05/31/23 05/31/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> dirty deal attached to the debt ceiling limit is not only an assault to the folks of west virginia and virginia who have been fighting the mountain valley pipeline for eight long years. amy: as the house prepares to vote on a deal to suspend the

debt ceiling, we look at growing outrage over the biden administration's decision to fast track the mountain valley pipeline as part of the deal. we will speak to a west virginia farmer who has spent years fighting the $6.6 billion pipeline. then we look at a major supreme court ruling weakening the clean >> the decision aims to take our country backwards. you will jeopardize the sources of clean drinking water for millions of americans. amy: and then to turkey where president recep tayyip erdogan has won another five years in office, extending his rule into a third decade. plus, uganda's president has signed one of the most draconian anti-lgbtq laws in the world. it makes same-sex relationships punishable by life imprisonment, and in some cases, the death penalty. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

lawmakers in the u.s. house are voting today on a bill to suspend the debt limit until january 2025 as congress races against the clock to avert a potentially disastrous default on june 5. on tuesday, at least 20 far-right republicans rejected kevin mccarthy's debt ceiling deal with president biden. members of the house freedom caucus are threatening to trigger a vote to remove mccarthy as speaker if the bill passes. some progressives have also indicated they will vote down the deal over its work requirements for social programs and so-called oil and gas permitting reforms. lawmakers on the house rules committee narrowly voted to bring the bill to the floor tuesday evening after exchanging cross-party jabs. this is pennsylvania democrat mary gay scanlon, who voted against the bill. >> here we are today, forced to address a manufactured debt ceiling crisis that has rattled

global economic markets because right-wing members of the house have a stronghold on house majority in its leadership. republicans in the house influenced by their most extreme members decided to hold our country's economy hostage in order to take food out of the mouths of hungry americans. amy: here in new york, climate protesters rallied near the brooklyn home of senator chuck schumer to demand the final debt ceiling deal not include any concessions on the climate crisis. this is betamia coronel of the center for popular democracy. >> the deal that senator schumer and other leaders are cutting with joe manchin and republican party proved to us they don't give a [bleep] about people. the debt ceiling will fast-track the mountain valley pipeline, poisoning every poor community along its path and dumping millions of carbon, accelerating

the crisis. amy: activists noted that schumer received over $280,000 in donations this election cycle from nextera energy, a major stakeholder in the mountain valley pipeline, which is also a top donor to joe manchin. in canada, authorities in nova scotia have declared an emergency and evacuated over 18,000 people as wildfires rage outside halifax amid record-breaking heat. air-quality alerts were issued in parts of new jersey and pennsylvania. asia's heatwave also continues to smash records, with shanghai reaching its highest may temperature in over a century at 97 degrees fahrenheit. in india, the thermostat hit 113 degrees fahrenheit in recent weeks as many laborers and poor workers have no choice but to keep working outside in the extreme heat. meanwhile, the european union said this week it is doubling its aerial firefighting fleet to tackle worsening summer forest fires due to the climate crisis.

>> increased frequency and intensity. in recent years, we have seen wildfires raging in the central and even north of europe and we have seen historic floods in italy and germany and belgium. this is why we are scaling up our response capacity across the mechanism, including our ability to tackle wildfires. amy: hundreds of artificial intelligence experts, as well as tech executives, scholars, and others are warning ai poses an existential threat to humanity. the ominous, one-line statement reads -- "mitigating the risk of extinction from ai should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war." among the signatories, geoffrey hinton, who has been dubbed the

godfather of artificial intelligence. he recently quit google so he could warn of the dangers of the technology he helped build. experts say the greatest dangers may come with the development of artificial general intelligence, or agi, in which machines would have cognitive abilities akin or superior to human beings and that it could happen sooner than previously thought. many have called for a pause on introducing new ai technology until strong government regulations are put into place. meanwhile, fears are growing around ai's threats to the workforce. starting tomorrow, june 1, hotline operators at the national eating disorders association will be replaced by a wellness chatbot named tessa. workers say executives at the organization moved to fire them and replace them with ai as -- in retaliation for union organizing. the sudanese army has suspended its participation in ceasefire talks as a shaky truce with the

paramilitary rapid support forces, set to expire monday, has been punctured by ongoing fighting in and around the capital khartoum. the talks in jeddah aimed to protect and bring much needed humanitarian aid to the civilian population of sudan. the war has forcibly displaced 1.4 million people in the past six weeks while the u.n. says some 25 million people, over half the population, need assistance. nato has announced it will deploy another 700 troops to northern kosovo after at least 52 protesters and 30 nato peacekeeping troops were injured during protests on monday. the protests were held after kosovo sent armed forces to install ethnic albanians to serve as mayors in four heavily serbian areas where ethnic serbs had boycotted a recent election. on tuesday, serbia's president blamed the hostilities on kosovo which serbia does not recognize as an independent country. a u.n. special rapporteur warns

international support for the more than 1 million rohingya refugees living in bangladeshi camps is grossly insufficient. according to the u.n., about $876 million is needed to support rohingya refugees for a year but only 17% of that has been pledged to date. the world food programme has been forced to make additional cuts due to funding shortages, crushing its food assistance efforts for rohingya refugees, humanitarian aid groups are accusing malta of violating international law after facilitating the forced return of hundreds of asylum seekers to libya, where they were then imprisoned under horrific conditions. the group of some 500 migrants, including dozens of children and pregnant people, were on a boat to europe when their ship went adrift last week, leaving them stranded in the mediterranean as the boat started filling up with water. the asylum seekers called for a humanitarian hotline for help. maltese authorities responsible for search and rescue missions in the region never arrived. the group was instead captured at sea by what's believed to be

a libyan militia group and taken to a prison in benghazi. human rights groups have long denounced the torture, forced disappearances, and other dangers faced by asylum seekers in libya, which u.n. experts say amount to crimes against humanity. in yemen, the united nations has begun an operation to salvage over 1 million barrels of oil from a decaying tanker anchored in the red sea. it comes after years of delay and mounting warnings from the u.n. of a potentially catastrophic oil spill off the yemeni coastline after maintenance on the safer tanker was suspended in 2015 due to the u.s.-backed, saudi-led war in yemen. in brazil, indigenous groups took to the streets across the country tuesday protesting a proposed law that would limit their right to win protected status for ancestral lands. brazil's lower house fast-tracked the legislation after growing pressure from powerful agricultural groups.

in sao paulo, police fired tear gas at demonstrators. >> we are in a national protest with original peoples of this territory. we are fighting for life. here are my people. we are fighting, saying no to the law of death, note to the law of destruction, no to the timeframe. amy: in april, brazilian president luiz inácio lula da silva recognized six ancestral lands, with the largest two in the amazon, fulfilling a campaign promise to protect the rainforest and indigenous sovereignty. a federal appeals court has ruled members of the sackler family, the billionaire owners of oxycontin maker purdue pharma, can receive complete immunity from all current and future civil litigation related to their role in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. the legal shield could lead to a settlement in the range of $6 billion for thousands of plaintiffs, including states,

local governments, and tribes. tuesday's ruling reverses a 2021 court decision that did not protect sackler family members from liability following purdue pharma's declaration. the case can still be appealed to the supreme court. opioid overdoses have killed over half-a-million people in the u.s. over the past two decades according to the cdc, including prescription and illicit drugs. in new york, a prisoner at rikers island died last week after becoming sick. 31-year-old joshua valles was being held at the psychiatric unit. he was transferred to a hospital after complaining of a headache and vomiting. he died a week later. he is the third death at rikers this year. 2022 was the deadliest year at the jail complex in almost a decade. a recent report by a federal monitor warned prisoners are at imminent risk of harm and renewed calls for a federal takeover of new york city jails. disgraced theranos founder elizabeth holmes reported to a

texas prison tuesday to begin her 11-year sentence after she was convicted of defrauding investors in her blood testing company. holmes was declared the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire by forbes in 2014 after securing hefty investments by falsely claiming theranos machines could run a wide range of diagnostic tests from a few drops of blood. holmes has appealed her case but will remain in prison during legal proceedings. and in pittsburgh, the federal death penalty trial of the gunman accused of killing 11 jewish worshippers at the tree of life synagogue in 2018 is underway. on tuesday, jurors listened to a 911 audio recording that contained the last words of 84-year-old bernice simon, one the massacre's victims. simon told the dispatcher, "i'm scared to death" over background audio of screams and gunshots. robert bowers has pleaded not guilty to 63 charges, including hate crimes. an investigator said he posted

anti-comments and racist memes online in the months ahead of the shooting. if convicted, bowers could face execution. 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 begin today's show looking at how the proposed bipartisan debt limit deal the house is voting on today would cut funds for the environmental protection agency and speed completion of the controversial $6.6 billion mountain valley pipeline in virginia and west virginia. over 750 frontline communities and environmental justice groups oppose the pipeline. this comes as protests in several cities demanded lawmakers vote down what they are calling the dirty debt ceiling deal.

if built, the proposed mountain valley pipeline, m.v.p., will carry 2 billion cubic feet of fracked gas across more than 1000 streams and wetlands in appalachia. it has long been pushed by powerful west virginia senator joe manchin, the biggest recipient of fossil fuel money in congress. the entire virginia democratic delegation in the house has submitted an amendment to strip the mountain valley pipeline provision from the debt ceiling bill, calling it a free pass for the pipeline that sidesteps our nation or pharma laws and judicial review processes. virginia senator tim kane he'll introduce an identical amendment in the senate. well, for more we are joined by a west virginian in the path of this massive pipeline. maury johnson is a southern west virginia landowner, whose organic farm has been impacted by the mountain valley pipeline. he is a member of preserve

monroe as well as the powhr coalition, that is protect our water, heritage, and rights coalition. both organizations have been opposing mvp. his new essay for commondreams is headlined "it is time to kill the 'dirty deal' once and for all." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. why are you so concerned about the passage of the debt deal, the lifting the debt ceiling, including final approval of the mountain valley pipeline? >> thank you. good morning, any. thank you for having me. the debt ceiling deal has a lot of things in it that should be nowhere near a debt ceiling deal. especially -- student loan thing is really bad. my son is recipient student loans and it is a crushing thing. as far as permitting and they mountain valley pipeline exclusion from law, we have been

telling the people permitting this, building this for eight years that they can't build this pipeline and follow the law. it has been proven in court numerous times. so they want to circumvent the law. i am what a sacrifice looks like. if this deal goes through, this dirty deal of joe manchin, everybody in america needs to look in the mirror and say, "i can be sacrificed also." juan: for those people who are not familiar with this 303-well proposed pipeline, how directly would it affect not just monroe county but the entire path of the pipeline? what are your major concerns about it? >> we have documented any things.

from the beginning in northern west virginia, across very steep slopes -- as steep as probably has ever been crossed in appalachia -- and soil and was virginia southern west virginia, even southwest virginia, we are in an earthquake zone. one of the most active earthquake zones in the east and we have had minor earthquakes during the construction of this pipeline. we know the methane that leaks all along the pipeline is harmful to the climate. it has already impacted a lot of people's water. including my own. i'm not been able to use my water since 2021. i started having pretty severe -- for people, it is -- they say, you have to prove that. i suspect this damage was

done was they started blasting near my house. eminent domain, they can take whatever they want. they have never really proven that it was for the use of the people in this country. the former commissioner in 2017 said she had only seen were small portion of this was actually being used. they used something called -- for the people building the pipeline can sell the capacity on the pipeline as an affiliate to this sale and that is all burke has that is needed. one other thing, the day before earth day, president biden issued an executive order saying the environment of justice for all is the priority of this administration. he cannot say that and permit things like the willow project, more projects in the gulf coast,

more pipelines across appalachia . juan: a spokesperson for mountain valley pipeline natalie cox told the mountain state spotlight, "the mountain valley pipeline project, along with all submitted plans and processes, have undergone rigorous review and evaluation for more years, and in many cases, has been subject to a level of scrutiny that is unprecedented for a project of this nature." how do you respond to her comments? > it has received lots of scrutiny. the courts has struck down their permits because they cannot follow the law. i don't know how many different agencies, west virginia, virginia, federal agencies have tried to change the law. we can the law to permit this project. her bidding for anybody should

not be weekend and fast tracked. if they have followed the law this project may not have ever been started to begin with or it would have drastically been changed. even the d.c. circuit last friday questioned ferc on why did you extend back in 2020 without doing an environmental impact statement? this project has been very poorly designed from the beginning. we have told him so many times. all they do is -- if this project is added to this debt ceiling, then that just will violate constitutional law, it will end democracy for citizens

to be able to say "this is wrong, you can't do this." all the corporation would have to do is throw a bunch of money to politicians. the corporations get rich, the politicians get rich, and the people and the citizens of this country are sacrificed. amy: i want to go to a comment of crystal cavalier-keck. we spoke to her last year. she is chair of the naacp environmental justice committee and a member of the occaneechi band of the saponi nation. she's talking about how the mvp threatens sacred burial grounds. >> it starts and west virginia and goes through the mountaintops. and on these mountaintops are our sacred burial grounds of our monacan, saponi and occaneechi nations. and, you know, the mvp, they call these burial mounds "rock piles," and they often say these do not exist, which often makes

us -- they're trying to extinct us or genocide us again. but it's going through these very sacred mountains, going through waters, boring under rivers -- and these sacred waters of, like, the roanoke, the dan and the haw river, which is very sacred to my tribe and my community. amy: can you comment on what she is saying? also, the very stringent rules that are being set forth in this deal that would really take power away from the courts, where environmentalists have been having a series of victories against the mvp, and demand it be approved within, what, 21 days of signing? >> let's talk about the native american artifacts and the burial grounds. i have been told -- i have not actually got to see that i have been told in west virginia, mvp destroyed native art american --

native american artifacts. they found lots of artifacts in somers county. i can see peter's mounted from my house. unprecedented impacts. on peter's mounted on the virginia side, an area of significant native american artifacts. they want to blast through it. they won't have to do any kind of a study. it has happened elsewhere. if the mvp is completed and they go through crystals area, there are lots of native american artifacts and areas southern virginia, north carolina. this pipeline says the federal

government and the state government has to issue permits within 21 days. whether they can meet the actual rules or not, doesn't matter. and you can't take it to court. there is the unconstitutional part. citizens rights to redress their agreement before the court is part of -- grievances before the court is part of the constitution. they are taking the power from the citizens and the courts. if they can do that to us and people in appalachia, they can do to anyone. amy: we have to wrap up. we have 15 seconds. >> they need to get this out of this debt ceiling package or let's just past the clean cr and get some of this bad stuff like permitting and the mountain valley pipeline and student loan stuff, it needs to go. thank you, tim kaine, the delegates from virginia and others who are fighting on our

behalf. amy: maury johnson, thank you for being with us, southern west virginia landowner whose organic farm has been impacted by the mountain valley pipeline, member of preserve monroe, as well as the powhr coalition. protect our water, heritage, & rights coalition. we will link to your article "it is time to kill the 'dirty dea'' once and for all." >> powhr.org. and because next upcoming major supreme court ruling weakening the clean water act. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "nocturne for bassoon and marimba" composed by connor chee. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to look at another environmental story. in a major decision last week, the u.s. supreme court sharply limited the authority of the environmental protection agency to protect and preserve wetlands under the clean water act. it was a five before ruling. the justices wrote that clean water act only applies to wetlands with a "continuous surface connection" to larger bodies of water, excluding wetlands that are near other

bodies of water. the ruling ends protections for about half of all the wetlands in the contiguous united states. samuel alito wrote the majority opinion and was joined by fellow right-wing justices john roberts, clarence thomas, neil gorsuch, and amy coney barrett. however, conservative brett kavanaugh joined the court's three liberal justice in opposing the weakening the clean water act. kavanaugh wrote the decision will have "significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the united states." the court's decision is seen as a major victory for polluters and developers. at the white house, press secretary karine jean-pierre criticized the ruling. >> it will jeopardize the sources of clean drinking water for farmers and millions of americans. the clean water act is the reason why america's lakes today are swimmable, we can fish in

our streams and rivers, and why say drinking water comes out of our taps. it was passed by bipartisan majority in 1972 and since been used by republican and democratic administrations alike to protect our nation land and water. amy: to talk more about the ruling, we're joined now by sam sankar. he is the senior vice president for programs at earthjustice, which filed an amicus brief to the supreme court in the case on behalf of native tribes seeking to defend existing water protections. can you summarize what the court ruled and the effect it will have on the environment in this country, sam? >> thank you for having me. to step back for a moment, the clean water act is one of the most successful environmental laws we have. congress passes law in 1972 because it recognized the nation's waterways were deeply

imperiled. rivers were on fire. fish were dying by the millions. the nation recognized that we had a major problem. cast against that backdrop, the clean water act has been a major success. while there is more to be done, our nation's waterways are broadly cleaner, our water is safer to drink, and things are better. wetlands are protected. we are now in a situation where the supreme court's new ruling takes away protections from over half of the nation's 100 million acres of remaining wetlands. the supreme court's ruling says those wetlands are no longer covered by the federal protections of the clean water act. and that is when after minutes implications for everyone. that is because wetlands are a critical source of water for all of us and they also serve to filter and protect and be part of the ecological fabric of our nation's waterways. juan: could you be more specific

about how the court determines the definition of wetlands versus what the biden administration was saying? this whole issue of the surface connection of wetlands to waters of the united states? >> sure. several years ago in an opinion by justice scalia, the court in a minority opinion, small group of conservatives attempted to argue the clean water act only protects the wetlands that are connected by surface water to nearby waters. that opinion did not gather a majority vote on the supreme court. instead, for over 45 years, we have had a system in which every presidential administration and supreme court opinions have said it is not just the waters and the wetlands that are touching the waters, it is the wetlands that are nearby, the wetlands that are adjacent. the opinion says the adjacent wetlands are really only those

that are actually touching the waters. as justice kavanaugh himself recognized, that defies science, common sense, physics, and everyone's understandings of how wetlands are related to waters. juan: what do you see as the next steps for those who want to protect the complete wetlands of the united states? >> what we need now is action from congress. the courts opinion, while it expresses significant hostility to our nation's environmental laws, can be addressed to legislation. interestingly, when the supreme court ruled originally and congress said originally that adjacent wetlands were protected, there has been a massive lobbying effort over the last 45 years to weaken us protections. it has failed. now we can go back to congress and say do what you need to do to clarify to the supreme court the clean water act protects all

our nations waters, including the wetlands that are waters depend on further health. amy: the conservative supreme court justices, their records and what overall the court is going to see in the coming months come the case you're most concerned about, sam? >> it is important to recognize this decision is part of a threat of decisions from the supreme court. amy: can you explain who sackett is? >> the sacketts are a family in idaho that decided to develop on their property without a permit. they owned an excavation company and were aware of what the law said but they called in that excavation company to dump an enormous amount of fill on their lands. their neighbors complained and asked the epa to take a look at the property. the epa said, you a permit for this. the sacketts decided to fight and go to the supreme court.

amy: sam sankar, thank you for being with us earthjustice's , senior vice president for programs speaking to us from new mexico. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we are going now to uganda where human rights advocates are condemning president yoweri museveni for signing a sweeping anti-lgbtq measure into law that makes same-sex relationships punishable by life imprisonment, and in some cases, people can get the death penalty. it's one of the most draconian anti-lgbtq laws in the world. this is ugandan lgbtq activist delovie kwagala. >> where are we supposed to go? you're not giving us education,

medication. your criminalizing -- where do you want us to go? you are arresting us for literally doing nothing, for simply existing. where are we supposed to go? how do we become refugees in our own country? amy: we go to uganda where we are joined by a human rights advocate. welcome to democracy now! explain exactly what this law imposes, what it means for the lgbtq community -- really, what it means for all of uganda. >> thank you for having me. this law is a horrific law. it is horrific in the sense that although it does not have the

criminalization of identity the first versions of the law had already criminalized identity posted people are being targeted based on their identity. real or suspected identity. we are recording cases of eviction because landlords have been compelled to report. below are already taking action. -- people are already taking action. we have been seeing a rise in violations to the lgbtqia persons. we are seeing lgbtqia persons becoming homeless. homelessness has been a real issue. evictions are happening. family banishment is happening.

being kicked out of churches, jobs, schools, young people who -- soft boys or masculine girls are being condemned by this law. fight against hiv is also being impeded by this law. if you are homosexual and you are found to be hiv positive, that is presenting as homosexuality which leads to punishment or death. already we have those on our books that punish homosexual as a natural. this is been a law that the public has been using to condemn us, to blackmail, to extort money, to extort sex, and lots

of other violations with a lot of impunity. that is coming more to light and just increasing in its magnitude right now. juan: can you talk about what it could possibly be done to challenge this law either within uganda were also international -- were also international bodies? >> absolutely. just before i answer that, i need to add a piece about the laws seeking, claiming to want to protect children you will find in the law, there is three years imprisonment for any child that is found to be lgbtqia. as to what is being done to mitigate the dangers of this law , we have already put in a petition about the law because it violates several

constitutional rights but also uganda is not an island. it is not existing in isolation. uganda is a signatory to many international covenants and, you know, laws. so because of that we are challenging this. but as ugandans, we belong in uganda as advocates, as lgbtqia persons, as parents of lgbtqia persons, mentors, guides, and whatever -- we belong in this country. we must make sure the country is comfortable for every ugandan, so no one should be excluded, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. amy: monday, president biden called for the immediate repeal of uganda's severe new anti-gay law threatening to impose

sanctions against uganda. in a statement, he said -- "the enactment of uganda's anti-homosexuality act is a tragic violation of universal human rights -- one that is not worthy of the ugandan people, and one that jeopardizes the prospects of critical economic growth for the entire country. i join with people around the world, including many in uganda, in calling for its immediate repeal. no one should have to live in constant fear for their life or being subjected to violence and discrimination. it is wrong." those are the words of joe biden, the president. i want to ask you, how important it is that there is international condemnation. on the one hand have joe biden condemning this and threatening sanctions. on the other hand, looking at a "vanity fair" piece, anti-gay sentiment in uganda has climbed in recent years due in no small

part to american evangelicals who spent more than $20 million fighting lgbtq rights in the country between 2007-2020, according to "the washington post." scott lively spearheaded this in early 2000s, participated in a series of popular anti-gay lectures in uganda, describing homosexuality as a disease propagated by the west. several years later, uganda's parliament propose the initial legislation known as the killed the gays bill supported by number of american christian groups and eventually signed into law. if you can talk about what the u.s. can do, people in the u.s., but also what the president of uganda has done. he sounded like he wanted to sound more moderate by sending the bill back to the legislature, but then signed off on the bill that could give some lgbtq people the death penalty.

>> thank you for that question. i want to say that, as much as we welcome president biden's strong and powerful condemnation of this law, i think for us come advocates and activists, we have been pushing this, we have been interrupted with our u.s. partners in telling them something big and dangerous is coming and it is coming from your country. please come have ways you stop it before it comes to our country. as much as i welcome president biden's condemnation, i think needs to be a lot of work done within the united states to make sure, you know, exporters of hate into a country like uganda because uganda seems to be

geographically positioned for, you know, for these people to come into our country and to test everything negative. that needs to be stopped from the united states before it comes this side. now that we are in this quagmire and this danger, we call on global partners, global citizens to keep condemning this law, to keep putting pressure on our leaders to make sure they honor the international covenants they've been signatories to enter masticated them and treat their citizens as human beings not as collateral damage, that our country still in with the lgbtqia community. in 2012, my organization that

was shut down by the government -- together with other partners in new york -- we filed a case. you can find the information on ccr's website. the courts -- there was unfortunately a jurisdiction issue. [indiscernible] these are things we will continue doing, taking homophobia back where it belongs. we are prepared to the last drop

of our blood as long as we are truth in this country. juan: i wanted to ask you, the u.s. government has significant influence in uganda. about $1 billion in development aid from the united states to uganda. and also the current government has played a key role as an ally of the united states in africa, providing some troops in somalia. can you talk about the relations between the ugandan government and the u.s. in recent years? >> yeah. i think the relation between uganda and the united states dates back to the 1960's. it has been mutual conversation and engagements.

in the recent years, i think we saw the fact uganda has been supportive of some -- rather used as support of backing our health sector, our law enforcement, and so on. i think there has been that kind of smooth but not so smooth relations, especially when it comes to human rights. that is when our government says here, don't cross. we can talk about somalia and south sudan and other regional security issues, but do not talk about homosexuality. we are a sovereign country. but you are a sovereign country that -- [indiscernible]

when your partner cautions you to say, hey, you're going off a little bit here, let's stick to taking care of the citizens then we always tend to curve back and start to show our power. i think there needs to be -- we know there's been conversations happening between the two governments. probably got to the point where there is a stalemate. we are seeing this lobbing sign. i don't think the president knows the plight of the lgbtqia persons, but i'm also afraid he's a politician. he will do whatever -- plays into whatever he envisions.

unfortunately, when the two governments disagree, although we're seeing the u.s. is trying to safeguard our rights, i think -- it gets complicated because either way, we end up as collateral damage within this conversation, engagements between the countries. amy: i want to thank you for being with us, human rights advocate, speaking to us from uganda. next up, we go to turkey where the president recep tayyip erdogan has won another five years in office, extending his authoritarian rule into a third decade. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "in search" by mehmet ali sanlikol. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show interview where president recep tayyip erdogan won sunday's

presidential runoff. with this victory, he extends his 20 year rule for further five years. erdogan received over test half of the vote. the election comes as turkey continues to oppose sweden's efforts to join nato. on tuesday, tony blinken urged erdogan to drop his opposition to sweden's nato bid while also saying that turkey should be provided with upgraded f-16 fighters as soon as possible. we are joined by cihan tugal, professor of sociology at university of california berkeley, author of "the fall of the turkish model: how the arab uprisings brought down islamic liberalism." he wrote a piece for "the new york times" earlier this month headlined "whatever happens next, turkey is in trouble." he is working on a book on rightwing populist regimes, including erdogan's.

he has written extensively in turkish and english about erdogan's rule. professor, thank you so much for being with us. can you start off by talking about the significance of this victory and characterize come if you will, erdogan's rule over the past 20 years? >> it is a significant victory. the far right forces have held onto the parliament, which they were connected which was -- what was predicted to be the presidential race was easily won by erdogan and this was made possible by the monopolization of the media judiciary and the electoral system. however, it was also made possible by the incompetence of the mainstream opposition.

erdogan's rule has been getting more and more authoritarian. it was quite conservative from the get go and it has had many authoritarian elements. but these were ignored by the western world. erdogan was supported by liberals at home, too. free-market reforms, mostly. in 2010, he changed track. while deepening some free-market reforms such as privatization, also started to use many state capitalist tools to bolster a big defense sector. so the turkish economy itself is now becoming a problem for a more and more nationalist regime. so the regime today is more conservative, more authoritarian, and more nationalist, as well as being

quite and to organized labor -- anti-organized labor. it is really destroying any prospects for democracy in turkey. juan: professor, could you talk about how the economic situation in turkey because clearly there appears to be a deep divide between the vote in the countryside and the major cities, but also how has wealth inequality developed under erdogan in terms of the masses of the people and why does he still have so much support, especially in the rural areas? >> not only in rural areas, but also in the working-class districts of the big cities. that is very important. it is usually ignored. what is happening is inequality is deepening. so if you look at the numbers, that is very clear. so why are the people who are

losing, the laboring classes, still supporting erdogan? we have to make the picture a little more complicated, actually. even though labor as a whole is losing, the labor in the defense sector and also small to medium sized businesses who benefit from low interest rates are actually seeing a sustainable path in all of this for themselves. sustainable in this since they keep their jobs but with low wages and under horrific conditions. work accidents, deaths caused by work "accidents" are rampant in turkey. this is not just cheap labor about widely exploited labor. the alternative to this, presented by the mainstream

opposition, is not an alternative at all. their vision is a return to the 2000's where erdogan was still the leader but he was applying free-market policies. that is what the opposition is promising. people will know that would mean unemployment, it would mean more debt, not necessarily a better life. so the people are forced to choose between failure and a road that maybe unsustainable in the very long term but at least is providing them with jobs now. that is what the people have voted for in these working-class districts of the cities. amy: professor, if you can talk about erdogan's opposition to sweden becoming part of nato.

it is not an anti-militarist opposition but it is because of kurds and kurdish political asylum-seekers coming from turkey to sweden, the people he wants extradited. can you explain what this is all about? >> yes, this is not an anti-nato opposition. it is not only not antimilitarist, it is not anti-nato. erdogan is prone nato but he wants to make sure that sweden makes concessions before accepted into nato. it was a lot of kurdish activists -- she wants a lot of kurdish activists extradited to turkey before sweden is accepted. this is actually a very complex picture because even though erdogan is pro-nato, his very good relations with putin and his relations are going to get better. erdogan plays the anti-putin

card when he talks to nato and anti-nato card when he talks to putin. at home to his own audience, he presents himself as independent from both as part of his imperial self presentation. he sees himself and many of his supporters see him as building a national islamic empire in the very long run that is going to be an alternative to the nato and to russia. juan: professor, i wanted to ask you are repeated u.s. government always tried so lightly when it comes to criticizing turkey because of its role in the middle east and the role it plays often to assist the united states in the middle east. could you talk about that as well? >> it is not only the u.s., it is also the e.u.

they criticize authoritarianism turkey and then they support erdogan because they're getting something out of this. the global economy is getting cheap labor out of this so this is an interest of national capital. and for the u.s. -- erdogan is not a very reliable partner. but he is better. for the e.u., the calculation is much -- they pay erdogan to keep refugees out of europe. so the dirtiest deal is actually with the eu. amy: professor, if you can comment on the fact in october the republic of turkey will celebrate centennial. talk about the significance of these elections in that context, erdogan continuing through past 20 years.

>> again, there was full scope that this would be -- false hope that these elections will be the end of erdoganism. the islamic surge would just be a parenthetical note but this was just wishful thinking. the organizational basis of islamism and far right nationalism in turkey are very strong and the mistake was always counting on the bureaucracy and the neural classes to present an alternative to that completely ignoring the laboring classes and marginalizing and excluding the kurds. that is what the mainstream opposition did. the only way to keep republican ideals alive in turkey is through integrating kurds and mobilizing labor. amy: professor cihan tugal is a professor of sociology at uc berkeley.

author of "the fall of the turkish model: how the arab uprisings brought down islamic liberalism." that does it for our show. a very happy birthday, angie karran! democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to

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