the shoongs was because they were

potentially transgender. that was first reported, by the way, social media by a right wing poster. it doesn't seem to be this person was -- did identify as male, but law enforcement sources who have read the manifesto says that does not appear to play a role in the motive. amy: holly mccall, thank you very much for being with us, editor in chief of the tennessee lookout, speaking to us from nashville. next up, we continue our remembrance of the human rights advocate and attorney randall robinson who died this week at the age of 81. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show looking at the life and legacy of human rights leader randall robinson. he died friday at the age of 81 in st. kitts where he has lived since 2001.

he was the founder of transafrica, played a key role in the launching of the free south africa movement, arrested many times at the south african embassy and pushed successfully to the imposition of u.s. sanctions against apartheid south africa. randall robinson also spoke out for years against u.s. policy in haiti. he helped expose u.s. role in the coup that ousted haitian president jean-bertrand aristide who was flown against his will to the central african republic. two weeks after the coup, aristide fight united states and flew back to the caribbean, flying into jamaica. randall robinson accompanied aristide, flew to the central african republic, along with congress member maxine waters and others, picked up president aristide and his wife mildred and flew back to the western

hemisphere. i reported on that flight, joining them on that flight and interviewed randall robinson about the u.s. role in the coup. >> condoleezza rice, colin powell, and dond rumsfeld should be ashamed of themselves. president aristide is the democratically elected president. the last time by 92% majority. of haiti. and he has come home to the caribbean where he belongs. he is the president, democratically elected, of the democracy that they overthrew. america ought to be ashamed of themselves. we are proud of the role we have played and bringing him home to the region where he belongs and we hope -- where we hope you will stay. amy: he latest wrote about it in

a book. in 2007, i interviewed him again and he described the day aristide was ousted. >> later that morning, about 30 american special forces troops in full combat gear, in 12 or 13 white chevy suburbans of the american embassy, surrounded the aristide home, took positions on the wall around the home. and you could see the red tracer pattern crisscrossing, [laughter] -- crisscrossing, crosshatching in the yard of the home. and into the yard came one chevy suburban with one of the special forces people fully armed, who was attending luis moreno of the american embassy, who walked into the house and told the

president, "i was here when you came back in 1994, and i'm here tonight toell you it's time for you to leave." they removed the president -- moreno and the american special forces -- from his home, took them to the airport -- the president, mrs. aristide and franz gabriel -- took them from their home, boarded them on this large wide-bodied aircraft with no marking no tail number, only the sort of large flag, american flag, on the vertical tail assembly, and flew off, making their first refueling stop in the eastern caribbean in antigua. amy: our guest for the hour randall robinson, just up from st. kitts where he is been living for the last six years. he has just published a new book called "an unbroken agony: haiti from the revolution to the kidnapping of a president."

let's talk history for a moment, something the u.s. press does not give us very much of to understand the role today in haiti. can you go back in time to how haiti was founded in 1804? >> haiti was the largest piece of france's global empire. it was its great profit center. the slave colony with 465,000 enslaved africans working there, many of whom had been soldiers in african armies before they were brought to haiti. and in august of 1789 -- or 1791, rather, 40,000 of those slaves revolted and started a war that lasted 12.5 years under

the leadership of an ex-slave and a military genius named toussaint louverture and jean-jacques dessalines. and this army of ex-slaves defeated two french armies. first, the french army before the completion of their revolution and then another army dispatched by napoleon under the leadership of his brother-in-law and then the armies of england and spain. 150,000 blacks died in that 12.5-year war. and in january of 19 -- 1804, rather, they declared haiti the first free republic in the americas because the united states was then a country that held slaves. during the revolution, thomas jefferson said he would like to reduce toussaint to starvation.

george washington lamented and vilified that revolution. the u.s. imposed an embargo, recognized a new french government, but did not recognize the new haitian free government and imposed a comprehensive economic embargo on haiti until the emancipation proclamation. in fact, france imposed reparations on haiti in 1825. and the interest that haiti had to pay in loans that were american and french loans to service this debt to france, absorbed virtually 80% of haiti's available budget 111 years after the completion of their revolution until 1915. it was only in 1947 that haiti was able to pay off its debt. amy: the debt that was incurred

as a result of france not having access to the enslaved people of haiti. >> the haitians had to pay france for no longer having the privilege of owning haitian slaves. that revolution provoked the end of slavery in the americas. and so, that's why it is so important that all african people, people generally in e americas, because haiti nded and fought in south american revolutions. that's why haiti is so honored in places like venezuela by people like simon bolivar. haiti was central to all of this. and we're in haiti's debt. but it is for that -- amy: simon bolivar came to haiti. >> haiti, and was given arms and was given men, was given a printing press because the haitians believed that anybody who was enslaved anywhere had a

home and a refuge in haiti. anybody seeking freedom had a sympathetic ear in haiti. but because of that, the united states and france and the other western governments, even the vatican, made them pay for so terribly long. it's asf the anger of it never abated. i mean, you can hear frederick douglass talking about it in the late 1800's, about this thing in the american craw. amy: the u.s. government didn't recognize haiti for decades, the congress, going back to thomas jefferson, afraid that the slave uprising would inspire u.s. slaves. >> would inspire u.s. slaves to revolt against him in virginia, and george washington, and on and on and on. and so they opposed everything that was being done in haiti that won their freedom. amy: the u.s. government invaded haiti in 1915 under wilson. >> woodrow wilson invaded haiti in 1915.

and when a haitian, peralte -- charlemagne peralte organized the cacos soldiers, these farmers to fight against this american occupation, the americans killed him and nailed him to a cross, crucifixion-style, and stood him up, his corpse, in a public place in haiti to demonstrate to haitians what would be the price of any defense against the american invasion. the u.s. has played a terrible role in hait amy: so even as the u.s. and france were at loggerheads after the u.s. invasion of iraq, because france opposed the invasion -- that was 2003 -- in 2004, they were working together -- >> working very much together. amy: in pushing out, forcing out aristide and bringing him to the central african republic. >> as a maer of fact, in 2003,

late 2003, aristide organized a reparations conference and the result of which was a request to france that it repair haiti by repaying haiti the $21 billion in current money that haiti had paid in reparations unjustly to france. dominique de villepin responded by sending his sister. amy: the foreign minister of france. >> the foreign minister of france sending his sister to haiti to tell aristide that it was time for him to leave. and that's how we have -- the western world, france, and particularly the united states -- have meddled in haitian affairs. after the abduction of the president, bush spoke with chirac on the phone, congratulating each other about

how smoothly the abduction of the president had been carried off by both countries. amy: randall, talked about how when president aristide was president before he was forced out, he was supposed to be getting hundreds of millions of dollars from the inter-american develop bank for health issues. >> $146 million. the loan was for health issues, for literacy, for things associated with social programs, roads and some infrastructure projects. the united states blocked that loan. and so on the one hand, it starved the economy of haiti. on the other hand, it trained the opposition. on another hand, it armed the paramilitaries. and in the last analysis, american forces invaded and abducted the president.

amy: the u.s. role, how well known is it in haiti by haitians ? >> it is very well-known by haitians. if it were so well known by americans, our democracy would work better. the problem is with our democracy. it wasn't ever with theirs. the problem is what our undemocratic or the behavior of undemocratic behavior of our government means for struggling democracies across the world. we feel we by divine right can go in and overthrow governments willy-nilly when they are living under leadership of their own clear choice. it's a shameful chapter for americans and rticularly for this administration. amy: human rights advocate and attorney randall robinson, speaking in 2007.

he died friday at the age of 81 in st. kitts. to see our exclusive coverage of randall robinson and congressmember maxine waters and others trip to the central south african republic to pick up the aristides, go to democracynow.org. ■■÷

. hello, and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi new york. the failures of two u.s. banks have put the people who oversee the system under a spotlight. they're facing criticism for not doing their job. but they say the troubles are textbook case o