04/26/23 04/26/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> was a mentor, a man whom i had enormous love and admiration. how to live a life with dignity, courage, bravado.

coming up against t forceof opession. amy: theegendaryctor, sier d civil ghts actist harr lafonte s died athe age 96. we will ok at hiremarkab life, including his pivotal role supporting martin luther king, jr. and the civil rights movement. he was also a fierce critic of u.s. foreign policy, including the invasion of iraq. >> unilaterally forced into a country that had no threat to this country and we invaded it against the constitution. amy: you call president bush a terrorist? >> i call president bush a terrorist, i call those around him a terrorist as well. rumsfeld, the justice department , cheney. amy: today we will hear harry belafonte in his own words. from his many appearances on democracy now! all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the bodies of at least 57 asylum seekers, including children, were found off the coast of western libya tuesday after two boats sank in the mediterranean. the migrants were from pakistan, syria, tunisia, and egypt. survivor bassam mahmoud, who is from egypt, described the horrifying moments before one of the boats sank. >> while the driver was starting the boat, some passenger started arguing with him. the boat sank. we started fighting for our lives, screaming and asking for help. it was an indescribable scene. i ask people from my country not even think of trying this. stay in your country. amy: meanwhile, in tunisia, the remains of at least 70 asylum seekers, mostly from africa, have been recovered from the waters near the southeastern coastal city of sfax. local officials said morgues are nearly at capacity due to the

rising number of migrant drownings as they attempt to reach europe for safety. in sudan, a fragile u.s.-brokered ceasefire between sudan's warring military factions is in its second day as civilians on the ground say air strikes are continuing and the paramilitary rapid support forces say they have seized an oil refinery and power plant. foreign countries continue to evacuate their citizens as fuel shortages, skyrocketing food prices, and a dearth of functioning health services are leading to a spiraling humanitarian crisis. the u.n. envoy to sudan said another site is willing to negotiate. this is u.n. secretary general antonio guterres. >> it is incumbent to put the interest of their people front and center. this conflict will not and must not he resolved on the battlefields with the bodies of sudan's people. amy: harry belafonte, pioneering activist, singer, and tor has died at e age of6. harry belafonte was born in

harlem to jamaican immigrant parents. he is credited with popularizing caribbean music in the u.s. with s chart-pping 19 album "calso," whi includethe hitsjump in e line," "jamai farewel" and "d-o." his sical suess led muiple actg offers heent on tstar in zens of lms and shows. buhis drivg force s activism. he leveraged his successful entertainment career to shine a spotlight on civil rights and to fund movements like the student nonviolent coordinating committee and reverend dr. martin luther king's southern christian leadership conference. he participated in the 1963 march on washington. belafonte famously said, "i was an activist who became an artist, i was not an artist who became an activist." after headlines, we will spend the hour with harry belafonte in his own words. he died this week at the age of 96. supreme court neil gorsuch sold a property he co-owned to the head of a major law firm that

has since had 22 cases before the supreme court. the sale to greenberg traurig ceo brian duffy came just nine days after the trump-appointed gorsuch was confirmed by the senate in 2017. previously, the property in rural colorado had languished on the market for two years. gorsuch reported the sale but left the box for the identity of the buyer on disclosure forms blank. the news, first reported by politico tuesday, comes in the wake of explosive revelations about fellow conservative justice clarence thomas and his ties to gop billionaire megadonor harlan crow, who lavished thomas with luxury gifts for two decades and bought property from the thomas family which was never disclosed. democrats are calling for investigations into both justices and for lawmakers to pass the supreme court ethics bill, which was reintroduced earlier this year. on tuesday, chief justice roberts turned down a request from judiciary committee chair senator dick durbin to testify on at an ethics hearing next

week, offering instead a signed statement by the justices reaffirming a commitment to foundational ethics principles. durbin deemed the statement inadequate and said -- "it is time for congress to accept its responsibility to establish an enforceable code of ethics for the supreme court, the only agency of our government without it." graduate student teachers at the university of michigan have been on strike for the past month demanding fair wages, sexual harassment protections, and new provisions for campus safety, among other issues. in response to the strike, university of michigan's president moved to withhold worker salaries and sent police officers to intimidate strikers, resulting in one graduate worker being attacked by an officer. this is amir fleischmann of the graduate employees organization. >> over the past three years, we have seen a gap between our salaries and cost-of-living triple. this is something that is being felt by workers all across the country. were corporate profits are at record highs, ceos are getting

bonuses, workers are being left to struggle. workers at the university of michigan are saying enough is enough and that is why we are on strike. amy: in washington state, democratic governor jay inslee signed into law a trio of bills tuday in an fort to prent gun olence. e laws banthe new le of dozens of firearms, including some semutomatic rles, impos a 10-dayaiting perd after rchasing aun, and wi allow for certain lawsuits agait gun makers and dealers. this is governor inslee. >> these weapons of war of assault weapons have no reason other than mass murder. their only purpose is to kill humans as rapidly as possible in large numbers. i will say this, ar-15's should not be idolized, they should be prohibited. that is what we're doing today. amy: the white house praised washington for the move but gun groups have already launched legal challenges to measures, claiming a violation of the constitutional right to bear

arms. somali authorities say u.s.-backed forces killed at least 18 al-shabab militants over the weekend. three civilians are also reported to have been killed in the fighting. there are roughly 500 u.s. troops in somalia. in washington, d.c., republican congressmember matt gaetz has been pushing a war powers resolution to remove the troops. in iran, two renowned actresses have been criminally charged for not wearing a hijab. katayoun riahi and pantea bahram could face prison time, accused of removing their hijabs in public and posting photos on social media. this comes as the iranian government has intensified the enforcement of its strict dress code. authorities are now planning to prosecute people who encourage women to remove their headscarves, while surveillance cameras have been installed in public places to catch anyone violating the hijab mandate. >> this harsh response will definitely either make things worse or will not lead anywhere.

amy: the texas department of agriculture issued a memo forcing its employees to wear clothing that is consistent with their so-called biological gender. the move is the latest attack on the rights of transgender people. sid miller, a loyal supporter of former president trump. in related news in florida, hundreds of drag performers and supporters marched to the state capitol in tallahassee tuesday protesting a new bill that bans children from attending shows. this is one of the demonstrators. >> drag is not a crime, it is an art form. it gives -- today is about community. today is about showing the photo legislature that no matter what

they do, no matter how hard they try, our community, lgbtq, trans, our community will always exist and we will always continue to thrive. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, we remember the life of the legendary singer, actor, civil rights leader harry belafonte, who died tuesday at the age of 96. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "those three are on my mind" performed by harry belafonte. the song was about those killed in mississippi in 1964.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. today we spend the hour remembering the remarkable life of harry belafonte, the pioneering actor, singer, and civil rights activist. died at his home on tuesday in new york at the age of 96 from ngestiveeart faire. the soof jamain immigrts, belafoe grew u in harl and jamaica. inhe 1950's, he earheade the capso crazand beca the rst arti in recoing historwith a mlion-selng albu he w also thfirst afrin-americ actor twin an emmy ong withis rise worldwi ardom, bafonte bame deep volved ithe civirights movement onof dr. mtin luth king's closest coidants, sent money bail ki out of e birmgham citjail andaised thousands of dollars to release other imprisoned proteers. financethe freem rides and pported ter-regiration driv and held to orgize

the march on washington in 1963. harry belafonte remained deeply involved in political struggles at home and abroad. a longtime critic of u.s. foreign policy, called for an end to the embargo against cuba, and opposed policies of war and global oppression. after years of supporting the anti-apartheid movement, belafonte hosted former south african president nelson mandela on his triumphant visit to the united states after he was released from prison in south africa. he spoke out against the u.s. invasion of iraq and once called george w. bush the "greatest terrorist in the world." harry belafonte appeared on democracy now! numerous times. in 2011, i spoke to him at the sundance film festival where a documentary about his life titled "sing young song" premiered. the film was co-produced by harry belafonte's daughter gina. this is part of the film's

trailer. >> here is onef the greatt arsts in t world, harry l font >>ame to s me and said,et th to singourong th will wa to knowho you are. >> giny blk and wte reay tv, s persality ca out. >>hen he w on wit petula clark, ty touch. >> people werlike, , my god >> propagaized cilights revoluti. out of at camthe true tistry oharryelafon.

>> the are a l of peop out re who a reallyissed off. >> strgth. >> he was man w d not hav to g involveand did. >> remembe oe each ay fr the time i geup to th time go to sleepthink of the instices de thumankin >> he waalways le that. heas alws, let's do mething. >> or and ov and oveagain. he took a our strgles and made them his own. amy: amy: the trailer to the documentary "sing young song" about the life of harry belafonte, who has died at the age of 96. the film premiered at the 2011 sundance film festival where i

interviewed him. i asked him to talk about his first memories of being politically active. >> i'm not quite sure precisely when social and political activism became a visible brand of my dna, but it seems to me that i was born into it. it is hard to be born into the experience in the world of poverty and not develop some instinct for survival and resistance to those things that oppress you. my mother was a feisty lady. although she had never gotten into a place of formal education, she came here and had to learn skills, became a seamstress. she became an expert cook. she worked at odds and ends in jobs. she never resisted the opportunity to fight oppression,

especially segregation and all the things that plagued people who were immigrants. in her resistance, she counseled us constantly. amy: now, professionally, you started more acting before you really started professionally singing, is that right? >> well, acting was the complete key, was the main key to my getting involved. in this play that we did of steinbeck's of mice and men, the director had created a character in the play who would become the balladeer. he would be a force. the director moved throughout the play to -- in the changing of sets, changing of cues, lighting cues, changing of mood. and this character would emerge from the darkness of the corners of the stage and sing the songs of the day for those migrant workers coming from southwest america.

and most of the songs that i had to sing were the songs that had been written by huddie ledbetter and by woody guthrie. as a matter of fact, i opened the play with a woody guthrie song. anyway, let me jump to the quick of this. it was approaching the material as an actor, because the director spent a lot of time on what the balladeer would do, how he would positioned and -- how he would be positioned, what the intensity of the moment of singing the song would mean to the development of the play or the scene. and in that context, i approached music as a tool that was really about social information. it wasn't just harmony and chords and notes and melody, all that was obvious. but it was the content and the power of song. and having been heard in that play in that context, i was offered a job to become a singer. and since i couldn't find other

work, being a singer was a good challenge. so i put a repertoire together, walked into a night club called the royal roost, met guys like charlie parker and miles davis and max roach. amy: they were your backup band? >> my first backup band were those guys. and they just launched me into a world from which i have never looked back. amy: one of the incredible stories told in "sing your song" is your traveling through the south and trying to sing your song. talk about that experience. >> paul robeson, who was a mentor and a man for whom i had enormous love and admiration, was the supreme example for me of how to use your life with dignity and with courage -- not bravado, but genuine social

courage -- to put all that's on the line to come up against the forces of oppression, who controlled so much of what you could or could not do as an artist. and to defy that fact and go after the larger goal of changing the faces of oppression inspired me. and he went everywhere there was the opportunity to be heard, whether it was going into spain to sing during the great spanish revolutionary war in 1930's, whether it was going to england. he went and he worked with the welsh miners. as a matter of fact, his whole engagement, politically, had been stimulated by what happened when he met the welsh miners. and he sang with them and he went into their world. well, when i watched what he did and how many places he went for inspiration, and mostly places where there was oppression, i felt those were the places in which i would be most nourished and what i should be doing with my own art and with my own platform. and certainly going into the

south of the united states, listening to the voices of rural black america, listening to the voices of those who sang out against the ku klux klan and out against segregation, and women, who were the most oppressed of all, coming rising to the occasion to protest against their conditions, became the arena where my first songs were to emerge. and in that context, going in the south was for me not to exploit commercially -- that didn't come until later -- but to find the resources to nourish my own creativity. amy: so there you were, the star on the stage, but you couldn't go in the front door. describe that experience. >> when i went to the south on a professional basis, i had already arrived at a place where there was some visibility. i was going with artists who were quite well known -- marge and gower champion, a play called three for tonight.

many of the places we booked throughout the universities of america, a lot of the places we went were to the universities in the south, like chapel hill and the university of texas. and in going to those places, we thought we were going not so much for the commercial reward of it -- that was how we made our living -- but to get to young people and to get our works before them. and in the places that we went, some of the auditoriums were public institutions. and when i got to some of these places not only did they not want to let me in the theater, they didn't want to let me in the places in which we were booked to stay overnight. there were many instances where, by law, no black person could stay in this hotel, or by law, no black person could be sitting at a table with a white member of the cast -- i mean, white woman member of the cast -- and not be sitting in the threat of incarceration and the law coming

down on you because these were then tenets of the law. this wasn't just something that was capricious, it was written. it was the legislation of the state. and we had to come up against that. and the battle was consistent. and even in the north, places like the waldorf astoria and the palmer house in chicago and these mighty institutions of culture did have strict race laws. and in accepting employment to go in these places, rigidly placed in my contract was the requirement that those laws and those rules be suspended and not be evoked during the time of my appearance. amy: harry belafonte, when did you first meet dr. martin luther king? >> it was right after birmingham -- i'm sorry, montgomery, right

after the montgomery bus boycott had taken hold, and the montgomery bus boycott association -- the montgomery improvement association. and we had all heard about this young minister and certainly we all heard of rosa parks. and i got a call and before the strike had been settled. they had not expected it to run so long. amy: so this was in 1956? >> 1956. dr. king called and he was coming to new york to speak at the abyssinian baptist church. there was -- at that time, the head pastor was adam clayton powell, who was in our congress. and he was going to give a lecture to people from the ecumenical community. and he said, "i'm coming to new york, and i'd love to have an opportunity to meet you. and i'd like to give you an idea of what it is that i do."

and i was absolutely fascinated that he called, and i wanted very much to meet him. so i went up to the church to hear him speak. and at the end of his lecture, he would retire to the basement. and for what he said would just be a few minutes, almost at the end of four hours, we exchanged thoughts and feelings and passions. and at the end of that meeting, i knew that i would be in his service and focus on the cause of the desegregation movement, the right to vote, and all that he stood for. although we understood how perilous the journey would be, we were not quite prepared for all that we had to confront. and i think that it was the most important time in my life. amy: i wanted to go to a clip from "sing your song" of dr. martin luther king. >> dr. king, do you fear for your life?

>> i'm more concerned about doing a good job, doing something for humanity and what i consider the will of god than about longevity. ultimately, it isn't so important how long you live. the important thing is how well you live. >> i have some very sad news for all of you and i think sad news for all of our fellow citizens and people who love peace all over the world. and that is that martin luther king was shot and was killed tonight in memphis, tennessee. ♪

>> i couldn't believe it. i couldn't. all of a sudden, our worst fears were being awakened. i really did not give myself much time to be preoccupied with any personal deep sense of loss. amy: that was dr. martin luther king, and that clip is from the film about harry belafonte's life, about the history of the 20th century and coming into the 21st called "sing your song." harry, that relationship you had with dr. king that went on for more than a decade until his

assassination, how often did you speak? >> i would say, easily, we spoke every day. obviously, we missed some days or some weekends, but the line was constantly filled with thoughts and ideas and challenge and up-to-date decisions that were being made by a team of people that were always brought together when there was the moment to escalate what we were doing or to be cautious about where we were going. and also we were trying to broaden the base of our political relationships. so much of what our mission was doing was very dependent on our relationship with the federal government, with the institutions of justice because our plea was on a constitutional basis -- the constitution of the united states of america is

being grossly violated by all the things that black people are experiencing. and if you don't have the instruments of government and the federal government on your side, including the courts, then you really can't do very much, because all the laws that bound us to such cruel experience were state laws, and there was no way to appeal the injustice within the state structure. so we had to find ways in which to broaden our campaign to include a national movement and it becoming a national movement to entice federal intervention. amy: do you know how many of those hundreds of conversations were recorded by the fbi? >> i think my safest bet would be all of them. i don't know when it would have started, but -- amy: have you gotten transcripts of those conversations? >> yes, i've gotten transcripts. i've gotten some stuff from the freedom of information act.

what's very important is the fact that in the first 10 years of pursuing to get those files, i have letters that come from both the cia and the fbi assuring me, "with all honesty and with having done all due diligence and deep research, such documents don't exist. there are none." and eventually we had other sources that came through other ways in which they began to look through files and saw my name and situations -- amy: like taylor branch, the historian. >> taylor branch, the historian, he was most revealing in what he had done with the research. but also journalists and other people who were digging to get stories on other subjects came across those files and informed us. and then, finally, the fbi capitulated. and the first documents they sent, about hundreds of pages, 99% of those pages were just one big black stroke.

so the insult against intelligence to send those kinds of files to a citizen whose rights were being violated was an insult to not only intelligence, but a crushing of the rights to information and to living in a society that is more open and transparent. amy: talk about the march from selma to montgomery and who you brought down, and the fear at that time, and how these artists were also a kind of protection, the front lines, if you will, to protect the people who were at great risk whose names were not famous. >> i think all the artists who did this understood that, understood that there was the threat to life and that some irrational person somewhere or some irrational group somewhere

would find it very adventurous to mark them as one of the targets. there'd be a lot of heroism coming from the clan of these retarded people, emotionally and socially, to say they killed a celebrity, which in fact became in vogue not so shortly after this period. look what they did to john kennedy and to so many others, dr. king, and etc. but these artists understood that. it wasn't -- they were not blinded by it. they weren't blind to it, i should say. and by putting themselves on the line, it heightened public curiosity. and in heightening public curiosity, it meant that things were forced to be more transparent. and they weren't quite ready to reveal themselves that way -- i'm talking about the opposition. except it's important to note that at the very night of our concert, the night thereafter, was when mrs. liuzzo was murdered.

and as a matter of fact, in the car in which she had taken one of the members of our group to the airport. she was on her way back. tony bennett gave up his seat in that ride. amy: tony bennett was there, singing. >> yeah, he was there. and he gave up his seat to someone else, to mrs. liuzzo and the young man that was with her. amy: she was a white woman who wanted to support the struggle, the civil rights struggle -- >> she was the wife of -- amy: by driving people? >> yes. she was a member of the automobile workers union, and she volunteered to come down and was one of the organizers. and she drove cars to give people facility back and forth to the different places in which artists had to reside. and in doing that service, on her way back from the airport, she fell a target to murderers who killed her. that was to have been tony bennett's car. it was also important, i think, because the kind of artists that

came down didn't have a platform on which they were going to be very visible. singers could always be heard, but -- leonard bernstein came down. and when he and i spoke, leonard said, "i don't sing. there will be no orchestra to conduct. but morally i feel an obligation to let my presence be seen and to let people draw whatever strength from that they might be able to garnish, to know that their struggle has touched all of us." so there were many who people don't even know about. amy: you also helped fund freedom summer. >> yes. amy: talk about that, putting your finances behind the struggle. i mean, you now -- what, in 1955 or before, had the first gold record "calypso," gold, million-selling record, first one in this country. some had singles, but you had the record. >> yeah, it was the first album to achieve the sales of a

million. and beyond all of the hoopla that came with that fact from the commercial end stood the studio and the record company. what was very prophetic about that moment for me was that it became symbolic of an instruction that paul robeson had given me. and he said, "get them to sing your song and they'll want to know who you are." and in that little exchange down in the dressing room of the village vanguard, i woke up not too long after that wonderful piece of counsel to understand what he meant because that album the song "banana boat." and the whole world was singing the song, in a literal sense. but also, when i looked at the thousands of people that came to the stadiums to hear that song and others, i realized that the world was singing my song.

and in robeson's counsel, this was the opportunity to begin to spread truth and to open up opportunities for information to flow. the opportunity to reach out to other artists who may not have been heard otherwise or needed or be heard, like miriam makeba. america knew nothing about the struggles of the people in africa. miriam makeba came. she got the platform. ed sullivan was convinced that, in his world, to let miriam makeba come on the program and to sing in xhosa -- and for him it was an adventure and he had been told by the programmers that they're not going to understand. and he said, "oh, they'll understand. harry likes it, it's good enough for me." and he got on the air, and there was miriam makeba singing these songs and her popularity became quite intense. amy: which was very important for the anti-apartheid struggle -- >> absolutely. amy: spreading into the united states. >> absolutely. not only the anti-apartheid struggle, which spread in the

united states, but for a greater understanding of the liberation of the whole continent because there was people like sékou touré and nyerere and tom mboya, and all of the entire continent was awakened with the idea of liberation. having african artists, eventually hugh masekela and others, the whole idea of world music was seeded in the fact that the banana boat songs from the caribbean -- it opened up more music from cuba and the whole power in afro-cuban jazz and what those great cuban artists did who pollinated american jazz with such great harmonies in song. all of that stuff was a melting pot for a greater truth. amy: harry belafonte on democracy now! in 2011. he died at the age of 96.

tuesdayto see the rest of that interview and all of our interviews with harry, go to democracynow.org. we will hear more from harry belafonte in his own words when we come back. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "show me the way my brother" by harry belafonte. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we continue our coverage of the life and legacy of harry belafonte. he died on tuesday at the age of 96. in 2003, on february 15, he spoke before hundreds of thousands of people in new york city. it was a freezing cold day. it was a massive rally calling on the united states not to invade iraq.

>> today is an historic and proud day in the name of america. the world has sat by with tremendous anxiety and with a great fear that we did not exist. they had been told and they had felt that what our country, with its press and the leaders in the administration have said, we, today, invalidate all that. we stand for peace. we stand for the truth of what is at the heart of the american people. this is not the first time that we as a people have been misled

by the leadership. we were misled by those who created the falseness of the bay of tonkin, which falsely led us into a war with vietnam, a war that we could not and did not win. we lied to the american people about grenada and what was going on in that tiny island. we lied to the american people about nicaragua, el salvador, cuba, and many places in the world. and we stand here today to let those people and others know that america is a vast and diverse country, and we are part of the greater truth of what makes our nation. dr. king once said that if there

is -- if mankind does not put an end to war, war will put an end to mankind. amy: on that day february 15, 2003, harry belafonte also spoke to democracy now! during our special live broadcast. harry detailed why he had been very critical of george w. bush's secretary of state colin powell and his role pushing for the invasion of iraq. >> my comments aboutge generaln colin powell is really not a personal confrontation. black americans and many people of color always taken great pride with those of us who have come from a history of oppression have achieved. and when an individual breaks through and comes into the place where decisions are made that can make a difference, we then

have high expectations. once that is rejected by those who have acquired this position, we may sit in quiet disappointment. but when the person who achieves that distinction then puts him or herself in the service of our oppression and those who create new ways in which to oppress us, that is morally unacceptable. and that is my argument with general colin powell and condoleezza rice. i expect, as do others, that their history should have prepared them for a much better articulation about how to treat people globally. most of the people in the world who suffer from tyranny, most of the people who suffer from the tyranny of oppression, the tyranny of hunger, the tyranny of ignorance, the tyranny of hiv/aids there sits terror. and when you look very carefully at what it is that has caused this constant oppression, you will see that somewhere in there, america plays the game.

and this gathering here today helps us understand that there is another america that is strong, that is resolute, and is made of millions and millions of people. as a matter of fact, we do make the majority voice in this nation, and that we have let the world know that we are in solidarity with those who seek to have other ways than war to settle our grievances. amy: in 2006, harry belafonte traveled to venezuela where he met with president hugo chavez. belafonte's trip made international headlines when he described president george w. bush as the world's greatest terrorist. >> the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, george w. bush, says, we're here to tell you -- not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the american people

, millions, support your revolution, support your ideas, and yes, expressing our solidarity with you. amy: shortly after harry returned from venezuela he came into our firehose studio to talk about why he called george w. bush a terrorist. >> when katrina took place, there was a great sense of tragic loss for many americans who saw that terrible tragedy. what we had not anticipated was that our government would have been so negligent and so unresponsive to the plight of hundreds of thousands of people in the region. and in a dilemma that we all face as to what we could do as private citizens to help the folks that were caught in that tragedy, we began to listen to voices that were outside the boundaries of government, the united states government. we listened to voices that came

from as far away as denmark, who offered to send goods and services in emergency, and we also heard the voices of people from venezuela through their leader hugo chavez who said that the quote in this moment of your great tragedy, we, the venezuelan people, extend all the resources we can summon up to help the plight of those people caught in the gulf region." the united states very abruptly and very arrogantly rejected that offer, while in its stead, we did nothing to bring immediate relief. and as a matter of fact, i must tell you, we're still quite delinquent in what the peoples of that region need, because we still failed to fully mobilize and meet the needs of the people, particularly in new orleans, but other places within that region. i and many other private citizens decided that we would listen very carefully to what people outside of the government were saying because there was no immediate sense of relief and response to what we were experiencing, the people in katrina. and so, like others, i went with

a delegation of 15 people, at the invitation of the venezuelan government, to come and to meet with president chavez and members of his cabinet to talk about what we could do to help american people caught in this tragedy. it is quite curious that he can find billions and billions of dollars to sustain an illegal and immoral war in the middle east, invading a country that did not provoke us and moving into this conflict unconstitutionally even though it had the approval of the congress. even the congress violated the statutes of the constitution. we were not invaded. there was no threat of an enemy. we unilaterally walked into a country that had no threat to this country and we invaded it. that's against the constitution. amy: you call president bush a terrorist? >> i call president bush a terrorist.

i call those around him terrorists as well -- condoleezza rice, rumsfeld, gonzales in the justice department, and certainly cheney. i think all of these men sit -- and women -- sit in the midst of an enormous conspiracy that has been unraveling america for the last eight years -- six years. it is tragic that the dubious way in which this president acquired power should have begun to unravel the constitution and the peoples of this country. yes, i say that there are people in this country who live in terror. poverty is terror. having your social security threatened is terror. having your livelihood as an elderly person slowly disappearing with no replenishment is terror. students who are dropping out of school because there are no resources to keep us in school is terror. you find people in the streets, watching drugs permeate our communities and destroy our young, it's a life of terror. and men who sit in charge of

that distribution mechanism, which can help the american people overcome these problems and refuse to do so, while giving the rich more money than they've ever dreamt of having, while turning around our institutions and redirecting resources from those who are truly in need to those who are already generously endowed, if not hedonistically so, it's a great tragedy. amy: that was harry belafonte on democracy now! january 30, 2006. after that interview, we learned karen scott king had died. a dear friend of hers, harry was invited to speak at her funeral. but the invitation to speak was rescinded after george w. bush announced he was attending the funeral. harry belafonte last appeared on democracy now! in 2016 at a

special event at the historic riverside church in new york to celebrate our 20th anniversary. he co-headlined the event with noam chomsky. it was the first time they had done a public event together. harry spoke about donald trump who had just been elected president. >> i believe that trump, in bringing a new energy to the realization of the vastness of the reach of the ku klux klan, is not something that has been out of our basic purview of thought. the ku klux klan, for some of us, is a constant -- has a constant existence. it isn't until it touches certain aspects of white america that white america all of the

sudden wakes up to the fact that there is something called the klan and that it does its mischief. [applause] what causes me to have great thought is something that's most unique to my experience. and as i said earlier tonight, at the doorstep of being 90 years of age, i had thought i had seen it all and done it all, only to find out that at 89 i knew nothing. but the most peculiar thing to me has been the absence of a black presence in the middle of this resistance, not just the skirmishes that we've seen in ferguson and black lives matter -- and i think those protests

and those voices being raised are extremely important. [applause] but we blew this thing a long time ago. when they started the purge against communism in this country and against the voice of those who saw hope in a design for socialist theory and for the sharing of wealth and for the equality of humankind, when we abandon our visual -- our vision and vigils on that topic, i think we sold out ourselves. [applause] a group of young black students

in harlem just a few days ago asked me what, at this point in my life, was i looking for. and i said, "what i've always been looking for, where resides the rebel heart?" without the rebellious heart, without people who understand that there's no sacrifice we can make that is too great to retrieve that which we've lost, we will forever be distracted with possessions and trinkets and title. and i think one of the big things that happened was that when black people began to be anointed by the trinkets of this capitalist society and began to become big-time players and began to become heads of corporations, they became players in the game of our own

demise. i think people have to be more adventurous. the heart has to find greater space for rebellion. [applause] we pay a penalty for such thought. lily close to my own feelings and thoughts because i was one of the voices that was raised in recruiting those young students to participate in our rebellion. amy: david goodman, andrew's brother, is here today. >> i'm sure of it. he's always at the right places.

but i think that there are those kinds of extremes that will be experienced in the struggle, but the real nobility of our existence is, are we prepared to pay that price? and i think once the opposition understands that we are quite prepared to die for what we believe in -- [applause] that death for a cause does not just sit with isis but sits with people, workers, people who are genuinely prepared to push against the theft of our nation and the distortion of our constitution. and that for many of us, no price is too great for that

charge. [applause] i have been through much in this country. i came back from the second world war. and while the world rejoiced in the fact that hitler had been met and defeated, there were some of us who were touched by the fact that instead of sitting at the table of feast at that great victory, we were worried about our lives because the response from many in america was the murder of many black servicemen that came back. and we were considered to be dangerous because we had learned the capacity to handle weaponry, we had faced death on the battlefield. and when we came back, we had an expectation as the victors. we came back knowing that, yes, we might have fought to end hitler, but we also fought for

our right to vote in america. [applause] and that in the pursuit of such rights came the civil rights movement. well, that can happen again. we just have to get out our old coats, dust them off, stop screwing around and just chasing the good times, and get down to business. there's some ass kicking out here to be done. and we should do it. amy: harry belafonte speaking in 2016 at the historic riverside church in new york. to celebrate democracy now!'s 20 the anniversary. he co-headlined the event with noam chomsky. harry died on tuesday at the age of 96 of congestive heart fill your at his home in new york city. you can visit democracynow.org

to see the full event as well as all of our interviews with harry belafonte. harry giving his speech in 2003 against the war in iraq, venezuela, at the sundance film festival when the documentary about him premiered talking fullybout h lifand so much mor that does it foour show on surday, juan gonzalez will deliver the opening plenary address at american university. visit democracynow.org for more information. a special thanks to our archivists for today's 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!]

(sophie fouron) it's a little, tiny dot on the map. the star in the constellation of micronesia, between australia and japan. and what is fantastic here, is that when you enter palau, they make you sign a pledge. it's actually on the immigration card. basically, the tourists have to respect the environment. i've never seen such a thing, and apparently they're the first country in the world to impose that on tourists. i can understand why. i have never seen such pristine, emerald and inviting waters. palauan society