09/12/23 09/12/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> it was always a myth that you would have international cooperation with the exclusion of large parts of the world. now we're moving toward a direction that includes those parts of the world that were excluded. america is the african union

enjoys the g20, we will take a close look at the g20 summit which just wrapped up in india, including chinese president xi jinping's absence, falling short on the climate emergency, and why russia is praising the final statement on the war in ukraine. then to chile to look at how henry kissinger and nixon supported the coup in chile 50 years ago this week when general pinochet ousted allende. >> the 50th anniversary of the coup in chile is an extraordinarily important date not only for chileans, but for the rest of the world that is struggling with democracy versus the force of authoritarianism. amy: we will speak to astra taylor, author of the new book "the age of insecurity: coming together as things fall apart." >> my new book looks at the way our economy is structured to

make us all insecure by design or what i called manufactured and divorce to capitalism thrives on bad feelings, on making us feel like we will never have enough or be enough where the rug is going to be pulled out from us at any moment. i think recognizing this is essential to building solidarity that we need to address the various political crises that we are facing today. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. thousands of people are feared dead in libya after a powerful mediterranean cyclone brought devastating flooding to the eastern port city of derna. libya's national center of meteorology says the storm dumped more than 16 inches of rain on the city in less than 24 hours, causing two dams to burst, washing away entire neighborhoods. on monday, a spokesperson for

the libyan national army put the death toll in the thousands, >> the latest update regarding the death toll exceeds 2000 in derna alone. there also 5000, 6000 missing people in this number could largely increase. amy: libya's red crescent and the red cross said the number of missing people has reached 10,000 with at least 20,000 displaced from their homes. much of the infrastructure has crumbled since 2011 when the obama administration and nato backed in uprising against the longtime leader muammar qaddafi, setting off years of war. the catastrophic floods in libya were triggered by storm daniel, a rare hurricane-like cyclone in the mediterranean known as a "medicane." it's the same storm that brought unprecedented flooding to greece, turkey, and bulgaria last week. in greece, public health officials are warning residents against using stagnant floodwater amid fears over the spread of disease while supplies of clean drinking water remain

scarce. nearly a quarter of this year's crop production was lost to flooding in greece's central agriculture-producing region. in morocco, hopes of finding survivors of last friday's devastating earthquake are fading as the government said the death toll is near 3000. the united nations says at least 300,000 people have been affected by the quake, a third of them children. here in the united states, the number of major climate-related disasters so far this year has already set records. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration said monday 23 separate weather and climate disasters have caused at least $1 billion in damage from january to august, surpassing the previous record set in all of 2020. in geneva, the united nations' top human rights official said monday wealthy nations are failing to take steps needed to prevent the worst effects of the climate catastrophe. volker türk spoke to the u.n.

human rights council after the g20 wrapped up a weekend summit in india with no commitment to phase out fossil fuels. >> climate change is pushing millions of people into famine. it is destroying hopes, opportunities, homes, and lives. in recent months, urgent warnings have become lethal realities again and again all around the world. we do not need more warnings. the dystopian future is already here. we need urgent action now. amy: ukraine's intelligence service says ukrainian forces have seized control of four strategically-important oil and gas drilling platforms in the black sea near the russian-annexed crimean peninsula. officials in kyiv accused russia of using the platforms as ammunition depots and radar stations and said their seizure brought ukraine one step closer to president zelenskyy's goal of recapturing crimea. nato is planning its largest military exercise since the cold war.

"the financial times" reports the wargames in germany and poland next february and march will involve more than 50 naval vessels, 40,000 military personnel, and hundreds of simulated air combat missions. on monday, sweden's government announced plans to boost military spending by nearly 30% ahead of its accession to nato. meanwhile, the kremlin has expressed alarm after the pentagon launched joint military exercises with armenia's armed forces in the former soviet republic, a long-time regional partner of russia. north korean leader kim jong-un has arrived in russia for talks with russian president vladimir putin. kim made the journey from pyongyang to the eastern russian city of vladivostok aboard an armored train. putin is reportedly seeking to purchase stockpiles of north korean artillery shells and rockets for russia's war effort in ukraine. in exchange, north korea could receive food, fuel, and technology from moscow. in washington, d.c., the state department threatened new sanctions against russia and north korea, saying any such deal would violate multiple security council resolutions.

in niger, leaders of the military junta that seized power in july are accusing france of massing troops and equipment in neighboring ecowas nations in preparation for military intervention in niger. >> these underhanded delaying tactics are designed to dull the picture arctic archer of the niger people and their fight for the total withdrawal of french troops in order to achieve a more successful military intervention against our country. amy: tension has been escalating between niger and its former colonial ruler the military coup in late july. french troops and france's ambassador have ignored demands to leave the country. the biden administration has cleared the way to release $6 billion in running oil blocked by u.s. sanctions in exchange for five americans imprisoned in iran. five iranian nationals currently detained in the u.s. are also being released as part of the agreement. iranian officials will be allowed to use the funds to buy food, medicine, and other

humanitarian needs. republicans have fiercely criticized the deal. senator tom cotton of arkansas accused president biden of "paying ransom to the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism." in the occupied west bank, hundreds of palestinians took to the streets sunday demanding justice for 16-year-old milad al-rai, who was killed by israeli soldiers during a raid on a refugee camp near the city of hebron a day earlier. some 185 palestinians have been killed in the west bank so far this year, including dozens of children and teens. lastly, the former head of israel's spy service mossad said israel is imposing apartheid on palestinians. telling the associated press, "in a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state." here in the united states, the food and drug administration has approved new covid-19 booster shots for people as young as six months old, with vaccinations set to begin as soon as this week. the vaccines produced by pfizer

and moderna have been reformulated against an omicron coronavirus subvariant that was dominant when the shots were selected by the fda in june. the vaccines are the first covid shots not to be purchased by the federal government. most health insurance plans, including medicare, will cover the cost of the vaccines. meanwhile, the cdc will administer a program to cover the cost of vaccinating people without insurance or whose plans won't cover the shots. this month the world health organization warned of a concerning rise in covid-19 cases ahead of winter in the northern hemisphere. >> hospitalizations are increasing in the americas, europe, what we call our southeast asia region. that is a worry given when it gets to colder months in some countries, people tend to spend more times indoors, aggregated together. viruses that transmit through the air like covid will take advantage of that. amy: in washington, d.c., at least seven people were arrested monday for peacefully occupying

the office of house speaker kevin mccarthy demanding congress reauthorize funding for a global program to prevent and treat hiv and aids. the president's emergency plan for aids relief, or pepfar, is set to expire on september 30 and has been stalled by republicans who claim some of the funds have been used for abortion access. housing works ceo charles king was among those arrested. the nonprofit said in a statement -- "pepfar has saved millions of lives. it is criminal for some members of congress to treat it as a political football." and in georgia, atlanta city officials are facing backlash after they refused to begin counting and verifying over 116,000 signatures submitted by activists monday in support of a public referendum that could block the construction of cop city, a massive $90 million police training center that would be the largest in the united states. the effort now appears to be in legal limbo after an appellate court suspended a previous order

by another judge that had granted activists more time to turn in the petitions. the original deadline to get the measure on the ballot was august 21. atlanta officials said they won't verify signature forms until the appellate court rules on whether the deadline extension was lawful. this is the latest setback for the stop cop city movement. it comes after 61 protesters were indicted on racketeering charges. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden has arrived backed in the united states after attending the g20 summit in india and making a state visit to vietnam. the g20 summit brought together leaders from many of the world's largest economies, but there were two notable absences -- chinese president xi jinping and russian president vladimir putin. in a key development, the african union has been admitted to the g20 as a permanent member. the au consists of 55 member states with a population of over 1.3 billion.

much of the negotiations at the g20 centered on joint statement that included a section on the war in ukraine. the final statement made no reference to russia's aggression in ukraine. instead, the document stated "all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition." meanwhile, on the climate crisis, the g20 joint statement called for just a "phase down" of coal instead of a "phase out" as many demanded. other fossil fuels weren't mentioned in the statement. the g20 also ignored calls for nations to enact new taxes on the ultrarich. on the sidelines of the g20, the united states, india, saudi arabia, and the european union announced plans for a major railway and port project to connect the middle east with india. many see the proposal as an alternative to china's belt and road initiative. the summit represented the first time that the g20 has met in india. ahead of the gathering, india

faced criticism for bulldozing slum areas in new delhi, leaving many residents without a home. the g20 summit also occurred as indian prime minister narendra modi appears to be moving toward changing the name of india to bharat, a sanskrit term which is already india's second official name but is not widely used internationally. invitations to dinners during the g20 used the name bharat instead of india. to talk about all of this and more, we are joined by jayati ghosh, an economics professor at the university of massachusetts-amherst. previously an economics professor at jawaharlal nehru university in new delhi, india, where she taught for 35 years. welcome to democracy now! professor, it is great to have you with us. what are you talk about what you thought was must significant outcome from the g20 and all the developments in it, the negotiation. >> i think the basic lesson of the g20 meeting is that geopolitics is everything and

that the leaders of the g20 are so intent on playing the particular game right now that they really don't care about what is required for the world as a whole. and that is important because if you remember, g20 was set up because it was argued the u.n. is too unwieldy, the organizations can do they're supposed to do so we need a more smaller, agile of the countries that really matter who are going to go out and do things. april 2009 was the high watermark. since then, they have not been effective. but now we are the point where we are even grateful they can get out a common statement. the whole year of india's g20 presidency, there was no joint statement. this is the first one. it is bland. there is really nothing in terms of anything to deliver for the rest of the world or even for their own countries. amy: professor, let's go to

speaking of statements, the ukraine statement, the war statement, which was apparently negotiated over 100 hours. i did not think the summit even lasted that long. can you explain what came out of it and why russia is so pleased with it? >> i think this statement to fix india's growing political climate because all these countries are trying to quote india. it is a backtracking from the statement in valley, the indonesian presidency, in which the invasion by russia of ukraine was condemned and in which there was a request for the withdrawal immediately. all of that has gone. there is no mention of russia. it is very bland kind of statement that says hostilities should cease and country should not try to get more territory from one another. this is a reflection of the fact

the g7, let's face it, currently sees india is more important or rather the current leadership in india as more important than standing up for what is clearly something very strong on their agenda otherwise in ukraine or even human rights in india and other countries. amy: president xi jinping was not there, president vladimir putin was not there. the significance of this? >> putin can't attend an international countries because of he could be arrested. that happened in south africa and now in india. the absence of xi jinping, which was relatively recent announcement, is interesting. xi jinping saying he can't be bothered at this time. he went to the brics summit the week before and it was a significant summit because of

the expansion of the brics. he is telling the g7, we don't need you. amy: can you talk about climate change? the climate catastrophe and how the g20 addressed it? so many climate activists around the world and right now of global heating, so deeply concerned about the lack of real statement about it. >> in fact, what is most appalling is this g20 has said nothing but the major problems of our time, which are no longer in the future. they are upon us. climate change absolutely, and the major disasters that are occurring across the world. really nothing of significance, statements that mean nothing. no concrete plan of action, just a general statement to work toward reducing fossil fuels as if nothing has changed, as if

the world is still the same as last year which it is not. there was nothing really on any meaningful talk of climate change, nothing on resolving the debt crisis. which in about 80 countries today, is worsening the possibilities of dealing with climate change as well. and yet this was an issue that india has made one of the major concerns it's presidency. modi said we're going to work toward a resolution of the debt crisis. nothing on that. terrible silence on the lack of taxation strategies, for example, texas on the very rich and sharing information that would enable that or even a better deal of corporate taxation then the one that is curtly on the table. nothing in terms of finding the resources that would enable countries to deal with not just the mitigation but right now they dealing with the impact of climate change that so many are facing. amy: the african union has been admitted as a permanent union.

the au consists of 55 member states with a population of over 1.3 billion. this is african union president azali assoumani. >> it was always a myth you would have such forms for international economic cooperation running with exclusion of large parts of the world. now we are moving toward a direction that includes those parts of the world that were excluded. amy: talk about the significance of the african union napping a permanent member of the g20, and also whether you see the g20 descending and power and brics, the conference that just took place in south africa, ascending. >> the african union should always have been a member. it is absurd the european union was a member of the african

union was not. clearly, this is something that should have happened much earlier. but what is the point of just invited to parties? which is what it has become, it is a talking shop and a party. no outcome, nothing serious initiative that would transform anything in the world today, whether on global health or public investment generally, or on the issues i just mentioned. yes, it is good that africa is part of this party, but that is about it. the g20 is not doing anything. that brings me to, what does it mean relative to the other group's emerging? what we're seeing is a period of significant realignment. all of these pieces moving around on chess boards in a game where everybody once -- wants

but no one is quite sure. we're entering a period of significant instability in terms of geopolitics. different alliances, different shades of cooperation or antagonism. and it is no longer unipolar. i don't think there are clear polls. it is not yet by the same level as china but deftly there are many more different alliances. we will see many more of those, whether expressed in groupings or not. is the g20 losing power? well, what power does it have? what has it done with that power over the last really more than 12 years? i would say the g20 is a collection of potentially very powerful governments that don't necessarily represent the interest of their own people, i might add. nonetheless, this collection has not done very much over the last 12, 13 years. amy: can you also talk about the

silence of the g20, the u.s. -- india, saudi arabia, nothing this poor project to connect, counter the belt and road initiative, normalization further of mbs into the international community, mohammed bin salman? >> i think the normalization of mbs is complete, and it shows how little g20 leaders really care about human rights. i think that is evident also in the courting of narenda modi. but what will this new initiative achieve? i will wait to see if they put their money where their mouth is. there have been many attempts by u.s. and europe to counter the chinese influence, as they call it, in terms of the belt and road initiative or other kinds of things.

but they just talk a lot. they don't really put money in it. the difference is china puts certificate resources and generated significant investment. let's see if that happens. at the moment, i'm a little doubtful. amy: what about the calls on g20 nations to agree on increasing taxes on the global wealthy? in the last decade, billionaires have more than doubled their well from $5.6 trillion to $11.8. you are among the signatories of the letter along with bernie sanders, former u.n. jocelyn president, and hundreds of others. outline what you're calling for. >> there are two things going on here. one is that even as we talk about extreme inequality, it keeps rising by the day. it is ballooning beyond any historical norms and yet we

don't have many more resources to address not just basic needs of human rights, to even address the calamity. we desperately need to raise public investment. this whole idea you can do it through public/private partnership is fine in principle, but right now you need public resources. you absolutely have to generate the money to do these basic things. it is so easy because there is this obscene creation which is really a result of an cleansing government regulations and government policies. in a way that would not even notice because, frankly, nobody notices that level of extreme ownership. they don't really, certainly they don't use all of that wealth but they don't actually notice how much there is when you are into the billions and so

on. relatively small taxes on the extremely wealthy, not on all but the extremely wealthy, would generate very significant amounts of revenue -- even in countries like india. for example, less than 1000 families if you tax, you get 1% of gdp, which is double the total health expenditure, public health expenditure in the country. you could do this very easily. it is the question that is striking that all these meetings, they come and talk about blah blah blah and don't address the easy low hanging fruit that could have been agreed to, just sharing information that would enable people, the government, the institute well taxes on the rich of their own countries wherever they keep their wealth. amy: finally, i wanted ask about prime minister narendra modi's placard at the opening of the summit, referring to india as bharat, raising speculation of

the change of name for india. can you talk about the significance of this very old and now new for the international community name, what it means and what it represents? >> it is a very strange thing that has just happened. the constitution of india says -- very often when we're speaking we use the term bharat. the two have been interchangeable forever. all my life i remember them being used interchangeably. suddenly, this move to removable goat india" from the international -- remove "india" from the international claiming it is a colonial remnant, which it is not, the word goes way back. so it goes way back. it has a very long history for

the name "india." they're doing this because a group of opposition countries, think now 24 in the alliance, they have called themselves "india." this has actually created a lot of nervousness in the ruling party. so many people see this as a knee-jerk reaction. oh, you're going to call yourself india? i'm going to remove india from all the official words. we won't allow you to claim india. it is bizarre. it would be funny if it were not also so expensively ridiculous. it will mean a huge expense in changing the names of everything. the bank of india for example, the currency note, everything. amy: this is similar to burma with the military junta renaming burma myanmar?

in the case of india with narendra modi, would you say it signifies the kind of hand supremacy even though it is sanskrit? >> i would say pretty much everything this government does is an underlining -- yes, this certainly part of that. but the immediate bringing in of this measure is a panic response to the fact the opposition parties are coming together and calling themselves "india." amy: jayati ghosh, thank you for being with us economics , professor at the university of massachusetts-amherst. next up, santiago, chile, or we continue our discussion on the 50th anniversary of the u.s.-supported coup and look at how henry kissinger and president nixon, what role they

play in supporting general pinochet ousting the democratically elected president salvador allende. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "redemption song" covered by joe strummer and the mescaleros. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn again to chile, which on monday marked the 50th anniversary of the u.s.-backed military coup that overthrew the democratically elected socialist president salvador allende and ushered in a 17-year dictatorship under augusto pinochet. during which some 40,000 people were politically executed, disappeared, imprisoned, or tortured. allende's daughter spoke at monday's commemoration ceremony in santiago. >> i was the last person for my father's entourage to enter the palace. we had a mandate to tell what happened in the barbarity that

had started to rise. memory is the first step to reach the truth but we need more to reach justice. to ensure the acts committed on that they are not repeated. amy: in the days after the u.s.-backed latour coup in chile , september 11, 19 73, the other september 11, then u.s. secretary of state henry kissinger told president richard nixon -- on september 6, a leading chilean television channel, chilevision, broadcast a major documentary film titled "operation chile: top secret," featuring dozens of u.s. declassified records obtained by the national security archive's chile documentation project. for more we are joined by peter kornbluh, the director of the national security archive's chile documentation project at george washington university. on the 30th anniversary of the coup in september 2003, he published "the pinochet file: a declassified dossier on atrocity and accountability."

on the 50th anniversary, the book has been revised and published in chile for the first time. his latest piece for the nation is headlined "chile: the secrets the u.s. government continues to hide." welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about what is now known and what is not known about the u.s. role, especially as this has been the year that people have said it in her kissinger on his birthday? >> i'm delighted to be with you and your audience on this poignant, powerful, dramatic, dynamic, divisive 50th anniversary here in chile. i was at the event yesterday were suited or allende spoke. -- where senator isabel allende spoke. she was deeply moving in front of the building what she last

saw her father alive. the nation magazine has published excerpts of her memoir just yesterday where in english she recounts the very day 50 years ago the dramatic. heartbreaking detail -- in dramatic and very heartbreaking detail. there is a lot to be reminded of and there are the secrets that remain. just to give your audience a sense of what we know, 50 years ago today on september 12, 19 73, henry kissinger called together a special interagency committee now is the washington special action group. within 24 hours of the coup, he was in discussion with these interagency representatives on how to help the pinochet regime consolidate, even as people were being killed and their bodies dumped in the street and rounded

up and put into concentration camps and bodies floating in the river here in santiago. kissinger convened this committee. we have the declassified memoranda conversation. officials started joking about the coup. kissinger told everybody, president nixon is concerned we might want to spend so into the funeral. i told him we were not going to do that and someone pipes up and says, well, you can go. another official says, our policy on allende work pretty well. this gives you a sense of the attitude of the u.s. officials and efforts made literally in the first minutes to help the military regime consolidate. after three years of an effort to destabilize the constitutional government of chile, the immediate effort to help unconstitutional military regime consolidate its power for

the next 17 years. there are other secrets that we want to get out. the chilean government had asked the biden administration for special declassification diplomacy gesture for the 50th anniversary. so far, only two documents have been declassified. there are many more that have been asked for that hopefully at some point will, out. it is just been announced that president boric will come to washington. that would be a good time for the biden administration to release more documents as a gesture to chile. >> x but who that was in the assassination on embassy road in washington, d.c. >> the horror of u.s. policy and support for the pinochet coup or the pinochet regime is that regime turned out to be

state-sponsored international terrorism. that terrorism came to the streets of our nation's capital on september 21, 19 76, 3 years after the coup. pinochet personally ordered the secret police to send a death squad basically to washington. agents of the intelligence service here in santiago put a car bomb under the side of the automobile, the leading opponent of the pinochet regime. he and his 25-year-old colleague were killed in this active terrorism when the bomb exploded. every year, there's a ceremony here. this year, because of this special anniversary, president boric --and it was just announced. he gave a rousing speech

yesterday, basically saying there's always an alternative to political violence. and it is time for the world, which is in deep struggle between democracy and the forces of authoritarianism to come to an agreement. even if people disagree, parties disagree, it is far preferable to the pinochets of the world. amy: i was listing to a speech you gave, peter kornbluh, where you contrast to what inner kissinger wrote in his series of memoirs about the u.s. role in chile and what you actually have documentation of it because like president nixon, henry kissinger recorded his conversations, his phone conversations, what were they called, telecoms? telcoms? can you explain what it was he said and specifically about the meeting he had with pinochet,

what he said he talked about, what he actually talked about with the contemporaneous information coming out. >> we have kissinger's conversations with richard nixon, which is kind of ironic because nixon secretly taped his phone conversations and did not know kissinger secretly taped his phone conversations. when they talked to each other, they were secretly taping each other's conversations. in this case, henry kissinger came to santiago in june 1976. he met with pinochet and his aides told him, have to be clear with pinochet that he has to return to civilian rule and that he has to stop crimes against humanity, stop violating human rights. this is literally the memorandum -- chile becoming much like spain and the whole world is

watching and all the pinochet understands from you is a direct approach for his conduct. instead, kissinger goes into the meeting and tells pinochet that kissinger's opinion, victim of leftist propaganda and the only crime he has committed is overthrowing the government that was going communist. kissinger basically said, we want to help you, not hurt you. you did a great service to the west. here have to give a speech on human rights but the speech is not directed at you. it would help if you could clear up your position on human rights little bit because the u.s. congress is breathing down my neck and i'm not going to be able to give you, because congress is going to cut off the aid unless something changes here. these platitudes to pinochet were not mentioned in kissinger's memoir. instead, he says, i will talk to pinochet about human rights and

democracy. but we have the actual memorandum of conversation that was taken from notes of kissinger's own deputy at that meeting and he doesn't mention democracy really ever. the human rights issue is really only peripherally tied into all of these compliments that he gives to pinochet. the truth is in the declassified documents, not memoirs. kissinger's memoirs are filled with self-serving spin on his role in history. it is recorded in great detail on chile. he was a leading architect of the policies and strategies to overthrow allende, the leading enabler in the united states government of a push to consolidate i'm helping to consolidate his bloody regime. amy: i want to go back to 2016 to testimonies of survivors of

torture under the pinochet dictatorship revealed in an art exhibit, the government decided to keep the testimony secret for decades. in 2004 come the chilean government passed a law ordering the testimonies remain secret for 50 years until 2054. but in 2016, a project launched by chilean artist francisco papas fritas and torture survivors succeeded in declassifying these testimonies. this is torture survivor . >> on london street, i was held approximately 10 days. while i was there, i suffered all kinds of tortures, specifically sexual, political violence. psychologically, torture bringing me with the detention of my children. psychological torture, forcing me to listen to how they tortured other people, which is something very difficult to

endure. psychologically, your left traumatized because when they torture you, in some way you are all time resisting. but when you listen to how they torture other people, and i have talked about this with several people, it is one of the most difficult things to endure. amy: that is scarlett mathieu loguercio. peter kornbluh, as we wrap up, the importance of hearing these voices from 50 years ago and what they teach us about today in the world, the power of the survivors and their testimony, and particularly with the united states, its role in the world. >> well, those testimonies which are circulated here in chile. when victims are able to speak out, some cannot some can't because of the horrors they suffered, those testimonies are so important. there human reminders of the horrors, the nightmares of the pinochet dictatorship.

chile does not want to go down that road again, even though there are a significant amount of pinochetistas who claim pinochet did nothing wrong, the coup was inevitable, the coup was allende's fault, that pinochet was a statesman. all of those issues are under fierce discussion here in chile. the declassified documents the united states has lindstrom and his evidence to the truth about what happens and that truth we have to remember not only for chileans not to repeat the past, but for other countries of the world, including our own -- authoritarian voices are rising to dangerous levels that threaten our democracy. amy: i want to thank you, peter kornbluh, for joining us director of the national , security archive's chile

document tatian project. we're going to link to our conversation with ariel dorfman yesterday, one of the last people to see salvador allende alive in the la moneda, the chilean palace. he also spoke about his new book "the suicide museum." we are also posting at democracynow.org are interviews with isabel allende. the one we just heard is the chilean state senator who spoke so movingly about what happened 50 years ago. isabel allende the chilean american author also talks about that day, september 11, 1973. the other september 11, 50 years ago this week. next up, as interest begins

accruing on federal student loans, we will speak to astra taylor, author of the new book "the age of insecurity: coming together as things fall apart." back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "god bless the child" performed by sonny rollins. the jazz great turned 93 this week. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the covid 19 student loan forbearance ended this month, and some 40 million americans saw interest began to accrue again on their federal student loans on september 1. next month, repayments on the loans themselves will resume. as people struggle to make their first payments in more than three years, many are being targeted by robocalls that promote scams which offer help that is not real. student-loan borrowers in minnesota who paid one of the 52 companies suspected of falsely promising them loan forgiveness could get help after the state launched an investigation. this is minnesota attorney general keith ellison. >> we at the masonic attorney general's office open an investigation into some

companies that are purporting to help students do debt relief. if they tell you they can forgive your loan or cancel your loan, they probably cannot. really, that is something the federal government can do. know if it is too good to be true, it probably is. amy: last week, the biden administration announced 4 million student loan borrowers are now enrolled in a new, so-called income-driven repayment plan called saving on a valuable education, or save, that it launched after the supreme court ruled against biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans per person in june. meanwhile, another tool launched by the debt collective helps people apply to the department of education and ask them to cancel the borrower's debt. as the website notes -- "filling out this form creates an individual demand letter, tailored to your own student debt story, calling on the department of education to use

its powers to cancel not just your debt, but everyone's." for more on all of this, we are joined by astra taylor, organizer with the debt collective. she has also just published her new book titled "the age of insecurity: coming together as things fall apart." thank you for being with us. as you go on your book tour for the age of insecurity. let's start off by talking about this month, what is just happen september 1 and then october 1 and what you're suggesting happen. >> in terms of student debt payments, the covid paws has ended and interest has begun to accrue and people are going to be expected to make payments september 1. this is entirely unnecessary. the sky has now fallen over the last few years with student loan payment pause. it is proof the government does not need the

student payment. the debt collective's position has always been the president of united states has the authority to the higher education act of 1965 to cancel all student debt. this is the legal authority that president biden has said he will try to use in the wake of the supreme court decision that shot down his initial debt relief land. we are trying to push him to actually do that and use his full powers because none of this is necessary. this that can be erased. the government does not need student debtors to pay their bills, to keep operating. incredible amount of suffering is about to commence. one thing we are hearing from people who are filling out our new tool is there going to have to make impossible decisions between paying student loans and paying rent and paying medical or dental bills. we are hearing from people who are considering suicide. it is urgent that the president

fulfill his promise and address this crisis and cancel student debt. i encourage everyone who has federal student loans listening to take 10 or 20 minutes and use our student debt relief tool and become part of this movement to push for debt abolition. amy: again, expend why you don't use the term "debt forgiveness" but "debt cancellation" or really. >> we have done nothing wrong. we believe education is a right. people go to college because they are curious, because they want to have a career that require certain professional training. this is not a crime. this is not something you should need forgiveness for if you can't pay your student loans. it is absolutely ridiculous that a four-year college experience can cause upwards of $200,000 in this country. our position is debtors should

not be blamed, therefore they should not ask for forgiveness and instead we use the language of "debt cancellation" and "debt abolition" because we think the people who actually are morally culpable are the folks who built this outrageous debt for education system that was heaviest on the people who have the least. america explain what save is. >> it is a new name for another iteration of an income-driven repayment plan. people are familiar. the idr programs in various forms and it is yet another tweak from the department of education where they are tempted to fix a broken system without really fixing it. the fix is obvious. we need robust public investment in education, to make education a democratic right. this is not a fanciful idea you .

the save program might work -- it might be a beneficial program for some to enroll in. it is increasing monthly payments for other people. at that is beside the point. we have seen these fixes before and they are not real fixes. they are just band-aids on a system that needs to be completely overhauled. the debt collective is critical of this program. it is no substitute for debt cancellation. it is no fix. we need public investment so people can afford to actually learn so we can have an educated citizenry without demanding not just young people that all people have to go back to school mortgage their futures. the real fix is obvious. the debt collective is committed to fighting for that. amy: and your thoughts of keith

ellison going after 52 companies suspected of falsely promising them loan forgiveness could get help? >> this is a problem. these scammers would not be able to scam people if the system wasn't so confusing. the save program is a great example. the student lending system is incredibly distant team. it is overwhelming. i know people who are student loan experts, student loan lawyers and still have problems they have enrolled in these various programs trying to get loan forgiveness or enroll in versions of repayment. the broken system is what is creating opportunities for these scam artists. if you want to get rid of the scammers, cancel student loans. do it automatically and immediately without demanding owners paperwork. the department of education can cancel student loans overnight without making people apply. it is these confusing processes

that are creating opportunities for scammers to take advantage of people who are financially struggling. amy: let's talk about your new book "the age of insecurity: coming together as things fall apart." you write about student debt, the climate crisis, even 9/11. you write -- talk about how you put this all together and people's feelings of insecurity even as the biden administration tells a strong economy and what you think needs to happen, what the debt collective is recommending. >> this is kind of a kaleidoscopic book that says politics and economics and history and a bit of memoir that hopefully is a bit humorous. look at the way insecurity is essential to our economy. one of your previous guests

did a great job of talking about inequality spiraling. insecurity is how living in a radically unequal world is felt day after day and organizing with the debt collective economic issues are also emotional ones. shame when the bill collector calls or foreboding about saving for retirement. of course our anxieties about our collapsing planet and climate change. insecurity is pervasive but what i'm trying to show in the book is it is built into our economy. it is not just something we feel spontaneously. we are insecure by design or something i called manufactured insecurity. we see this in advertising. we see this in official monetary policy that tries to ramp up

worker insecurity, job insecurity so that workers will be more docile and won't go on strike. i think looking at insecurity, recognizing how widespread it is can help us have empathy for each other and build powerful coalitions that we can turn that into solidarity so we can fight for the just and sustainable collective forms of security that we really need. amy: and what would that solidarity look like? how do you think it could most effectively be expressed? and what about in this very polarized country, republicans saying, yes, we are talking about a time of insecurity -- they may so much refocusing on inequality -- to undermine and to go after, position themselves better for the next election? >> that is absolutely right. the right wing is talking about insecurity.

it is stoking it. it is speaking to people's fears and anxieties and trying to inflame them and misdirect them and say, ok, the problem is immigrants or trans kids or socialists or professors or whatever it is. i think we on the left, especially those who are organizing, also need to speak to people's insecurities and recognize it is really widespread. even people who appear to be kind of getting ahead are always worried the floor is going to fall out from under them. all it takes in this country is one medical emergency to devastate a seemingly middle-class family. even white-collar professionals can be laid off at a moments notice and don't have a robust safety net to catch them. we are all worried about natural disasters and pandemics. so i think we can't cede that territory to the right wing. it is our job to speak to the real fears people have and say,

hey, these anxieties are things you have in common with each other, let's fight for a world in which we are all taken care. the alchemy of turning our vulnerabilities, turning our insecurities into solidarity so that we can change the structures that are undermining our self-esteem and our well-being. amy: quickly, tell about what happened to your sister working in a coffee shop. you're concerned about surveillance. we only have 30 seconds. >> my sister was working at a hip brooklyn café that seemed retro and low-tech. it turned out this charming caée was -- had at least eight security cameras were the boss could tune in at any minute and talk to them. those cameras were not there to make the workers feel safe. they were there to make them feel like they could be fired at any minute. that is a condition to many workers are experiencing and it

is emblematic of this wave that capitalism is an insecurity machine. it depends on all of us being insecure to amass power and profit and we need something different. amy: astra taylor, thank you for being with us, organize or with the debt collective. the new book "the age of insecu

hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline" in new york. kim jong-un has crossed over into russia ahead of the meeting with president putin and their aides haven't provided many details. there are western concerns about military cooperation and russian officials now say they will reach a new security agreement.