09/01/23 09/01/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what do what you call them? give me a name. stand back and stand by. amy: nearly three years after donald trump called on the far right proud boys to stand by, one of its leaders has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in the january 6

insurrection. another proud boy got 15. we will get the latest. then we go to minnesota where water protectors on trial facing five years in prison for endangering a peaceful protest because the enbridge line 3 pipeline. >> i fear for my daughter and my daughter's daughter and all their children and grandchildren. i am here because there is a real climate crisis and no one seems to care. amy: then as cleanup efforts begin after hurricane idalia, we will speak to rhiana gunn-wright, one of the architects of the green new deal. >> there is a moral imperative to make sure the same people who bear the brunt of our reliance on fossil fuel are not the same people who the green transition is being built on their backs. amy: and we will look at why thousands of afghan evacuees are being arbitrarily detained

overseas as they wait for approval to come to the united states. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. trump pleaded not guilty to 13 felony charges over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in georgia. trump also requested his case be tried separately from his 18 co-defendants. trump's legal team argued an october 23 start date was too early for the trial and that that some of his co-defendants have asked for a speedy trial. meanwhile, the release date for the fulton county grand jury's final report is set for september 8. a judge said trump's georgia trial will be televised and live streamed. in related news, georgia's republican governor brian kemp dismissed calls to launch impeachment proceedings against fulton county d.a. fani willis, who brought the racketeering case. one of trump's georgia

co-defendants, lawyer john eastman, appeared on fox news this week where he admitted to pressuring then-vice president mike pence to delay certification of the election. >> i explicitly told vice president pence in the oval office on january 4 that even though it was an open issue under the circumstances we had, i thought it was the weaker argument and would be bullish to exercise such power even if he had it. what i recommended is that he exceed to request more than 100 state legislators in the swing states to give them a week to try to sort out the impact of what everybody acknowledged was illegality in the conduct of the election. amy: a federal judge sentenced two former leaders of the proud boys, joseph biggs and zachary rehl, to 17 years and 15 years in prison respectively for the seditious conspiracy to keep donald trump in power by attacking the u.s. capitol on january 6, 2021. the sentences are some of the stiffest yet over january 6, though prosecutors had sought

30-plus years for the two men. a lawyer for biggs spoke after his sentence. >> if your president tells you, your country has been stolen, the country that people fought and died for, people are trying to take your vote from you, how are you supposed to react to that? these people reacted violently and to their detriment. i think these cases are grotesquely overcharged. amy: both men broke down in court. two other proud boys, dominic pezzola and ethan nordean, are receiving their sentences today. henrique tarrio will be sentenced we'll have more on tuesday. this after headlines. the african union has suspended gabon's membership following wednesday's military coup and ouster of long-time president ali bongo. the u.n. has also condemned the coup, but many gabonese have voiced support for the military >> it is important remember we been waiting for this release

for several years. the bongo regime has been sharing out gabon's well for years. we have been waiting for this with real satisfaction. it is a real pleasure. today i am proud to say the gabon's independence took place august 30, 2023. amy: meanwhile, main opposition leader albert ondo ossa, who lost his challenge to ali bongo in saturday's contested election, is calling for the junta to complete the ballot count and hand over power to civilians. in the democratic republic of the congo, afp reports at least 48 people were killed by congolese soldiers wednesday as armed forces cracked down on a protest against united nations peacekeepers in the city of goma. dozens of others were wounded while over 150 people were reportedly arrested. the demonstration was led by a christian sect. u.n. peacekeeping efforts in the drc have been widely criticized as many communities say their presence has done little to prevent conflict. violence has soared in recent years, particularly in the eastern region of the country.

chile's government is launching a nationwide search for over 1000 people who were forcibly disappeared during the u.s.-backed military dictatorship of general augusto pinochet. chilean president gabriel boric made the announcement wednesday ahead of the 50th anniversary of the u.s.-backed coup that overthrew the democratically-elected president salvador ledet. survivors of the pinochet regime have long demanded justice. >> had the hope they were alive. as years went by, we realize they weren't. at least they should have told us what happened to them, what was done to them. that is the worst part of these 50 years. amy: in colombia, a truth and justice tribunal found the u.s.-trained general mario montoya responsible for 130 extrajudicial killings and disappearances between 2002 and 2003. montoya is accused of deliberately mislabeling civilians killed by his soldiers

as enemy combatants as part of the "false positives" scandal. over 6000 civilians, including children and disabled people, were killed by colombian soldiers from 2002 to 2008 who then classified their victims as fighters from the revolutionary armed forces of colombia, or farc. the biden administration on thursday sent another deportation flight to haiti with at least 60 asylum seekers. this came a day after the state department urged u.s. citizens to immediately leave haiti due to worsening violence. immigrant rights advocates condemned the deportations. this is guerline jozef, executive director of the haitian bridge alliance. >> to really highlight the inhumane nature of the deportations, i want to share one of the people who got deported this morning. it is a woman who has been in detention since february. she has been living with chronic pain, extreme medical issues.

upon return from the hospital, she was put on a plane and deported this morning. she is stuck with nowhere to go and her family in the united states has been calling and asking to find some help for her. amy: tens of thousands of haitian asylum seekers, including children, have been deported since president biden took office despite international condemnation and calls for humanitarian relief as haiti faces a spiraling political and economic crisis with gangs gaining control of large portions of the country. the u.s. state department has approved an $80 million military aid package to taiwan under a program typically used for sovereign states. beijing has condemned the move, seen as another challenge to its sovereignty over taiwan. beleaguered supreme court

justice clarence thomas acknowledged he took four flights on the private jet of conservative megadonor harlan crow last year as part of his annual financial filing. he also amended previous filings which he allegedly averted information. this comes after propublica and others revealed thomas had failed to disclose at least 38 luxury trips from crow and three other right-wing billionaires for decades. thomas and his family also sold three properties to crow. rhode island democrat sheldon whitehouse said -- "this late-come effort at 'clean-up on aisle three' won't deter us from fully investigating the massive, secret, right-wing billionaire influence in which this court is enmired." texas' ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth goes into effect today after the state's supreme court overruled an earlier decision by a texas judge who found the ban unconstitutional. the law will not only block transgender youth from accessing new care, it will force those

already on transition medications to wean off of them. rights groups are appealing. separately, a federal judge temporarily blocked a texas law that would restrict drag performances while the court reviews the case. meanwhile, canada has issued a travel advisory for its lgbtq+ citizens visiting the united states due to the recent flurry of discriminatory laws passed by republicans. and in san francisco, tech workers and other protesters gathered outside the google cloud next conference this week to call out google's contract with israel, which uses the cloud service for its public sector and military, including to surveil palestinians. this is activist ariel koren. >> we are here representing the no tech for apartheid campaign. we are coalition of google workers and community members who have coalesced to send a strong message to the company that google workers are refusing to allow their labor to be used

to power apartheid violence against palestinian people. amy: project nimbus is a $1.2 billion artificial intelligence and computer technology agreement between google, amazon web services, and the israeli government which went into effect in july 2021. a statement from the movement "no tech for apartheid" said -- "technology should be used to bring people together, not enable apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and settler colonialism." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. two leaders of the far right proud boys have been given lengthy prison sentences for their role in the january 6 insurrection. joseph biggs, who was a top lieutenant in the proud boys, received a 17-year sentence. zachary rehl, the former head of the proud boys in philadelphia, got a 15-year sentence. they had been convicted of seditious conspiracy in may.

the sentences are only about half as long as what federal prosecutors had recommended. the u.s. district court judge timothy kelly did agree to apply a terrorism enhancement in calculating their sentences. judge kelly, who was appointed by donald trump, talked about what happened on january 6, 2021 saying -- "that day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power. the mob brought an entire branch of government to heel." after the sentencing, biggs and rehl's attorney norman pattis spoke to reporters outside the courthouse. >> where is donald trump and all of this? he stood on the lips, basically told people, 74 million of his followers, election is stolen, go to the capitol, fight like hell. some people listened to him. were they supposed to know he was full of hot air? and was people -- was he full of hot air? i look forward to his trial.

>> [inaudible] >> do i blame him? as judge kelly noted in the rehl sentencing, it is a mitigating factor but not a justifying or excusing factor. you know, if your president tells you, your country has been stolen, the country that people fought and died for, people are trying to take your vote from you, how are you supposed to react to that? these people reacted violently and to their detriment. amy: ahead of the sentencing, both of the proud boys broke down in crying, with saying "i'm , done peddling lies for other people who don't care about me." seattle proud boys leader ethan nordean is scheduled to be sentenced today, along with dominic pezzola. and on tuesday, enrique tarrio will be sentenced. he is the former national leader of the proud boys. federal prosecutors are seeking a 33-year sentence for tarrio. joining us now is andy campbell.

he is a senior editor at huffpost and author of the book "we are proud boys: how a right wing street gang ushered in a new era of american extremism." welcome back to democracy now! talk about what happened in court yesterday and the significance of these 17 year and 15 your sentences. the long, they are about half as long as what the prosecutors are busted. as you answer that russian, talk about the enhanced charge of terrorism and what the judge did with that. >> these are, as you said, two lieutenants who have been with the gang for a long time, pushing the same rhetoric that made january 6 happen. both of them solved in court -- sobbed january 6 was a slipup of the mind. what we know and both of their cases and throughout their

violent history, four days after the news networks called the election for joe biden, joe biggs, the gang's top propagandist i would say, published a blog titled "the second civil war is closer than you might think." these guys, alongside donald trump, and legally after trump lost saw january 6 as their last stand for trump. there was an air through their sobs right before their sentencing of they were claiming this was a slipup during the day, that they followed donald trump erroneously. but we know for a fact that these guys were ready and willing to bring violence to the situation for trump just as they always have. now, the sentences that each of these lieutenants got show that

the justice department and now the judge overseeing the case tim kelly, see the proud boys as one of if not the top organizers , planners, and executors of the riots on january 6. these are, with the terrorism enhancement, very serious charges, seditious sister -- conspiracy is a rare charge. this is very serious. will the sentences have any sort of tamping down effect on her overall extremist crisis? i don't think so. is certainly, the 15 year and 17 year sentence is two top lieutenants of the proud boys does not bode well for the last three defendants, especially the chairman enrique tarrio who the government argued successfully oversaw the entire thing from start to finish on january 6. amy: i want to go back to

january 6, 2021. this is proud boy joe biggs and a selfie -- in a selfie post of we just stormed the capitol. amy: tell us more about who proud boy joe biggs is and also his relationship with info wars and alex jones, a correspondent. tell us about him. >> he is an army veteran. he was in the army for eight years, did tours of iraq -- in fact, got a head injury there. he is also a former info wars correspondent and through that, was able to consistently put the proud boys in front of a huge sweeping audience that alex

jones enjoys. he was there top propagandist throughout their careers. he is putting proud boys come helping -- putting proud boys in front of alex jones to help him celebrate the violence they were committing against the gop's -perceived enemies. one of these went on alex jone'' show in 2018 after knocking a protester out cold, alex jones said it was one of the most beautiful american moments he'd ever seen. joe biggs was instrumental in helping the proud boys become a big part of the gop conversation and ultimately become the architect of the biggest last stand for trump ever. joe biggs is there propagandist. zachary rehl is the leader of the philadelphia proud boys come the former leader now, who marched with biggs on january 6 in front of the pack of riders

that marched for the capitol. it was in between the and capitol were joe biggs came upon a police barricade. he breached that barricade, allowing the other rioters to go through and giving this sort of tacit endorsement to storming the capitol. it was a pivotal moment for this entire riot. it is for that reach that joe biggs created that they got the terrorism enhancement on their charges. judge tim kelly said colloquially i'm not going to like and what the proud boys did to plotting to blow up a government building. however, it was blowing up of the american process of the peaceful transfer of power that makes this terrorism enhancement accurate. and it is a big reason why there sentences are so substantial here. amy: i wanted to ask you about

this comment of joe biggs. november 10, 2020, just after the news networks called the election for joe biden, biggs posted on his website in which he called for, well, directly for civil war, saying "buy ammo, clean guns, get storable food and water." he wrote "be prepared, things are about to get bad before they get better." but that was public but it is not only about biggs. we are going from the boots into this suits. this is the issue that was raised, they thought they were being patriots for the president of the united states who said we are talking about a stolen election. so certainly, donald trump you about this. talk about what these sentences

mean for donald trump, who has been accused, indicted over and over again. >> absolutely. the proud boys can argue all they want that it was an accident, that they were just responding to trump, but that is their directive as a gang. not only have they consistently committed violence on behalf of trump's words, tucker crossan's words, the overworld gop grievance machine, but they are trump close friends with trump's top people. enrique tarrio was in contact with roger stone, one of trump's top confidantes, on january 6, leading up to january 6, and after stones that he had been helping the proud was become a more political machine for years january 6 leading up to.

these guys had an absolute lie to trump. i'm not try to suggest i have evidence they spoke or got word to trump on the day, we don't know that yet, but certainly, trump knew there was a street gang and a bunch of rioters out there waiting in the wings to mobilize on his word. in fact, shortly after trump posted a message on twitter saying this protest would be wild washington on january 6, joseph biggs wrote to enrique tarrio encouraging him to get "radical and real men" to answer that call to action. amy: when it comes to trump knowing, we already know on january 6 when he was told men were armed coming to his rally, trump's response was to say "don't force people to go through metal detectors." >> absolutely.

michael cohen said prior to january 6 in an interview with cnn, he said, "trump knows he has proud boys in the street and he is excited about it." january 6 cohen set is going to be very bad. that is just how it has played out over january 6 and over again before january 6. let's not forget, the proud boys, despite her leaders being in jail, are still doing all of the same violence on gop's grievances that they were before. it continues. amy: particularly going after drag shows, particularly going after pro-choice protesters and abortion clinics? >> absolutely. people ask, well, the national leaders are all behind bars stop they dissolved the national chapter, does this mean the end of the proud boys? it does not

because they work locally. they are at abortion clinics, school board meetings, mobilizing on words i've other big gop voices like ron desantis across the country at rapid clip. the only thing that has really changed about the proud boys since these convictions and sentences is that they are not amassing on a huge level for trump like they used to. but nobody is doing that. that may change during the election. i think it is important to note that if the proud boys dissolved tomorrow or they changed their name -- which i don't expect -- it does not change the fact we have ingrained extremist crisis at the highest levels of government on the right and that there proud boys have done what judge kelly called the breaking of the tradition of peaceful transfer of power. it is so normalized violence that you can expect to be scared

at a polling place, at an abortion clinic, the scared at the american political rallies because we have this extremist contingent and that is the damage the proud boys did and continue to do to this day. amy: andy campbell, thank you irving with his, senior editor at huffpost. his book is "we are proud boys: how a right wing street gang ushered in a new era of american extremism." coming up, we go to minnesota where water protectors on trial facing five years in prison for engaging in peaceful protest against the enbridge line three pipeline. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "fought the law" covered by the clash. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to minnesota, where a non-violent water protector is facing up to five years in prison for taking part in an action against the enbridge line 3 tar sands oil pipeline. two years ago in august of 2021, mylene vialard attached herself

to a 25-foot bamboo tower erected to block a line 3 pumping station in aitkin county. vialard, who lives in colorado, had come to minnesota to take part in a wave of indigenous-led acts of civil disobedience to stop the pipeline. she was filmed during the action. >> i am here for my daughter and my daughters daughter and all of their children and grandchildren. i am here because there is a real climate crisis and nobody seems to care. i am here because that is the only thing i can do right now. i have to show up and i have to defend this land and defend the rights of the people. amy: between december 2020 and september 2021, police in minnesota made more than 1000 arrests. mylene vialard is just the second water protector facing felony charges to go to trial.

her trial began this week. mylene joins us now, along with tara houska, who is an indigenous lawyer, activist, and founder of the giniw collective. she is ojibwe from couchiching first nation. tara houska was also arrested in 2021 for participating in a nonviolent action against line 3. mylene vialard, talk about the trial. the prosecution has presented their case. go back two years for us and talk more about why you came to minnesota and exactly what you did and hope to accomplish. >> thank you, amy. it is an honor to be here with tara today. two years ago, i heard the call from indigenous women to come to minnesota to fight line 3 and was really moved by their fight. it has been a long fight for

them. my daughter decided to come here first and then i followed her later to also participate in vote nonviolent -- in nonviolent protest. on that day there was a bamboo and wire tower that was -- which i climbed to the top of. locked into with another water protector. we were trying to stop the construction of this pumping station -- which, by the way, had just and aquifer breach exactly a month ago. we were trying to avoid that. enbridge has really bad track record going back to the 80's. we were outraged the permit had

even been accepted and delivered. going there was really fighting for the people who have been fighting for seven years alongside them in solidarity with them and fighting for the right to clean water, clean air -- which the fossil fuel industry has destroyed, basically. we are destroying our planet. we are destroying our way of life. we are destroying the water up here in minnesota where the headwaters of the mississippi river are. it is the land of 1000 lakes and we are destroying those lakes. enbridge went under 200 bodies of water and we went up there to say, no, basically, no to destroying the land, destroying the water, destroying the air, destroying the way of life of everybody.

amy: i am wondering how you feel the trial is going and why you refused to take a plea deal on the felony charge? you are facing also a $10,000 fine. >> right. i could not sign the papers saying i was guilty because i am not the guilty party here. enbridge is destroying the land to put a pipeline that we know is going to leak. it is violence against the earth, the water, the people live on this land and depend on that. yeah, i could not take the plea deal. i am not guilty. if the state wants to prove me guilty, then they have to do that, which so far has not happened and yet i am still here

fighting. i'm still in court. [indiscernible] has not been able to prove or not said i was doing anything wrong up there. i may nonviolent activist. i believe in nonviolence. everything i do in my daily life is nonviolent. you know, i was up there not instructing -- not obstructing legal process. that is the charge i got. i was protesting. i would say the trial is a farce right now at this point. my lawyer is reminding the court in the prosecution about

procedures, about the law, about legalese 101 that everyone should respect in court, and it is not happening. it is not happening. there are seven reasons i case should have been dismissed by now, and i'm going to testify today. amy: you're are very brave to come on. we are talking amidst, well, after lahaina was destroyed as a result of climate change in hawaii, after the south of the united states -- particularly florida and the carolinas -- have been hit hard by hurricane idalia. tara houska, i want to bring into this conversation as an indigenous lawyer and also peaceful protest are against line 3. you joined us on democracy now! after you were released from jail in 2021 stuff you posted

photos on social media with bloody welts on your arms after you are shot with rubber bullets during your peaceful action. can you talk about the escalation of police violence at the time and how you feel these cases are now going? >> since standing rock in the resistance because the dakota access pipeline, which you were also at an document at some of the police brutality that occurred there, the escalation of police both in the direct confrontations with nonviolent protesters and also just the prosecutorial system against specifically environmental activist has grown exponentially. i know there has been coverage on your program and others about the atlanta cop city protest. you had someone talking about how they had added on a felony terrorism enhancement. that was upfront with the

protesters at cop city. 42 people charged with domestic terrorism. i feel like the state legislature is trying to push felony protest -- they passed in other places. the crackdown on terminal protest is nationwide -- the crackdown on environmental protest is nationwide. amy: there are several other line 3 case is still open. next month, three women will go on trial on gross misdemeanor critical infrastructure charges related to a january 2021 protest. if you can talk about what this all means as the world becomes increasingly conscious of the climate catastrophe? also, the relationship between

enbridge security and minnesota police and authorities? >> we think about the words "critical infrastructure." what is it to the survival of human beings? water. designating an oil pipeline for fossil fuels bound somewhere else, the act of destruction of our own chance of survival, my daughter survival, it is just an abomination of where we are at as a species. you mentioned the increasing signs of the climate occurring. talking about the global boiling. we're not even saying global warming. it is global boiling. species extinction is so painful to watch. you have these attempts by human beings against other human beings who are trying to give

nature a voice -- at least try to do something different, actively pushing against and tried to suppress that voice. where you see and hear in minnesota, instead of the company behind closed doors paying off law enforcement to defend their pipeline and project, it was an open agreement overseen by the state of minnesota, overseen by the democratic government, tim wolf. that still stands. they are closing in on $9 million they have accepted. the biggest person that accepted the money or the agency that excepted that money was the department of natural resources. that is the people who were tasked to defend the wetlands which just got deregulated. the epa no longer has oversight. that is what is happening. that is the global picture that is happening not just here but around the world related

offenders are not just criminalized but killed for defending the earth. amy: i went to end with mylene. are you afraid of the sentence you face if you're found guilty, five years in prison? or are you hopeful that perhaps will go the route of the montana use who were -- where a judge has ruled on their behalf around climate protests and climate activism in challenging the state for engaging in destruction of the planet? >> i would not say i am afraid. i entered this fully aware of the risk i was taking and not really believing that the justice system in this court would be served -- would be hearing me fully.

so i am aware of what i am risking and i am going there fully aware of the risk, but i am not scared. i know where i stand. i know what my purpose is here. i am grateful for hearing us today. amy: what is your t-shirt say? >> defend the sacred. this is the t-shirt i was wearing on that day. this is why i was there. the sacred is the earth, the nature, the water, the people who live on this land. and all the animals, birds, sky. [inaudible] talking about and doing forever.

amy: i want to thank you very much for being with us, mylene vialard, water protector on trial in minnesota for taking part against the enbridge line 3 oil pipeline. she will testify today in court. she faces five years in prison if convicted. tara houska is an indigenous lawyer, activist, and founder of the giniw collective. this is democracy now! we continue to look at the climate emergency. the guardian is reporting hurricane idalia might become the costliest climate disaster to hit the united states this year. the category 3 storm left a trail of destruction from florida to carolinas. the forecasting company accuweather is projecting the storm might cost $20 billion. last week, noaa, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, revealed the united states had already

suffered at least 15 weather disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage. while the costs of the climate crisis continue to escalate, climate justice groups are warning the government must do far more to combat the climate emergency. we are joined now by rhiana gunn-wright, who was one of the architects of the green new deal. she has just written a new piece for hammer & hope headlined "our green transition may leave black people behind." she writes -- "i'm an architect of the green new deal, and i'm worried the racism in the biggest climate law endangers our ability to get off fossil fuels." take it from there. explain why you are so deeply concerned. >> i'm really deeply concerned because the inflation reduction act, the biggest climate law basically in u.s. history, is setting up the framework for the clean energy transition to come and so far there are many

provisions in the bill that just structurally the about black people or just don't address the needs, particularly of black front line communities. and at the debate in the decisions about how to implement the ira -- amy: the inflation reduction act. >> the desires of black front line communities in particular being set aside in some cases being dismissed. and it is very troubling because this is what is going to sort of glide -- guide the clean energy transition for the foreseeable future. as we've seen before in u.s. history, there is often a sense that we can get to justice later. but windows later, in so all of that and nation of factors as gotten -- amy: you right --

talk very specifically about what you mean. >> what i mean in order to pass the ira, senate democrats, leadership in particular, hatcher broker a deal with senator manchin. and part of that deal included compromises, particularly around allowing -- opening up lease sales in the gulf as well as compromises that allowed the building of the mountain valley pipeline to move forward. it is worth noting that both of those things happen blocked by court challenges from environmental groups and climate justice activists. both of those things were moved forward despite those challenges

by the compromises in order to let the ira pass. when i say that it seeped in, what i mean is that in doing that, you created some momentum where there was a sense that some amount of racism was a necessary cost for the ira to move forward because both of the gulf sales -- the elase sales in the gulf and with the mountain valley pipeline, those disproportionately affect black communities. i have noticed in debates there has been a real sidelining i think you see it in particular in the conversation about permitting reform, there has been a real sidelining black of, brown, and indigenous voices and

their call for a just transition in the debates about how to effectively implement the ira. when i talked about permitting reform, i mean there is a big push in particular to weaken it despite the fact nepa, the national environmental permitting act, is one of the main tools that front line communities have to protect themselves and push back against polluting infrastructure. the real troubling part about that being forefront in the permitting reform debate is that the ira also takes a real "all of the above" strategy when it comes to the energy transition. so that means it is basically investing in tons of technologies across the board. a lot of that is in renewable energy, technology, that a lot of people argue can help prop up fossil fuels even as they could

help decarbonize at the same time. so what that means is you are going to, along with the concessions, still see a buildout of fossil fuel infrastructure as well as renewable energy infrastructure. so getting nepa puts frontline communities in a vulnerable position, even if it is to speed up renewable energy transition. where at the same time you have a lot of climate justice activists calling for permitting reform but in a way that protects democratic participation that is about increasing the amount of planning, that is about making community consultations upfront more powerful -- less antagonistic, sort of try to build a procedure for infrastructure decisions to help guild trust. but those recommendations are

largely being sort of pushed aside, talked about as insufficient because i think, like i said, in part because of the concessions that happen with the ira. to pass it, there is an increasing sort of narrative about the tension between justice and urgency that is presenting a false choice that says essentially we have to do whatever we have two -- we have to increase the deployment of renewable energy by any means necessary, even if that means reducing democratic dissipation -- purchase a patient. there is a narrative that says we don't have enough time to make sure that the transition is just if there is any chance that that does not come in the form of just like regulatory streamlining across the board.

amy: you call for the expansion of justice 40. it aims to direct 40% of the benefits of the federal clean energy and other climate investments to disadvantaged communities. how can this be expanded? how can the biden administration nationally subsidize divestment from fossil fuels? >> can you repeat that last question? amy: how can the biden administration nationally subsidize divestment from fossil fuels equitably? >> oh, ok, totally. so on the first part, justice 40 is the administration's pretty much their signature initiative that says 40% of the benefit of climate and energy investments needs to go to disadvantaged communities. i called for the expansion of justice 40 because justice 40 was initiated before the ira.

it is unclear right now whether justice 40 will apply to ira spending across the board. what we have seen with justice 40 is there is a tendency to mostly include programs that are sort of legacy environmental justice programs like weatherization, energy efficiency, or just programs that are sort of sideload in the environmental justice camp and not necessarily spending related to the energy transition more broadly. so i am calling for justice 42 cover all of that. amy: we just have less than a minute to go. >> does in fact benefit everyone if all of this spending is included. at the same time, i do note funding for projects and technologies that frontline

communities have repeatedly opposed, say, carbon capture and storage, that should not be included in justice 40. at the end of the day, it is disrespectful if that is not actually division that frontline communities have for their role in the green transition. they want to get polluting infrastructure out entirely. we should be investing in renewable energy projects they are asking for whether that is community solar, microgrids, public own and provided energy microgrids most of those are the sort of things that over and over frontline communities and the groups that represent them say they want to get out of the green transition. amy: we have to leave it -- we have less than 30 seconds. that last point about the biden administration? >> for fossil fuel divest, one is there has to be no new

leases. for fossil fuel projects. the second is that we really need to form at the very least a commission to discuss how do we have a responsible wind down of fossil fuels right now we are leaving it up to the industry entirely. what we're saying over and over as they are not investing in that and it is very increasingly unlikely that they and fact will be investing low carbon energy in a real way. so without really a publicly planet transition, we are going to end up with the transition off of fossil fuels that is not only inequitable for black people but harms workers, residents, everyone, consumers, especially folks from regions where fossil fuels are a big part of that local economy. amy: rhiana gunn-wright, thank

you for being with us, what if the architects of the green new deal. we will link to your piece "our green transition may leave black people behind." coming up, why thousands of afghan evacuees are being arbitrarily detained overseas waiting to come into the united states. back in 20 seconds. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "signs" by tune-yards from the labor day classic "sorry to bother you." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. thousands of afghan evacuees seeking to come to the united states remain arbitrarily detained in other countries two

years after the taliban took control of afghanistan. many of the afghans are living in camps in the united arab emirates, qatar, and kosovo that are largely coordinated, facilitated, or under the control of the u.s. government. the center for constitutional rights and the group muslim advocates recently sued the pentagon, state department, and the department of homeland security seeking governmental records about the relocation and detention of afghan evacuees. we are joined now by sadaf doost, an attorney and bertha justice fellow at the center for constitutional rights. can you lay out the extent of the problem? how many people are being held and what they need to come into the united states? >> thank you so much for raising awareness and covering this issue. just as you mentioned, thousands of afghan civilians are being arbitrarily detained at these sites, and this comes after 20 decades of occupation and

invasion and war at the hands of the u.s. we're still seeing that two years after he was declared the end of the war most of afghan still continue to suffer at the hands of the u.s. government. the numbers, because of the very limited reporting out there, is uncertain. but it -- what limited reporting is out there indicates it is over 3000 people come up to 5000 or more, and these sites, just as you mentioned, the ones that are more reported about to are in the uae, qatar, and kosovo but others exist as well. what this lawsuit hopes to achieve is to provide more information to humanitarian, human rights, civil society organizations who really are hoping to hold the government

accountable and meaningfully engaged to intervene and prevent the continued detention of these afghan civilians. amy: tell us who these people are. the site in kosovo, for example, has been nicknamed little guantanamo. what happens if they leave the camps? what was the relationship with the u.s. as he was occupied afghanistan? why did they flee afghanistan? >> in kosovo, it is nicknamed little guantanamo because of the horrifying conditions. last year there was a protest staged by the afghans detained at these sites asking for better conditions, asking any government that has a hand in facilitating or coordinating these sites for better conditions. these individuals include human rights activists who had to flee afghanistan because the taliban is now searching for those

individuals. this includes journalists, some who worked with news organizations based in the u.s. or elsewhere. it includes women rights activists. lawyers, prosecutors, judges, as well as your everyday afghan civilians who had to flee because of the compounding humanitarian and human rights crisis in afghanistan. amy: i want to turn to a clip that we have to play of a person who was waiting. this is a clip that we got -- you can introduce it come of a young person who is waiting to come into the country. let's turn to the clip. >> have the passengers fell into the water and were swallowed up by the sea. those were left in the book tried to stay lie with the help

of their tubes. about two hours later, the french police showed up and threw tubes at his to save us. six died. half of the survivors were taken out by the u.k. police. i never believed i would survive. i thought i was dying. i was ready to die. i asked god to forgive my sina. i kept swimming for the sake of my parents and my brothers and sisters because we left home and were going through all of the suffering for their sake. i was fast losing the string to swim but i tried very hard to keep afloat. amy: that was a clip of a young man who was saved 22-year-old idris. last month, a boat full of mostly afghan refugees capsized in the english channel as it tried to reach britain from france. six of the people died. talk about the lengths people

are going to. >> it is extreme. what we're hearing from afghan civilians, they don't want to leave their home. nobody wants to leave their family and their loved ones. [no audio] all of the reports that afghans here in the u.s. southern border that are facing very similar conditions where they are not being welcomed, they are traveling multiple continents, 12 to 14 countries just to come to the u.s. and be locked up and discriminatory policies that are really targeting muslims and

afghans. amy: i want to thank you so much, sadaf doost, for joining us, attorney and bertha justice fellow at the center for constitutional rights. we will continue to follow this case. to see our podcasts, video and audio, sign-up for our new