05/22/23 05/22/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> it pains me -- to tell the world is a warning about the danger of nuclear weapons. i want the world to wake up to the reality of this totally

unnecessary reality and i hope more people will stand up and say we are not going to take this nonsense anymore. amy: the g7 meeting in hiroshima, japan, has wrapped as the united states and its allies pledge more military support for ukraine, including u.s. training on f-16 fights jets, but g7 leaders failed to make progress on nuclear disarmament. we will speak to a survivor of the 1945 u.s. atomic bombing in hiroshima. then the naacp issues a formal travel advisory for florida saying the state under governor ron desantis has become "hostile to black americans." meanwhile, pen america and penguin random house have sued a florida school board for banning books. we will speak to the head of pen america suzanne nossel and professor kellie carter jackson. >> drafted by the tiegs --

he is trying to make us feel bad about being black but we are not tragically color. amy: plus, we will go to ecuador, where president guillermo lasso has dissolved parliament in order to avoid being impeached. we will speak to former ecuadorian presidential candidate andrés arauz. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ukraine's military says its forces still control parts of bakhmut and are trying to encircle the decimated eastern city following claims by russia and wagner group mercenaries they fully captured bakhmut after months of bloody battles. wagoner says its forces will depart the city starting thursday through june 1, leaving the city to russia's military. zelenskyy appeared in japan

where he sent photos of hiroshima after the 1945 atomic bombing by the u.s. reminded him of present day bakhmut. zelenskyy also met with president biden in japan sunday as biden announced another $375 million in military aid to ukraine. in a reversal, biden gave his -- said he is now supporting ukrainian pilots on u.s.-made f-16 jets. it's not clear who would provide the jets though moscow already warned of enormous risks if ukraine started using f-16's in combat. biden said he received assurances the fighter jets would not be used by ukraine over russian territory. earlier today, russian shelling again knocked out power to the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, forcing it to rely on backup diesel generators to prevent a nuclear disaster. in greece, conservative prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis is celebrating after his new democracy party won over 40% of seats in sunday's parliamentary

elections, that he called for a second round. the leftist syriza party, which came to power on an anti-austerity platform in 2015, won just 20% of seats, while a progressive party led by former greek finance minister yannis varoufakis failed to qualify for parliament. mitsotakis, who came to power in 2019, ran on an anti-immigrant platform and touted his government's efforts to slow the arrival of asylum seekers on greek shores. "the new york times" reports a dozen asylum-seekers from the horn of africa who arrived on the greek island of lesbos last month were rounded up and abandoned at sea in a clear violation of greek and international law. video filmed on april 11 shows greek authorities locking the migrants inside an unmarked van, transferring them onto a greek coast guard ship, and stranding them in the middle of the aegean sea. a six-month old baby was among those left adrift in an emergency inflatable raft. the turkish coast guard eventually rescued the migrants.

officials from the european commission in brussels said they were concerned by the footage and called on greece to "fully respect obligations under the e.u. asylum rules and international law, including ensuring access to the asylum procedure." in the occupied west bank, israeli security forces shot dead three palestinians during a military raid on the balata refugee camp in the city of nablus earlier today. a spokesperson for the palestinian authority described the raid as a war crime. hundreds of israeli soldiers stormed the refugee camp demolishing several homes with bulldozers, and firing live ammunition and tear gas at residents. hundreds of people gathered at the men's funeral after the raid. meanwhile, is was far right national security minister itamar ben-gvir entered the al-aqsa mosque compound in occupied east jerusalem sunday, declaring israel in charge of the sacred site. the mosque has been repeatedly targeted with escalating israeli violence.

>> it must be said, police and combat soldiers here are doing a wonderful job and prove who is the landlord of jerusalem. these threats will not help. we are the landlords of jerusalem and all the land of israel. amy: sudan's army and the paramilitary rapid support forces agreed to a seven-day ceasefire starting today in a deal mediated by the u.s. and saudi arabia. the warring parties pledged to stop occupying new areas to allow aid workers to safely operate and to ensure the safety of civilians and essential infrastructure. last week, jordan said its embassy in khartoum was vandalized, while kuwait said the residence of an embassy official was also stormed and ransacked. the u.n. said friday over one million people have been displaced since fighting broke out on april 15. hundreds have been reported -- have been killed. bahrain plans to restore diplomatic relations with lebanon after severing ties in the fall of 2021 following critical comments made by a lebanese minister of the saudi-led war in yemen.

saudi arabia and its gulf allies withdrew their diplomats from lebanon in response. it's the latest move by arab nations to resolve disputes and strengthen regional ties. on friday, serious president -- syria's president bashar al-assad was welcomed back to his first arab league summit after 12 years of suspension, while at the same time protesters gathered in and around northern syria's rebel-held idlib to condemn his reintegration into the regional body. the u.s. and papua new guinea have signed a security pact giving american forces access to the country's airfields and ports as the u.s. seeks to counter chinese influence and extend its own reach in the pacific. president biden was originally slated to attend the signing today in papua new guinea but flew back to washington after the g7 summit in japan to resume debt limit negotiations. secretary of state antony blinken filled in instead, meeting with prime minister james marapé. in brazil, a prominent indigenous leader from the northern pará state was shot in the head by two gunmen on may 14 in an apparent assassination attempt. lúcio tembé survived the assault

and underwent surgery. brazil's federal government said it's investigating whether the attack was related to conflicts with palm oil companies, which have been blamed for land-grabbing, deforestation, water contamination, and violence directed at indigenous communities. the european union has fined the parent company of facebook and instagram for violating privacy and data protection rules. meda was ordered to pay $1.3 billion u.s. and told to immediately halt the transfer of data collected from facebook users in europe to the united states unless it can be protected from surveillance. the penalty announced earlier today by ireland's data protection commission is the largest fine ever imposed by the irish privacy watchdog. back in the united states, never ask is republican-led -- nebraska's republican-led legislature passed a bill banning abortion after 12 weeks and gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth. republican governor jim pillen has backed the bill and said he will sign it. at least six people were

arrested friday as protesters interrupted legislative debate at nebraska's capitol building in lincoln. state senator megan hunt, whose son is transgender and has joined state senator machaela cavanaugh in a months-long filibuster to block the measure. she has delivered blistering rebukes of her republican colleagues who pushed through the bill. >> this person said they had attempted suicide during the session in nebraska. a trans person. i said to them, do not let one of these trash people who i work with me the reason you are not here. they don't matter. the potential you have for the rest of your life is so much bigger than the damage any of these trash people can do in their four-year, eight year term. the senator said trans kids are depressed because they are trans. no, it is because of bullies like her or try to legislate their existence and take away their right to be viewed as fully human.

amy: that was megan hunt. newly-published documents have revealed persistent and widespread violations of the foreign intelligence surveillance act by u.s. spy agencies. on friday, a pair of heavily redacted opinions by the fisa court were made public, showing that in recent years the fbi misused a foreign intelligence database more than 278,000 times to surveil u.s. citizens and . the nsa and cia also carried out thousands of warrantless queries. among those targeted were journalists, political commentators, and black lives matter protesters arrested after the killing of george floyd. the data was gathered under section 702 of the fisa amendments act, which permits the mass surveillance of u.s. residents' digital communications without a warrant as long as at least one party is a foreign national. the head of a d.c. police intelligence unit was indicted for warning former proud boys leader enrique tarrio he would be arrested in connection with the 2020 burning of a black

lives matter banner stolen from a washington church. lieutenant shane lamond was also charged with making false statements to law enforcement. tarrio was sentenced to five months in prison in the case. separately, a jury convicted tarrio and other proud boys of seditious conspiracy earlier this month over the january 6 capitol insurrection. here in new york, hundreds of people led a march that shut down the brooklyn bridge saturday protesting soaring rent prices and demanding elected officials address the city's worsening housing crisis. protesters called on new legislation that would protect tenants from sudden evictions and rent hikes, as well as for the city to enact a program for rent assistance. and hundreds gathered to pay respect to slain street performer jordan neely at his funeral friday at the mount neboh baptist church in harlem. reverend al sharpton delivered the eulogy. >> jordan's mother was killed. her funeral was right here. jordan sat right there and

watched his mother being funeral lysed. he has never been the same. jordan was not annoying someone on the train, jordan was screaming for help. amy: neely's friends and family were joined by a number of prominent new york leaders, including congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. mayor eric adams was not in attendance. he has been called out for demonizing unhoused and mentally ill new yorkers and for his tepid response to neely's chokehold killing by a fellow subway rider, a white ex-marine who has since been charged with manslaughter. he faces 15 years in jail. outside the funeral, protesters continued to demand justice for jordan neely. >> we are going to stand together and let eric adams know this is unacceptable and i chokehold is not going to happen anymore. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the g7 summit wrapped up sunday in hiroshima, japan. much of the summit focused on two issues -- the war in ukraine and china. president biden announced $375 million more in military aid for ukraine. he also pledged to begin training ukrainian forces on flying u.s.-made f-16 fighter jets. biden did not offer to send any f-16's but the u.s. has lifted its opposition to allies supplying the war planes to ukraine. britain and the netherlands have announced plans to work together to help provide ukraine f-16s. president biden spoke on sunday. pres. biden: meeting with volodymyr zelenskyy after the meeting and his staff, i told him united states along with our partners is going to begin training ukrainian pilots and fourth-generation -- in four generation aircraft including f-16 to strengthen their air force.

i have a flat assurance from zelenskyy they will not use it to go on and move into russian geographic territory. but wherever russian troops are, they would be able to do that. amy: ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, who attended the g7, thanked biden for his support. >> we are thankful he will give us more strong position on the battlefield. i really did not know the details but i know you gave us an big package this year. we will never forget. amy: while in hiroshima, president biden and other world leaders paid tribute to the

victims of the world's first nuclear attack -- the u.s. bombing of hiroshima on august 6, 1945 -- laying wreaths at the hiroshima peace memorial and planting a tree. but president biden did not issue an apology for the attack. a group of anti-nuclear activists rallied on the streets. >> japan and the united states are trying to conduct a war of aggression on china. i'm protesting because i cannot accept the fact they are in hiroshima, place where an atomic bomb was up, trying to hold a meeting to start a nuclear war. >> i am against the war. i'm against using nuclear weapons. that is why i am here. this summit is being held to prepare for nuclear war so we, the union, need to do what we can to protest against it. amy: we go now to hiroshima where we are joined by setsuko thurlow, who survived the u.s. bombing of hiroshima in 1945. he killed about 140,000 people.

she has devoted her life to nuclear disarmament and the ban treaty process. in 2017, she was chosen to accept the nobel peace prize on behalf of the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons, or ican. she is joining us on the phone from hiroshima. it is great to have you back with us, setsuko thurlow. if you can respond to that g7 meeting in the outcome this weekend, held in hiroshima where you are. >> [indiscernible] i wanted to be part of this excitement that the world leaders are coming to hiroshima and to discuss the nuclear disarmament. and the people so excited, so happy to have the opportunity to give the leaders the opportunity

to be with us, to be in the center of the calamity and catastrophe -- and to have a profound encounter themselves. the meaning of the nuclear age. people have a great anticipation and excitement and have prepared for this with all kinds of recommendations to the leaders, but somehow their wishes were not fully listened. to put it bluntly, for us survivors who want nothing less than total disarmament, total

abandonment of nuclear weapons, and the citizenship who supports -- to us, it was nothing but a disaster. [indiscernible] more than frustration, it is a fury and total disappointment. amy: setsuko thurlow --how do you think the work can end? the war in ukraine can end? >> well, to me personally, -- support for war than efforts being made for peaceful

cease-fire at the earliest possible time? every day, many, many lives have been killed. certainly, something must be going on. quietly, something -- some effort must be being paid for cease-fire. but we don't hear about them. are they really making the effort? do they really feel they can win this out? i don't know what are their thoughts. all i can say is it has to stop at the earliest possible chance. amy: finally, president biden did not apologize for the atomic bombing of hiroshima -- >> i did not hear you. amy: president biden did not apologize for the u.s. dropping the atomic bomb on hiroshima and three days later on nagasaki. your thoughts? >> well, it is unfortunate.

he had the opportunity but he didn't. this time in a joint statement, kept criticizing the russians, the chinese, north korea. why today fail to look at themselves with a critical eye? we don't hear anything evil which is being committed by the west. of course, as far as the war as far as ukraine is concerned, pewter and should -- putin should condemn -- i do condemn the matter what the reason is to be ready to kill. that is not acceptable. that must stop. but -- [indiscernible]

my opinion, the united states has committed the crime against humanity. [indiscernible] the u.s. has been condemning -- amy: setsuko thurlow, i want to thank you very much for being with us and speaking to us from a hospital in hiroshima. setsuko thurlow we have spoken to her where she lives in canada but came to hiroshima for the g7 summit, survivors of the u.s.

bombing of hiroshima, speaking out against nuclear war during this weekend of the meeting of the g7. setsuko thurlow has devoted her life to nuclear disarmament and the treaty ban process. in 2017, she was chosen to receive the nobel peace prize on behalf of the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons,ican. she has worked as a social worker for decades and founded the japanese family services of metropolitan toronto. next up, the naacp issues a formal travel advisory for florida saying the state under governor desantis has become hostile to black americans. meanwhile, pen america and p1 random house have sued florida school board for banning books. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "i don't mind failing in this world" performed by the specials. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the naacp has issued a formal travel advisory for florida. in an announcement saturday, the group said florida is "hostile to black americans" under republican florida governor ron desantis, who is expected to announce his run for the 2024 presidential nomination this week. the moves comes after florida passed the stop woke act to restrict conversations about race in schools and businesses, attacked the college board's advanced placement african american studies course, and on monday signed into law a measure that blocks colleges from spending public funds on diversity, equity, and inclusion. he signed a slate legislation targeting the lgbtq community. naacp president and ceo derrick johnson said in a statement -- "let me be clear -- failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that black americans have faced and continue to face is a

disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all." the naacp was joined by the league of united latin american citizens and the lgbtq rights group equality florida. the moves comes as tourism is one of florida's biggest industries. meanwhile, pen america and penguin random house have sued a florida school board for banning books on race and lgbtq issues from school library saying they violate the first amendment. for more we're beginning with suzanne nossel, ceo of pen america. welcome back to democracy now! can you explain what this lawsuit is all about? >> we are suing an escambia county to challenge the removal of books from classroom and school libraries. there are will hundred -- well

over 100 books that have been put on review and taken off classroom shelves protracted periods while review processes are underway. that is in contradiction of the best practice guidelines the american library association and others say he should follow. where if there is an objection, books should remain on the shelves while the objections are adjudicative. there are more than 10 books that have been banned entirely. this effort disproportionately targets books by and about authors of color, lgbtq narratives. we are bringing a challenge under the boat the first amendment and 40 commitment. the first amendment because these bans and removals violate children's right to read in the 14th amendment because they raised equality concerns. when books are targeted based on the stories told, who is telling the stories, what is the color or sexual orientation of the

characters, that violates our protections for equality and education. we are asking the school board to put these books back on the shelves and the courts vindicate the children's right to read. amy: can you explain what this stop woke act says and how it allows for banned books? how specific is it or is it the vagueness is what is so threatening? >> it is really the vagueness. this idea that teachings that could create racial tension or make people feel guilty on the basis of the racial identity are prohibited raise all kinds of questions for teachers and librarians about what books might be construed to fall afoul of those restrictions. if it could reza book and ask a question, that demands an answer that could touch upon sensitive topics, does the teacher risk

being disciplined? today risk a complaint from a parent that could run all the way up the chain? that is the way censorship works deliberately. they've lost i don't just pinpoint what specifically -- rather casts a broad pall and education. teaching our children there are ideas and books that are so dangerous that they ought to be off-limits, which runs counter to the very role of public schools to be an incubator for citizenship, where you learn how to engage with all sorts of people come all sorts of ideas. amy: from your press release in escambia county, nearly 200 books have been challenged, 10 books have been remade by the school board, five removed by district committees, 139 books remain restricted which require parental permission. you also write children in a democracy must not be taught that books are dangerous. talk more about the specific

books that are banned and how exactly you plan to get these books back on the bookshelves. >> look, it is a long list of books and it is quite shocking to see things like tony morrison or judy blume. "forever" is a book i grow up with that was edgy in my time but decades have passed. these are things that have been treasured by young people for long periods of time, works of literature, tony morrison, nobel laureate, to ban her books, the idea that they have no value, no redeeming value for children is outrageous. there also books like one about same-sex penguins in the central park zoo that raise a baby penguin. this is being objected to because it is seen as promoting lgbtq lifestyles were "uncle

bobby's wedding" about a child whose uncle gets married to a man. it is a real effort to both expunge books that are seen as contravening a very traditional, rigid conception of what family life ought to look like in america and then books that are construed as sexually provocative, being labeled pornography. they don't bear any resemblance to the legal definition of pornography. so it is a painting with a broad brush and most of these objections have been brought by a single teacher in the school district. this is not a groundswell of parents who are raising these objections. this is a single individual. on the basis of that, in many cases as we outline in our complaint, the school board has overwritten the considered opinion of its own review panel. it has a review panel of experts

that is dedicated to read books when there is an objection, to take a look and decide whether there is value for children, whether these books ought to remain in the classroom. what is so disturbing is a political override of that expert opinion. so their own designated panel is being brushed to the side and politics and ideology are ruling the day. amy: it is interesting you did this with penguin random house, publisher. with the major textbook publishers, when they are told to take out certain things or their books will not be bought in a certain state, it is not like they produce books for every state. so when one state does this, it changes the reading material all over the country. it is not also just ron desantis is going to announce for president of the united states and so have that national impact, but it is the publishers have to go the lowest common denominator so they don't have to selectively publish books in

each state. >> that's right. it is a real concern. florida has huge school systems. they have market power. when they start to dictate what ideas need to be taken out of a history textbook, what episodes can be talked about, can we talk about black lives matter? can you talk about the black panther movement? if they say no, that has repercussions. i think that is one of the reasons why we all need to be concerned about this whether you are on the left or right. these are fundamental free-speech issues. they are ideologically motivated, state-sponsored bans and prohibition on speech striking at the heart of what the first amendment gets at. we all have a stake in it because as you say, a ban in florida can affect students all over the country. when textbook manufacturers and book publishers become cautious,

they start to worry who is going to object, are these books going to get accepted? will they be bought? maybe we ought to be more cautious in circumstance -- circumspect about what we include, educational system that is supposed to procure -- prepare kids for a diverse society, complex society, to grapple with all sorts of ideas, narratives, and people, we are really doing them a service. i want to bring kellie carter jackson into this study, author of the award-winning book "force and freedom: black abolitionists and the politics of violence." your recent piece for cnn is titled "why historians like me are taking on ron desantis." she's just returned from st. petersburg, florida, where she participated in a 24-hour teach-in with other historians. can you talk about why you would to florida for this teach-i know -- teach- in?

how it is being taught or not taught around the country? >> i was happy to respond to the call when this event was organized and they said we are doing a 24 hour teach-in we what scholars and educators from across the country to come to florida to let people know the stakes are high, that this matters, that all of our livelihoods are at risk when we think about the erasure and marginalization that comes along with a lot of ron desantis' policies. as a historian, i know how much history matters. i know the world we live in today is shaved by the past, shaped by policy of the past, shaved by decisions people have made. it was important for me to come and teach. i taught at 11:00 p.m. literally for 24 hours. there were people teaching at 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.

i took a course i normally teach in about 12 weeks and shrunk it down to about 45 minutes. i talked about my black history matters. i went from the great western kingdoms of mali and ghana all the way to the present and talked about how meaningful african-american contributions are, that we can't discuss major events, major turning points without talking about black people, without talking about women, without talking about lgbtq people. it was so important to be there and i'm glad we did it. i wanted people to get mobilized. to get educated first but then take that and let it empower them to respond and react to what desantis is doing. amy: let me ask you about black history classes, ap courses, and what has happened there, how they have been changed and how the college board has been working with -- though they originally denied it -- going back and forth with the florida department of education to make

their ap course acceptable to governor desantis' department of education. >> it is a real battle because often times african-american history is taught like an elective. it is not taught as a primary. when people see black history, they see ethnic history, it is something that is maybe superficial. they don't see it as a requirement for going to college or as part of their k-12 education. when the college were put together this african immigrant history course, they called on scholars from all over the country and said, help us shape this curriculum and show why it has value and meaning in what you can add to the students who take this course, what it can add to their intellectual and emotional learning. i was a part of that task force with a lot of other scholars. it was disheartening to see how censored and chipped away the

curriculum was. there were things like intersectionality that were not being able to be discussed. the idea of multiple oppressions and multiple intersections of one's identity. there were things about black lives matter that were completely taken off the textbooks as well. certain scholars and activists who are being marginalized or erased from the curriculum, too. this is a problem because you can't teach black history without teaching these concepts, without talking to people like james baldwin or toni morrison or kimberle crenshaw for that matter. these things are still at play, we're still pushing to make sure the curriculum is being taught, but these laws require a certain kind of savviness in order to get around some of these restrictions. amy: and your response to governor desantis, who supposedly is announcing for president this week saying that florida is where woke goes to die? >> yeah, this is a real problem

for me. i live in massachusetts and i think people are like, what are they doing? i am concerned desantis will become the proverbial simon says, that instead of creating these wild and outrageous policy infrastructures in florida that he will take this to the entire country and that all of the country will look like florida. for me, that is disturbing because it disempowers people. it makes people afraid of things they ought not to be afraid of. i think desantis is doing a lot of fear mongering and stirring up strife in people where i think there is not a lot of division. i think all people want their children to be educated, to have access to books to read, to be able to learn as much as they can. all parents should want her children to be critical thinkers. i think desantis is pushing back hard against that and i think you will have a backlash. i think it is going to backfire.

amy: your response to governor desantis' bill that prohibits public schools and private businesses from making people feel discomfort and guilt, as we talk about a racing black lives matter movement or even issues of slavery and reparations? >> even that is sort of absurd to me because when i teach history in my classroom, certainly, students feel a certain level of empathy -- as they should -- when we talk about things like slavery and segregation. but most importantly, i want them to understand the causes of this, the consequences of this, how we work to not repeat this anymore. i often think if i'm talking about my own black children, i would want them to be taught in a way that does not make them feel small, that does not make them feel like their identity as an african-american child does not matter.

we have to find a way to be more inclusive not less inclusive in talking that these histories that matter to all of us and make america what america is. amy: professor kellie carter jackson, you teach at wellesley college. your featured in the new netflix documentary series called "african queens: njinga." is is the traer. >> born into an era of darkness a warrior, a queen, destined to lead. >> i am no slave. it is my kingdom. >> fearlessly defended her kingdom agait european power. >> the king is always under threat. >>lavery threatened to decimate the continent. >> we arpeople born running om extinctn. >> rising to become a beacon of

light for her pple >> which makes me dangero. the ki of power that will make a difference in my people's lives. >> such a power move, such a boss move. >> njina was about of aation but she loves her country for that, she made great sacrifices. >> njina was oy african ader to brecognized by ropean rulers in power. >> i think of her is probably one of the greatest women warriors and leaders this world has ever seen. folks alhail queen njinga.

amy: trailer for the necklace documentary series "african queens: njinga" exec at a produced and narrated by jada pinkett smith. i spent last night watching the series, basically watching you, professor kellie carter jackson. it is an epic series, taking on everyone from portugal to the catholic church. talk about the significance and the concern maybe children in this country would not be allowed to see it. >> first of all, was so honored to be a part of that documentary. it really is wonderful. i think it introducing queen njinga to the world. to know the queen was a warrior king, that she was fighting off the portuguese, that she was trying to protect her people from the institution of slavery, that she was doing this as a young woman but even into her

60's and 70's, she is riding on horseback, fighting against the portuguese, it is an epic story of her life. such a major contribution to understanding slavery and the slave trade in the atlantic world. i realized if students can get this in florida in their classrooms, netflix is something that is readily available to a lot of people. i hope people will sit down and watch this and that will grapple with his history and they will want to learn more about african history. it is so important. it is not tangential. it is not superficial. that you have real people making incredible contributions to how we thi about our own freedom and our own identity. queen njinga does that. the fact she is a woman and a black woman, so courageous, the story is inspiring. it is violent and not for children i would say, but if you have teenagers, ifou have older children that you can really talk through this, i

think it is a wonderful way of looking at this history and making sense of it. amy: congratulations on the series. finally, i want to go to a very different topic with suzanne nossel. i want to ask you about a russian-american journalist who resigned from pen america after they canceled a russian writer's panel at your world voices festival after ukrainian writers threatened to boycott. i know this was a very difficult issue. can you explain the decision? >> yeah, i need to correct you, amy. what happened was we have this annual world voices festival. in two separate panels, one of ukrainian soldiers coming from the front together with american soldiers who were also authors. that was one panel. get a separate panel with russian writers, including masha gessen and two other russian

journalists. one historian and one journalist, who have brought to new york to work on a project that was initiated by masha and pen america called the russian internet archive, archives independent media from russia that was at risk of being destroyed once putin crackdown on independent media so aggressively after the ukraine war started. so with these two panels. the crane's told us they could not be on stage with russians. once they arrived from ukraine, they made clear they were not willing or able to be an entire festival with russians even though it was a separate event and separate venue, that just the fact they were in the same festival pose real problem for them. it wasn't just an ethical objection but rather concern in terms of the visas they had gotten that enabled them to get permission from the army to take leave and come here to the u.s. to bring their stories.

so then we had a real dilemma about what to do with these two events that we very much wanted to host and we proposed to both sides, could we go forward but rebrand the event come just call it pen america, same venue, same participants, same time of day? that was one approach that we took to try to resolve it. the ukrainians felt that would run counter to the permission they had gotten to leave to be part of this big festival. i think the russians felt and masha felt, they put it in an article in the atlantic, that it was being at a lesser table. that felt uncomfortable. so they made the decision to cancel. i think they put it poignantly saying it is difficult to result -- to discuss writing and exile under the best of circumstances

and these were not the best of circumstances. with regret, we accepted that decision and that is where things met it out. it is unfortunate. masha was a valued trustee at pen america for more than nine years. we are grateful that they have indicated they will remain involved in this russian independent media archive project, which is so important. amy: the award-winning writer masha gessen said "i felt like i was being asked to tell these people that because there russians they can't sit at the big table, they have to sit at the little table off to the side." suzanne nossel, i want to thank you for being with us, ceo of pen america. and kellie carter jackson, professor, historian, author, professor at wellesley college. next up, we go to ecuador were president guillermo lasso has dissolved parliament in order to avoid being impeached. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "the rainbow connection" by kermit the frog. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show in ecuador, where conservative president guillermo lasso has dissolved the opposition-led national assembly. the move was seen as an effort to block efforts to impeach him and came as the body held its first hearing into corruption and embezzlement allegations against lasso. he used a constitutional power that has never been used in ecuador before. it allows him to rule by decree until new elections are held, likely in august. he told "the washington post" he does not plan to run again. lasso is a millionaire and conservative banker elected in 2021. he was set to serve until 2025 and visited the white house in december. even after the corruption allegations surfaced, republican senator marco rubio flew to ecuador in late february to show

his support for lasso. this comes as ecuador has faced increasing poverty and violence has soared, promoting more ecuadorians to seek a better life in the united states. for more, we are joined in guayaquil, ecuador, by andrés arauz, the ecuadoran politician and economist. he ran for president in 2021 in a contested election against lasso. arauz served as director of ecuador's central bank and then minister of knowledge and human talent under the administration of former leftist president rafael correa. he's also as senior research fellow at the center for economic and policy research. welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about what has happened, the significance of lasso devault -- dissolving the parliament? >> thank you for the invitation. this is a first in our history. unfortunately, it was a cowardly measure taken before the impeachment process ended and

which would have resulted in the institution -- it was a cowardly measure that despite being that now opens the opportunity for ecuadoran citizens to go to the booths and decide on the future democratically. so we see that part of the decision is a hopeful part that of course is going to give us a chance to participate in the elections and fully allow progressive forces to regroup in pretty good turnaround of time have the opportunity to enlighten -- have an enlightened position and get together a broad coalition just enough to win. however, the solution of also brings about risks because lasso's measure allows him to rule by decree, to issue laws by decree with a filter from the constitutional court.

lasso has already mentioned he plans to use this power to rollback labor laws, to privatize key states on assets like oil industry, electricity, tele-communications, sectors such as those. and also has promised to issue a decree which creates or converts ecuador into what is called a tax haven, a financial sector free zone is what he has called a. amy: can you talk about lasso deploying police forces to the streets while ecuador's chief at the joint command of the armed forces told ecuadoran citizens lasso's decision was constitutional, should be respected. he threatened those planning protests saying this country will not accept any attempt to disrupt the constitutional order and democracy through violence.

>> lasso, even before the decree was issued and published in the official gazette, lasso sent the military to parliament and prevented anybody from getting into parliament -- literally, cut all cables that joined parliament to the rest of society. there is no electricity in parliament, no phone connections, no internet connections, no fiberoptics whatsoever. fired everyone within the parliament, even janitors and employees that have to keep and give maintenance. of course, with the full support of the military. he ordered the military -- i'm not talking about the ministry of defense, the actual military commanders -- to issue a statement together send the decree was constitutional even before the constitutional court had had the chance to say that

was so. of course, once he uses the military, you could expect very little difference from the actual court. unfortunately, that was in a terry measure taken by last -- authoritarian measure taken by lasso and now democracy is at risk because together with the military on the same day as the dissolution of parliament, he used the prosecutor general to sack three out of the five members of the administrative judicial council and started actions to also remove from their positions the citizens participation counsel -- which has a very important role which is designating the authorities for the electoral commission. we are a bit scared in ecuador that lasso might use the force and the prosecutor general to remove politicians from power and from key posts.

amy: many human rights activists are deeply concerned this power toercoul open the door for even more human rights violations. for example, using terrorism laws to target indigenous groups that might oppose him. and what do you anticipate will happen in the next 90 days before the snap elections that now apparently lasso says he will not run for president in? are you planning to run for president in these august elections? and how are people preparing for this? >> well, these snap elections definitely take everyone by surprise. political parties are trying to quickly organize themselves into coalitions. what i have said is more important in my name or anybody's name, we need to make sure we have a broad coalition. in 2021, we lost because we were not able to attract around 20%, 30% of populations that voted a

no vote so they spoil their bows. we need that to become a proactive vote in favor of democracy, in favor of progressive agenda. that is what i am focusing my energy on. there is political leadership that is being built and we will see whether that coalition decides on my name as a possibility. however, i am willing to support anyone that comes out of that process. there are threats. we are not so sure this will be a swift electoral process. we see lasso has leaned on the military to try to pressure the french authorities. we see a lot of negative signs with respect to the possibility of perhaps putting a lot of --

lasso dragging his feet with regards to the budget for the electoral process, for example, and stuff like that that may complicate the electoral process. amy: i mentioned senator rubio was supporting lasso post also the biden administration supported him despite the accusations of corruption. lasso is very wealthy. how does this work? what are you calling on the biden administration how to recognize this president who has dissolved the national assembly? >> we see the u.s. has given a lot of support to lasso. the person. not ecuador the country, not the ecuadorian people during lasso's government. lasso asked u.s. to sign a free-trade agreement and that did not happen stop he signed a

free-trade agreement with china. what we see is u.s. policy directed the basically on the security fear -- on while the ecuadorian people have not received any benefits in terms of the treatment of migrants in the u.s. or scholarships or better trade opportunities and so on. unfortunately, what we see is part of the biden administration, especially certain high-ranking senators in the u.s., supporting lasso personally. lasso has immense wealth, half $1 billion, in the u.s. stashed in trust in south dakota and in shady properties in south florida, certain llc structure that is not very transparent but which is hundreds of millions dollars worth. we now see the property that he owns even beyond an offshore

bank in panama as well, are in violation of the ecuadoran law that prohibits government officials from having property -- amy: we have to leave it there. andrés arauz is an ecuadoran politician and economist. we will post a spanish interview

welcome to nhk "newsline." we begin in the united states on the brink of a worst-case scenario, defaulting on its national debt. president joe biden met with republican speaker kevin mccar the mccarthy on monday but failed to reach an agreement.