Democracy Now! 2026-05-07 Thursday

Summary

Democracy Now! – May 7, 2026: Detailed Episode Summary

Overview

This episode of Democracy Now!, hosted by Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, dives deep into three major topics shaping global and national headlines: the deepening environmental and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and blockade; mounting concerns over democratic backsliding and disenfranchisement in India following the BJP's major victories and voter roll purges; and the intensifying assault on voting rights in the United States as Southern states rush to redraw congressional maps following the Supreme Court's gutting of the Voting Rights Act. The episode features firsthand accounts, on-the-ground reporting, and expert analysis, highlighting the struggles for rights, dignity, and democracy.

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I. Gaza: Environmental Collapse Amid War

Key Discussion Points

• Environmental and Biological Catastrophe in Gaza

  • The situation in Gaza has transcended the immediate impact of war; it is now a "systematic transformation of life into something unlivable." (Eyad Amoui, 00:22 and 18:52).
  • Collapsing infrastructure: Safe water, food, health, and sanitation systems have largely broken down due to blockade and continued bombardment.
  • Widespread disease: Severe rodent infestations and food spoilage are rampant in Gaza’s displaced camps, escalating risks of infectious diseases.

• Collective Punishment via Blockade and Aid Restrictions

  • Only 40% of Gaza's daily aid requirements are met, with basic building supplies and materials for repairs categorized as "dual-use" and therefore banned from entry (21:55).
  • Blockade is used as a tool of deprivation and collective pressure, directly engineering a public health collapse.

• Medical Evacuations, Rebuilding, and Humanitarian Access

  • Medical evacuations are at just 12% of daily need; at current rates, it would take years to evacuate all who need critical care (23:52).
  • 84% of Gaza buildings are damaged or destroyed—no significant rebuilding has started, as Israeli authorities are barring access to rebuilding crews and materials (25:31).

• Solidarity and Activism

  • Local and international activists continue efforts to break the siege of Gaza; the episode shares the case of two detained flotilla activists and local solidarity protests (26:51).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Eyad Amoui on Gaza's Transformation (18:52):

  "We are speaking about systematic transformation of life into something unlivable. What's happening is not just bombardment or physical destruction. It is the collapse of every essential condition required for human survival: water, food, health, dignity, shelter, safety, everything."

• On Rodent Infestations and Health Collapse (18:52):

  "The overwhelming majority of displaced families are living with severe rodent infestation inside tents and shelters. Food is also contaminated, shelter are damaged, water is stored under unsafe conditions. Rodents have become part of children's daily environment."

• On Struggle for Humanitarian Aid (21:55):

  "What we are witnessing is the systematic use of deprivation and public health collapse as an instrument of collective pressure."

• On Medical Evacuations (23:52):

  "When you talk about 15,800 people needing to be evacuated... at current rates, we'd need three to five years."

• Activist Perspective on Detained Flotilla Members (27:36):

  "Humanity is represented in the act of these humans, even if it's just one person." — Taysir Muhaysin

Timestamps:

• Gaza environment crisis report: [18:52–25:31]
• Solidarity protests and detainee updates: [26:51–28:25]

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II. India: BJP's Consolidation and the Mass Disenfranchisement Crisis

Key Discussion Points

• BJP's Electoral Sweep and Erosion of Democratic Norms

  • After a wave of state-level elections, the Hindu nationalist BJP now governs 78% of India’s population. Opposition bastions like West Bengal have fallen, often amid allegations of extensive voter disenfranchisement (31:33).

• Systematic Voter Roll Purges

  • The controversial "Special Intensive Revision" (SIR) led to the removal of over 9 million voters from the rolls, disproportionately affecting minorities and opposition strongholds (32:58, 39:13).
  • Lack of procedural safeguards resulted in legitimate voters being purged without redress.

• Collapse of Public Trust in Elections

  • Many citizens—especially Muslims and rural poor—now believe India's elections are not free or fair (34:33, 42:24).
  • Grievances include confusion, lack of communication, and fear of state reprisal.

• Expert Analysis

  • The SIR exercise both directly removes millions of voters, and indirectly validates BJP’s narrative that Muslim voters are "doubtful citizens," particularly in border states (47:18).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Arfa Khanoum Sharwani on the Tragedy of Voter Purges (42:24):

  "I was thinking I was going to cover the elections... but I felt my journalism was not enough. Hundreds of people were screaming and shouting, bringing their elderly, saying, 'Look at my grandparent, he was born before India was born in 1947.' 98% of those people, their names have been deleted."

• On the Election Commission's Role (34:33):

  "The Election Commission of India, instead of being an observer, seems to be playing the role of a party as if in alliance with the BJP."

• Gilles Vernier on Institutional Malfeasance (39:13):

  "There is no incontrovertible evidence that the election commission wished to create an electoral advantage for the BJP. At the end of the day, it ended up creating an electoral advantage that is undeniable...it has completely vitiated the electoral process."

• Reflections on Democracy (42:24):

  "Now we are witnessing that the government—through the Election Commission—is selecting the people who will be allowed to vote. This is a direct attack on the very idea of democracy."

Timestamps:

• India elections introduction: [31:33–34:33]
• Voter disenfranchisement and SIR explained: [34:33–41:45]
• On-the-ground experience, voter fears: [42:24–46:30]
• Broader implications and expert analysis: [46:30–50:06]

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III. United States: Voting Rights and the Redistricting Crisis

Key Discussion Points

• Supreme Court’s Dismantling of the Voting Rights Act

  • A recent Supreme Court ruling has made it “much harder for minorities to challenge electoral maps as racially discriminatory” ([51:49], [52:37]).

• Southern States Move Quickly to Gerrymander

  • Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana are rushing to redraw maps, with explicit aims to dilute Black voting power and lock in Republican political dominance ([52:37], [53:19]).
  • In Tennessee, Memphis and Nashville are being fragmented for the first time in a century, erasing majority-Black districts.

• Civil Rights at Risk

  • Experts compare the drop in Black electoral representation to the Jim Crow era. Gains from decades of civil rights struggle are being erased in mere days ([53:19], [54:39]).
  • There is open acknowledgment among Republican legislators—encouraged by Donald Trump—that the end of federal oversight has given them free rein.

• The Fightback

  • Civil rights activists are protesting and organizing, but face daunting odds given the legal and political environment (52:37).

• Broader Threats to Multiracial Democracy

  • The episode casts the Voting Rights Act as the legislation that enabled a multiracial democracy; its gutting now endangers the very premise of equal democratic participation ([57:57]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ari Berman on Dismantling of Representation (53:19):

  "We are seeing Southern states redraw their voting maps. This could lead to the largest drop in Black representation since the Jim Crow era. It is happening with alarming speed."

• On the Symbolic Weight in Tennessee (53:19):

  "Memphis has had its own congressional district since 1923, and it's now going to be split apart... This is where Martin Luther King was assassinated... indicative of what's happening across the country."

• On Mississippi’s Historic Regression (54:39):

  "You could have a state that is 40% Black, the largest Black population in America, with no Black representative. The fear is, Jim Crow is now coming back in a different form."

• On the End of the Voting Rights Act (57:57):

  "What it means is that the country's most important civil rights law no longer effectively exists... If the Voting Rights Act no longer exists, multiracial democracy in America will be under threat forever."

Timestamps:

• Voting rights and gerrymandering intro: [51:49–53:19]
• Tennessee and broader Southern context: [53:19–54:30]
• Mississippi, Florida, and long-term implications: [54:30–57:57]

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Table of Notable Segments & Timestamps

| Segment | Speakers | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------|-------------| | Gaza: Environmental collapse explained | Eyad Amoui, Amy Goodman | 18:52-21:55 | | Blockade's impact on public health | Eyad Amoui | 21:55-23:31 | | Medical evacuations and rebuilding challenges | Eyad Amoui, Nermeen Shaikh | 23:31-26:51 | | India: West Bengal voter disenfranchisement | Arfa Khanoum Sharwani | 34:33-42:24 | | On-the-ground reporting from Murshidabad | Arfa Khanoum Sharwani | 42:24-46:30 | | Voting rights in the US: Tennessee, Mississippi | Ari Berman, Amy Goodman | 53:19-54:39 | | Broader voting rights implications | Ari Berman, Nermeen Shaikh | 55:46-57:57 |

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Conclusion

This episode delivers an urgent, multifaceted warning about the erosion of the basic rights and principles underpinning democracy—from war-torn Gaza, where survival itself is at stake, to the mass disenfranchisement of minorities in both the world’s largest democracy and in the United States. The discussions are marked by eyewitness testimony, expert commentary, and vivid on-the-ground reporting, making clear how the mechanics of power—blockade, electoral manipulation, and gerrymandering—are wielded against those struggling to secure dignity, justice, and representative government.

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For those who have not listened, the episode is sobering, compelling, and essential for understanding the threats faced by civil society across borders—and the ongoing resistance to them.

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Notable Quotes Quick Reference

• Eyad Amoui (Gaza): “Collapse of every essential condition required for human survival” (18:52)
• Arfa Khanoum Sharwani (India): “Elections in India are no more the same… The government is selecting the people who will be allowed to vote.” (42:24)
• Ari Berman (US): “This could lead to the largest drop in black representation since the Jim Crow era.” (53:19)
• Gilles Vernier (India): “It has completely vitiated the electoral process.” (39:13)
• Ari Berman (US): “If the Voting Rights act no longer exists, multiracial democracy in America will be under threat forever.” (57:57)

Transcript

[Amy Goodman]

From Austin, Texas and New York. This is Democracy Now Today.

[Eyad Amoui]

We are not talking just only the war, but we are speaking about systematic transformation of life into maybe some unlivable

[Amy Goodman]

Gaza is facing an unfolding environmental and biological apocalypse. That's the warning from a Palestinian NGO in Gaza. We'll go there for the latest. As an Israeli airstrike kills the son of one of Hamas's top negotiators. Then to a political earthquake in India. The ruling Hindu nationalist BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has further consisted consolidated its power after millions of voters were purged from the rolls ahead of regional elections.

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

We fought against all machinery where prime minister and home minister is also involved directly interference. So how they play the dirty, nasty and mischievous games. I have never seen this type of election in my life.

[Amy Goodman]

Then to voting rights under home. Republican lawmakers in southern states are racing to redraw congressional maps after the Supreme Court guts the Voting Rights Act. But civil rights activists are pushing back.

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

No new maps, no room maps. Black voters matter.

[Amy Goodman]

Black voters matter. Black voters matter. Black voters matters. We'll speak to Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Today in Austin. Israel has bombed Beirut for the first time since mid April, when it agreed to a ceasefire with Lebanon. Israeli officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally ordered the attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs, which reportedly killed a Hezbollah commander. Meanwhile, Israel continued attacks on southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 13 people Wednesday. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reports more than 380 people have been killed and nearly 700 injured in Lebanon since Israel agreed on paper to a ceasefire April 16. The Pentagon says U.S. forces struck an Iranian oil tanker in the Sea of Oman Wednesday, disabling its rudder after it attempted to bre the US Naval blockade of Iran's ports. The attack came as France's Defense Ministry said the nuclear powered aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle is en route to the Strait of Hormuz in preparation for a possible defensive mission. This comes as President Trump continues to send mixed messages over whether he'll escalate the war in Iran. On Wednesday, Trump threatened on social media to resume bombing Iran, quote, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before, unquote. Hours later, Trump insisted the US had already won the war, saying his administration had very good talks with Tehran and predicted that it'll all work out very quickly despite having a little skirmish in Iran because we can't let Iran have

[Eyad Amoui]

a nuclear weapon and we're beating them

[Amy Goodman]

badly and they want to settle very badly.

[Eyad Amoui]

It'll all work out very quickly.

[Amy Goodman]

Iran's Foreign Ministry said it was reviewing a US Proposal and would convey a response to Pakistani mediators later today. Today, NBC News reports President Trump abandoned his plan to help ships go through the Strait of Hormuz after Saudi Arabia suspended the US Military's ability to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation, NBC reports. Saudi officials were blindsided by what President Trump is calling Project Freedom Dropsite News later reported. Kuwait also cut off access to its airspace, leaving the US without the defensive umbrella need needed to protect ships transiting the strait. Iran hit far more US Military targets across the Persian Gulf region than the Trump administration's admitted to, with satellite images showing damage to at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at US bases. That's according to the Washington Post, which reviewed satellite images published by Iranian state affiliated news Media. Meanwhile, a new report by the Center Policy estimates the US has spent nearly $72 billion on the Iran war, or $1.2 billion per day on average. That's nearly three times the amount of the Pentagon's official estimate. Israel's begun construction of a bypass road that'll connect Israeli settlements in the occupied west bank with Jerusalem. The road is intended for Israelis only. Tens of thousands of Palestinian Jerusalem residents will not be allowed access to it. Israel's transportation minister praised the highway, saying it will bring 1 million Israelis to the west bank in the Gaza Strip. The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees warns the spread of rodents through the majority of Gaza's overcrowded tent camps is leaving the population at much higher risk of disease. Children in particular are prone to rat bites, and rodents can spread diseases including hantavirus, which is often fatal. The United nations is calling on Israel to immediately and unconditionally release Spanish national Sayfa Bukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago Avila, who were seized at gunpoint from the Global Samud flotilla last month and continue to be held without charge. An Israeli court extended their detention until May 10. On Wednesday, Palestinians rallied in Gaza City in solidarity with the two detained activists. This is Taysir Muhaysin, a civil society activist in Gaza.

[Eyad Amoui]

These activists came to bypass the stances of their governments in the world and to say that humanity will not be stopped by the political decisions. Humanity is represented in the act of these humans, even if it's one person. They embarked on their journey to spread this message. We wish them safety from all our hearts, and the Gaza Strip completely values this step.

[Amy Goodman]

The U.S. board of Immigration Appeals has reinstated deportation proceedings against Mohsen Madawi, a graduate student at Columbia University who was detained last April for his outspoken support of Palestinian writes. Mohsen is a green card holder who grew up in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. At Colombia, he served as co president of the Palestinian Student Union and president of the Buddhist Association. In April of 2025, masked and hooded ICE agents detained him when he appeared for what he believed would be a naturalization interview in Vermont. He spent two weeks in ICE custody before a federal jud ordered his release. To see our interviews with Mohsin Madawi, visit our [e-mail] in New Jersey, Rutgers University has abruptly withdrawn its invitation to a prominent biotech entrepreneur to speak at its engineering school convocation. Rami Elgandor has been scheduled to deliver a graduation address at Rutger's New Brunswick campus May 15, but his invitation was canceled over what the university said were complaints about his social media posts on Israel and Palestine. Al Ghendur is executive producer of the Oscar nominated film the Voice of Hindra Job, about the killing of a Palestinian girl and her family in Gaza, along with paramedics who tried to rescue them. This comes after the University of Michigan has apologized for a professor's commencement address in which he praised student activists who protested Israel's assault on Gaza. The apology came over these remarks at a graduation ceremony last Saturday by historian Derek Peterson, the outgoing chair of the Faculty Senate who commemorated the university's long history of social activism.

[Ari Berman]

Sing for the pro Palestinian student activists.

[Amy Goodman]

Who have, over these past two years,

[Ari Berman]

opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel's war in Gaza.

[Amy Goodman]

The University of Michigan President Domenico Grasso later called those remarks, quote, hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community, unquote. Peterson said he was mystified by the response. He told CBS News, quote, having an open heart to other people's suffering is a fundamental human virtue. Unquote A few hundred pro Palestinian protesters gathered outside a New York synagogue Tuesday to demonstrate against an expo called the Great Israel Real Estate Event, featuring properties for sale in Israel, including in the occupied West Bank. The event's website included references to listings in Gush Etzion, a group of settlements in the west bank located southeast of Jerusalem that are considered illegal under international law. New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani condemned the event when we have a real

[Eyad Amoui]

estate expo that is promoting the sale of land, which includes the sale of land in occupied west bank in settlements that are a violation of international law. That that is something that I firmly disagree with and that I also believe that many New Yorkers firmly disagree with because it has been at the heart of an ongoing effort to displace Palestinians from their homes.

[Amy Goodman]

Russia fired dozens of drones at Ukraine overnight, disregarding a ceasefire announced by Kyiv that took effect at midnight. A Russian drone strike hit a kindergarten in Ukraine's Sumy region, killing at least one person and injuring two others, Ukrainian officials said. Russian strikes also killed 6 people in Kramatorsk and 12 in Zaporizhzha. Russia has threatened a massive missile strike on Kyiv if Ukraine takes any action to disrupt its Victory Day commemorations May 9th in Tennessee. Hundreds of protesters marched to the state Capitol in Nashville Wednesday as lawmakers unveiled a gerrymandered congressional map that could see Republicans take control of all nine of Tennessee's U.S. house seats. The General assembly is expected to vote on the new map as soon as today. This comes after Tennessee lawmakers repeal their state's longstanding ban on mid decade redistricting and after the recent Supreme Court ruling gutting the Voting Rights act set off a scramble by Southern states to gerrymander congressional districts ahead of November's midterm elections. The FBI searched the Portsmouth, Virginia office of State Senator Eloise Lucas, the Democratic president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, on Wednesday. A marijuana dispensary she co owns located near her office was also raided. Authorities speaking to the Washington Post said the probe involved allegations of bribery related to the cannabis dispensary. Lucas has not been charged and was sent back home. Lucas cast the raid as political intimidation and linked it to a role leading Virginia's redistricting effort this month. Month. In a statement, she said, quote, what we saw fits a clear pattern from this administration. When challenged, they try to intimidate and silence the voices who stand up to them. Unquote. Meanwhile, the FBI has reportedly launched a criminal leak investigation focusing on Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote a detailed story last month reporting that FBI Director Kash Patel's alleged excessive drinking and erratic behavior had caused deep concern among agency officials. Investigations into leaks typically target government officials suspected of disclosing classified material, not the reporters who receive and publish it. The FBI is denying that it's investigating Sarah Fitzpatrick. This comes as Fitzpatrick's latest piece details how Kash Patel has been reportedly traveling with a supply of personalized branded bourbon engraved with the words Kash PATEL FBI director. U.S. commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was grilled by the House Oversight Committee for more than four hours Wednesday in a closed door hearing about his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Justice Department email records show the two were in contact years after Lutnick claimed to have severed ties in 2005. Democrats accused Lutnick of being evasive and changing his story. This is Democratic Congressmember Yasemin Ansari. After what we have seen so far in this transcribed interview, I feel very comfortable saying that Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar who is enabling the most egregious cover up in American history. Separately, a federal judge released a purported suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday, discovered by his former soulmate, who said he found it tucked inside a book in their shared cell following Epstein's first unsuccessful suicide attempt in July20. He was found dead weeks later. Meanwhile, a Guardian investigation revealed that billionaire Leon Black, who faces a civil lawsuit accusing him of raping a teenage girl inside Epstein's New York townhouse in 2002, privately reached out to a federal judge to raise doubts about his accuser's claims. The judge later reversed a $2.5 million award previously granted to the accuser. In an exclusive statement to the Guardian, the accuser, known as Jane Doe, said justice is not always blind. It is often shaped by power, access and who's able to withstand the process. I'm still here and I'm not done, she said. And in related news, President Trump asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to pause its ruling rejecting his challenge to E. Jean Carroll's $83 million defamation case against him, clearing the for Trump to appeal to the Supreme Court. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I am Amy Goodman in Austin, Texas, with Nermeen Shaikh in New York. Hi Nermeen.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

Hi Amy. Israel is continuing daily strikes on Gaza while expanding areas under its control and blocking essential aid from entering the besieged territory. An Israeli airstrike on Wednesday killed the son of Khalil al Hayy, Hamas's chief negotiator, taking part in indirect talks with Israel. His son, Azzam, died from injuries from an airstrike in Gaza City. Israel has now killed four of Khalil Al Hayye's sons since 2018 in a separate attack. On Wednesday, Israel killed three Palestinians from the same family. Hamas condemned the violence as a blatant violation of last year's ceasefire agreement. Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israel has killed at least 837 Palestinians. Last week, an Israeli drone strike killed a nine year old boy Adel Al Najjar who was searching for cardboard to use as fuel for cooking. Relatives of the boy decried the Israeli attack.

[Amy Goodman]

They were collecting cardboard. Collecting cardboard so we could bake. We don't have gas. We collect cardboard to bake. They want to eat, they want to drink. His father is blind. His father does not come or go. He is completely blind. He cannot see at all. Their father leans on these children. They are the ones who hold him, move and bring him

[Eyad Amoui]

a little child.

[Ari Berman]

He did not damage a tank. He did not make missiles or do anything. He was torn. Isn't it shameful? Isn't it shameful what is happening to us? Isn't it shameful that we bury our children every day right in front of us? Isn't it shameful I swear to God, our hearts are breaking for these children.

[Amy Goodman]

This all comes as the Israeli military seizes more territory in Gaza beyond what was agreed to in the U. S brokered ceasefire last October. New maps issued by Israel show two thirds of Gaza is now effectively under Israeli control. We go now to the Gaza Strip where we're joined by Eyad Amoui. He's a representative of the Gaza Relief Committee, coordinator for local NGOs based in Gaza. He recently published a report detailing how Gaza is facing a quote environmental and biological apocalypse. Eya, thanks so much for joining us. Why don't you describe what you are talking about is happening on the ground in Gaza?

[Eyad Amoui]

Firstly, thank you so much Emir for hosting me again. Democracy now we will Great work. Yes, we are not speaking only about a bombardment, something that happened also before one hour also they hit another target in Gaza town. We are speaking about systematic transformation of life into something unlivable. What's happening is no longer just bombardment or physical destruction. It is the collapse of every essential condition required for human survival. Water, food, health, dignity, shelter, safety, everything. So when we talk about our new robot about spreading infectious environment and the transformation everything to collapsation we depend over our field robots found in the that more than 59% of our people suffer from insufficient drinking water and more than 55 are uncertain whether the water they consume is safe or no. And also nearly 94 percentage of families report food spoilage rodent infestation Also Amy has become widespread in such interrupts due to the environmental collapse. So when we talk about the most alarming findings came from a recent field survey examining the relationship between rodent infestation, water scarcity and displacement concern and inside Ghaza scientifically we are now facing what can be described as a compound environmental epidemic crisis. The survey revealed that the overwhelming majority of displaced families are living with severe rodent infestation inside tents and shelters. Food is also contaminated, shelter are damaged, water is stored under unsafe conditions also and rodents have become part of children's daily environment. There is no longer simply sanitation issue. It's evidence of the collapse of the most basic conditions necessary for human life. We talk about continuity for destruction of the environment. And also we and my people sieged just in the shrinked area. The Israeli forces still control More than 60 percentage of Gaza Strip area. You can imagine what's the meaning of Raja over the infrastructure remains in the western part of the Gaza Ayad.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

Could you also talk about the role you point to it repeatedly in the report, the blockade being responsible responsible for many of the horrifying conditions that you describe on the ground in Gaza. Could you tell us about the nature of this blockade? What kind of aid is getting in and what kind of material is considered, quote, dual use and is therefore banned from entering Gaza?

[Eyad Amoui]

Yes, it's very important to question that living inside our environment, it's continuously produced disease. It's a generator for disease. So when we talk about fixing infrastructures, we need basic materials that can help us to rebuild this. So when they put struggles and restrictions over the materials under the clarification or pretext for W's, they still provide us with the infectious disease and environment by this way. So what we are witnessing is the systematic use of deprivation and public health collapse as an instrument of collective pressure over our people here. So when we talk about struggles, yes, the amount of trucks also is reduced. The last April just they made 40 percentage of our daily needs for the amount of trucks. And also when we talk about the stabilizing situation here, just one cross point is opening Karma Boussalim and when we talk about our needs after they completely destroy Gazda, we need more 600 and more and more basic materials like cement and irons and some basic material that help us to resume our partially normal life here in Gaza. And fixing the sewage network and water network and fixing infrastructure to prevent this environment from causing infectious disease here and within the camp.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

Nehad, what about the issue of medical evacuations? A humanitarian corridor to enable the sickest people from Gaza and in particular children from receiving medical help from outside of Gaza. Are there any medical evacuations taking place?

[Eyad Amoui]

Yes, Nermeen, when we talk about the illusion I mentioned in my last articles, medical evacuations still happening just up to 12 percentage of our daily needs. When you talk about 15,800 people needed to be evacuated from Gaza to have medications. If we calculated by percentage of the daily evacuations by Gaza restrictions, we need maybe more than three years, up to five years to evacuate those peoples. So those people judged to be the before DB have medications. So it's a very horrible situation here. We can not live in this infectious environment and they siege us. They strict the siege under the security clarifications. Nothing tangible happened after the ceasefire agreement signed here in Gaza.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

Question of infrastructure in Gaza is concerned. Has any rebuilding building started? And just to Summarize what the UN has concluded, among other organizations, 84% of Gaza's buildings are damaged, 425,000 housing units destroyed or partially damaged and 55 million tons of rubble that's blocking municipal trucks. 92% of residential buildings are damaged, damaged completely or partially. What is being done, first of all to clear the rubble and second of all, are there any attempts at rebuilding?

[Eyad Amoui]

Yes. The main questions and the main answer for all of this issue why the Israelis still preventing the new Palestinian Committee to enter Gaza to launch the rebuilding process and removing rebels? Until this moment nothing happened tangibly here. Just a little municipal services reopening some roads and they prevent the municipal engineer from fixing the water drinking water pipelines, especially in the eastern part that is parallel to the yellow line. You can imagine what's the meaning of preventing the municipal services to transfer the tons of waste from the middle of the town to the main space in the Rafah area, in the Rafah area that meet our recycling process under the clarification the Silicubi Rafah. And there's nothing here for the rebuilding process under the restrictions they impose over all of the Gaza Strip. And we need the cranes and bulldozers and most of our municipal machinery is destroyed all so we have the ability to remove rubbles and to reopen main roads to facilitate our daily life.

[Amy Goodman]

Also in Gaza City, Palestinians rallied Wednesday in solidarity with the two detained activists arrested aboard a Gaza bound flotilla after an Israeli court extended their detention to Sunday and denied their appeal for release. Protesters waved Palestinian flags, held pictures of the flotilla activ activists, the Brazilian Thiago Avila and the Spanish national Sayf Abu Keshek, who's also Palestinian. This is Palestinian civil society activist Taseer Mouhayson praising the activists.

[Eyad Amoui]

These activists came to bypass the stances of their governments in the world and to say that humanity will not be stopped by the political decisions. Humanity is represented in the act of these humans, even if it's just one person they embarked on their journey to spread this message. We wish them safety from all our hearts. And the Gaza Strip completely values this step.

[Amy Goodman]

Ayan Maoui, if you can talk about the significance of these solidarity protests and also if you can share a message from Gaza for these two detained activists, Saif and Thiago. Thiago, whose mother died in the last two days in Brazil.

[Eyad Amoui]

Yes, hopefully we send our condolences and our sadness for the loss for our great colleagues. Diego and others who are supporting us have had solidarity for a long time. I mentioned them and I talked to them for all of their trips. They try to to break the siege they impose over the Gaza Strip. And the solidarity and the support for the Gaza and Gaza and people and children is very important in this moment because we consider after they assign the ceasefire, they've forgotten Gazda by those who great people, we can increase the pressure over all of the politicians to stop the firing. Gazda. Gazda still living under the selective firing. So by the Diego and other activists, we have a chance to renew the issue and to increase the pressure and increase the awareness about the catastrophe still ongoing in Gaza. So yes, we send our solidarity with those great people and we hope they free them and release them. And also our doctors and our Palestinian prisoners in the prisons from longer time with unknown destination and under the pressure and psychological pressure also.

[Amy Goodman]

Aunt Emma, we want to thank you for being with us. Representative of the Gaza Relief Committee, coordinator for local NGOs speaking to us from Gaza. Coming up, a political earthquake in India. The ruling Hindu nationalist BJP led by the Prime Minister has further consolidated its power after millions of voters were purged from the rolls ahead of regional elections. Then we'll look at redistricting and voter disempowerment in the United States. This is Democracy Now. Back in a minute.

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

Eyes is just another skin simply slips away. You can rise above will shed easily.

[Amy Goodman]

It all will come out fine. I've learned it line by line.

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

One common wire,

[Amy Goodman]

one silver thread all

[Nermeen Shaikh]

that you desire rolls on ahead.

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

Like a ship in a bottle held up to the sun sails Ancho in

[Amy Goodman]

Grateful performed by Patti Smith in our Democracy now studio. This is democracynow. Democracynow.org I'm Amy Goodman in Austin, Texas with Nermeen Shaikh in New York.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

We turn now to India where recent state level elections have created a political earthquake, further consolidating the power of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the recent victory, 78% of the country now live in BJP run states states. Two major opposition parties to the right wing BJP lost in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. With the BJP winning the crucial border state of West Bengal for the very first time, defeating one of Modi's most outspoken opponents, Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee's term is supposed to end today. But at a press briefing Tuesday soon after the results were announced, she refused to resign as Chief Minister of West Bengal claiming the elections had been rigged by the bjp.

[Amy Goodman]

If someone takes over by force and

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

expects me to resign, that is not going to happen. Now also I want to say that we have not. We didn't lose the election. It is their forceful attempt to defeat us. We fought against all machinery where Prime Minister and Home Minister is also involved. Directly interpreted so how they play the dirty, nasty and mischievous games. I have never seen this type of election in my life.

[Amy Goodman]

Mamata Banerjee has accused the Modi government of using the Election Commission of India to defeat her party by deleting 9 million names from the polls in what she's called an exercise in mass, mass disenfranchisement. Nearly 3 million voters in West Bengal, most of the Muslim were not allowed to cast their vote. Meanwhile, hundreds have been arrested and four people killed including a close aide of the BJP's leader in West Bengal in the wake of clashes between supporters of Banerjee's party and the bjp.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

For more on the Indian elections and their significance to the future of Indian democracy, we're joined now by two guests. Guests. Gilles Vernier is a political scientist focusing on Indian electoral politics and history. He teaches at Sciences Po in Paris and joins us from San Francisco. And joining us from New Delhi, Arfa Khanoum Sharwani, an award winning Indian journalist and a senior editor at the Wire, a leading independent digital news website. She hosts a popular news and analysis show on YouTube. Welcome to both of you. To Democracy Now. Arfa, if we could begin with you, could you just respond to the election results? What happened particularly in West Bengal and the effects of what the election commission did prior to the election. What impact that may have had.

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

Thank you very much for having me. First of all, I think in the last 12 years of Narendra Modi's rule and me covering it as a journalist, I feel like these two particular states, Kerala and West Bengal, they stopped as perhaps the biggest resistance to Narendra Modi's majoritarian politics which was intended to divide the Indian public based on their religion. And Mamata Banerjee in particular. Like if you ask me, the effect and the impact it will have on Indian politics. I would say Mamata Banerjee in particular was single handedly was one of the fiercest chief ministers who stood against this divisive agenda of the BJP and its cultural wing, the rss. Starting from demonetization to the Citizenship Amendment act which was actually aimed to establish India as a Hindu nation. It was modeled on the state of Israel, a natural home for Hindus as Israel is for the Jews. Mamata Banerjee came out on the streets and taking along hundreds and thousands of people with her. So I think BJP now getting hold of this bordering state called West Bengal is bad news for everyone. Everyone who believes in a plural, diverse idea of India. And one more thing I think and the most important thing that it's also a blow to I would say the federal structure of India because federalism allows India against this forced uniformity that Mr. Modi's politics and policies try to impose on India. And so Mamata Banerjee now not remaining the chief minister of West Bengal, I feel it is one of the biggest pillows to the federal structures and it is going to weaken the opposition. And the saddest part in the last 25 years of me covering India and Indian elections, I mean I have covered at least five parliamentary elections and dozens of assembly elections. This is for the first time that I am observing on the ground, not just in the studio that the general public does not think the elections are free and fair in India. The Election Commission of India, instead of being this an observer and responsible for conducting the large elections in the world, seems to be playing the role of a party as if it was in alliance with the BJP. And the sir which is the special intensive revision of the voter's role. This was supposed to be the revision of the role. But if you look at the seats and look at the election results, you would actually realize that how precisely this SIR has attacked the voters. They have deleted particularly the voters which were more likely to vote for. For the opposition party. And allow me one more minute and I'll tell you that the Wire has just published a report by our West Bengal correspondent Aparna. And this clearly says that in 150 seats, more than half of West Bengal's 294 seats total delicious. Were greater than victory margins. And the BJP won 99 seats. Out of those seats, 150 seats where the exercise of SIR took place. So the deletion. And in 2021, five years ago when BJP had lost the elections in West Bengal, it had only managed to win 19 of this. So this clearly shows that if this was not, even if SIR is not the single biggest or the single reason because of which the BJP has managed to win West Bengal, I would say this is one of the three top reasons why BJP has managed to win. So this is a sad day for democracy, for people who believe, believe that not only today but tomorrow's India should also be democratic. And I think this is one of the biggest billows to everybody who believes in the idea of a democratic, a constitutional, a secular, a liberal and equal India for everyone.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

So, Gilles, if we could get you to respond to what Arfa said in particular about this SIR special intensive revision and what enabled this to effectively disenfranchise 3 million people in West Bengal in particular, but also more broadly in the several states five, I believe, where this was carried out and what were the criteria that were used to disqualify voters?

[Gilles Vernier]

Good morning. Well, first of all, it's useful to remember that cleaning or updating the electoral roll is an exercise that usually takes place on a rolling basis. And only very rarely has the election commission engaged into what it calls a special intensive revision. There has been no explanation really why the election commission suddenly decided to do that so close to state elections after having not done it for, you know, more than 20 years. And so we knew, we've always known that the electoral rules in India were far from perfect. But here we what is in question is the scale and the disorganization and the haphazard way in which it has done, which has led to undue deletions of millions of voters. The point of the SIR is to remove from the list dead voters, voters who have migrated and are present more than once on the rolls. And after the special intensive Revision motor than 9 million names were struck. But immediately, 3.4 million people immediately appealed to, you know, explain that, you know, they were unduly removed. And the tragedy is that no safeguards were put in place. The courts ordered an adjudication mechanism which could not be deployed. And at the end of the day, less than 0.05%, less than 2,000 people were actually adjudicated. And among those adjudicated, about 98% were recommended recognized to have been unduly removed. Now the suspicion raises when we realize that the special revision was done with more zeal in areas which were more dominated by the Trinamul by Mamata Banerjee's party and that the exercise in itself disfavored specific categories of voters, including Muslims, including urban voters, but including also migrant people waters, people who were simply absent from their homes. And so on the one hand, there is no incontrovertible evidence that the election commission wished to create an electoral advantage for the bjp. At the end of the day, it ended up creating an electoral advantage that is undeniable. And in that sense it has completely vitiated the electoral process.

[Amy Goodman]

Arfa, last month you traveled to West Bengal to meet people who've been disenfranchised. You wrote on social media, quote, the election commission of India has failed the constitution and the poorest of Bengal. I've covered wars, communal violence and mass movements. I've never seen anything like this before. You said, tell us about where you went, who you met and what you found and put it in a global context for people who aren't familiar even with the geography of India, the significance of Bengal and West Bengal.

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

Yeah, thank you, Amy. I mean the whole idea, the basic principle of democracy is that the people actually elect their leaders and their government. But I think for the first time, because of this special revision of the voters role, we are witnessing that the government or the friends of the government, which is the election commission of India, is actually allowing the government to select the people who will be allowed to vote. So this is a direct attack on the very idea of democracy. And if you would ask me, when I went to the districts of Murshidabad, which is one of the bordering districts with Bangladesh, so there are three Muslim majority districts, Murshidabad, Malda and Dinajpur. I was fortunate to go to one of these districts and to my surprise I was thinking I was going to cover the elections and I was generally thinking to also ask about sir. So when I reached this particular village in Murshidabad, it's called Shamsher Ganj, the majority of the people who were gathered to meet me as a reporter was the Muslims. So initially there were like some 50 people and then there were a hundred people and then there were few hundred people and believe you me, then there were a couple of thousand people who wanted me to listen to their stor. And Amy, as I had said in my tweet, that I have covered communal violence and war, but I felt for the first time that my journalism was not enough. Me as a reporter with one camera person and with one mic, we were not enough to cover the scale of the tragedy that was unfolding before my eyes. And there were hundreds of people who were screaming and shouting and you know, these hapless people, the poorest of Indians, they came with their families, with their small, small children. Some people actually Brought their elderly parents and grandparents in their laps, carrying them to me, saying that, look at my grandparent, he is an 80 year old man and he actually was born before the state of India was born in 1947. So this is the scale of tragedy that there was so many people who wanted to get heard and they were the victims of, not the state police. They were, were not the victims of, let's say, the state. There were no Hindu, Muslim riots. There was no external force that had invaded the district of all the people, of all the institutions. It was the election commission of India which refused to listen to these people. And now we have the data that 98% of the people in Shamsher Ganj area where I had visited, these names were deleted. So 98% of those people who were trying to talk to me so that they could be heard. And you know, it all unfolded in so many different ways because there were people who were also scared of me. They thought of me. This, you know, this madam, this woman who's come from Delhi, maybe she is a representative of the election commission. Is she here to arrest us? Will she send us to the detention centers? So what I'm trying to say here is that there was not enough knowledge, not enough information, not enough communication from the election commission, from the state, you know, agencies who were able to tell people that they were trying to do this for their betterment. And sadly, now I'm telling you that 98% of those people, their names have been deleted. They have not been allowed to vote. So this is kind of really a great tragedy that unfolded before me. And I'm very, in a sense, I would say that elections in India are no more the same. There are many election, many opposition leaders who are now saying whether it's actually kind of we should be fighting the election commission or the BJP or the state machinery. So it's the whole estate machinery versus the opposition in India.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

Could you comment on that? I mean, the fact that the BJP has won irrespective of the irregularities that have occurred as a result of what the election commission did. The election result do tend to point to growing support for the BJP in states which have traditionally been opposed to this Hindu nationalist ethos. What do you think accounts for the increasing support of the BJP and what do you think this means for the future of subsequent Indian elections?

[Arfa Khanoum Sharwani]

I think it just means that now we have come to a point. Are you asking me?

[Nermeen Shaikh]

I was actually asking Jill Gilles if you could.

[Amy Goodman]

Go ahead.

[Gilles Vernier]

Okay. Yes, yes. So I mean, the BJP is a party that disposed of considerable resources and organizational power to lead a mobilization campaign on a permanent basis. And so if you look at Bengal, for example, they have been on the ground mobilizing alongside, you know, communal lines for the past 10 years. And so it's not entirely surprising that these efforts would pay off in the long run. The fact also that the traditional opposition in West Bengal, the Congress, the communists, have utterly collapsed, created a space where the bid that the BJP could occupy, becoming the number two party for more than for 10 years. And so, you know, it's, you know, long term efforts, you know, sort of pay in the long run, but also and to, you know, provide another dimension on the special revision exercise. It had, of course, a direct effect of deleting millions of voters, but it also had an indirect powerful effect of providing institutional validation of the BJP's claim that most Muslim voters are actually doubtful citizens. There have been a number of policies implemented, notably in Assam and other parts of the country that sort of sought to identify and uproot illegal migrants and creating a confusion between a category of illegal migrants and India's minority. It is easy for the BJP to claim that most Muslims in West Bengal are illegal from Bangladesh. And what is possible, particularly distressing and concerning, is to see the election commission providing backing to that notion by targeting Muslim voters more than others in the state of Assam, which the BJP retained. The domination of the BJP is also based on extremely intense communal polarization. There you did not have a special intensive revision like you have had in Bengal, but in 2023 there was a delimitation exercise that basically concentrated about 34% of the population that is Muslim in less than 20% of the seats. And there you saw again the election commission leading that exercise when it actually didn't have the mandate to do so. And again, the institution that is supposed to be the, the impartial arbiter intervenes, interferes in the electoral process, vitiates it and create an electoral advantage by pitting Hindu voters against Muslim voters.

[Amy Goodman]

Gilles Vernier, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Political scientist focusing on Indian electoral politics and history, teaches at Sciences Po in Paris, speaking to us though from San Francisco. And Arthur Khanoum Shivani award winning Indian journalist, senior editor at the Wire, leading independent digital news website. Coming up, voting rights under attack. Here at home, Republican lawmakers in southern states are racing to redraw congressional maps after the Supreme Court guts the Voting Rights act. Back in 20 seconds. There's a man,

[Eyad Amoui]

homeless and hungry. There's a wind. It's hard and biting

[Amy Goodman]

There's a song you need a sing

[Eyad Amoui]

There's a fuse

[Amy Goodman]

you need a lighter and it's no secret

[Gilles Vernier]

the day coming

[Amy Goodman]

and it's a day

[Eyad Amoui]

I hope to see

[Amy Goodman]

but if

[Eyad Amoui]

they ask, if they ask you, brother, who told you that, you didn't hear it from me.

[Amy Goodman]

Let freedom ring. Let freedom ring. Good evening, Tom Morello, this is Democracy now, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Nermeen Shaikh.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

We end today's show with a look at voting rights right here in the United States. The Supreme Court's gutting of the Voting Rights act has led to a scramble by Southern states to gerrymander congressional districts before the November midterms. Last week's Supreme Court ruling makes it harder for minorities to challenge electoral maps as racially discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act. On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new gerrymandered congressional district map into law, posting on the social media platform X signed, sealed and delivered. And on Wednesday, the Alabama House voted to approve a plan that would change the congressional district map during an active election, even though some votes in the May 19, primarily primary have already been cast.

[Amy Goodman]

But in states across the south, civil rights activists are also pushing back in Tennessee, hundreds of protesters marched to the state Capitol in Nashville Wednesday as lawmakers unveiled a gerrymandered congressional map that could see Republicans take control of all nine of Tennessee's U.S. house seats. The General assembly is expected to vote on the new map as soon as today. For more, we're joined in New York by Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent Mother Jones. His latest book, Minority the Right Wing Attack on the Will of the People and the Fight to Resist It. Can you talk about all of these developments? Start in Nashville, where we're just listening to these hundreds of protesters.

[Ari Berman]

Good morning, Amy. So in the wake of the Supreme Court's effective destruction of the Voting Rights act, we are seeing Southern states all across the country, the south redraw their voting maps. This could lead to the largest drop in black representation since the Jim Crow era. And it is happening with alarming speed beginning today in Tennessee, where they are set to pass a Nine Zero map that splits the city of Memphis, which is 63% black, into three different congressional districts to dilute black voting power. Memphis has had its own congressional district since 1923, and it's now going to be split apart in three different districts. Nashville is going to be split into five different districts. And this is very symbolic. This was the place where Martin Luther King was assassinated. This is where he led the poor People's Campaign. And it's indicative of what's happening across the country, which is the ink is barely dry on the destruction of the Voting Rights Act. And all across the south, from Tennessee to Alabama to Louisiana to Mississippi, they are drawing districts to specifically eliminate seats where voters of color can elect their candidates of choice. So this is a really Farville on fire for American democracy.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

And, Ari, if you could also talk about what's happening specifically in Mississippi, which has the highest black population of any state.

[Ari Berman]

Yeah. They're going to hold a special legislative session very soon that could eliminate the state's lone black member of Congress. That means you could have a state that is 40% black, the largest black population in America, that has no black representative. This is a state that before the voting rights act, only 6% percent of black Americans were registered to vote. So the Voting Rights act transformed Mississippi just like it transformed the South. This is a place where Medgar Evers was murdered fighting for voting rights, where Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner were murdered fighting for voting rights. There is a very long and ugly history of violence, discrimination and racism in Mississippi and across the South. And the fear is, is that Jim Crow is now coming back in a different form. We are returning, returning to the days of literacy tests and poll taxes, not through those devices, but through specifically trying to eliminate black office holders. And Southern legislators are very clear they are going to do this. They feel unshackled by the Supreme Court ruling. They are being pressured by President Trump to do it, and they feel like all the guardrails are off right now.

[Nermeen Shaikh]

And why is it happening, especially in the South? And what impact do you fear this might have on the midterms?

[Ari Berman]

It's happening in the south because that's where the largest concentration of majority black districts are. That's where the largest population of black Americans are. And it's also where voting is the most racially polarized. Right. That black people in the south tend to vote for Democrats. So if you want to get rid of Democratic districts in the south, you target black voters. And they, unfortunately, are now collateral damage in Trump's gerrymandering arms race. What this could mean is that Republicans may be able to pick up four to six extra seats for the midterms just based on targeting these majority black districts in the South. That may not make it impossible for Democrats to take back the south, but it's going to make it more difficult. But I think this goes beyond just the 2026 elections. You're talking about dismantling districts that have existed for decades, that black voters, voters fought so hard to get these districts to get representation in the first place. That's what the Voting Rights act was all about. Equal citizenship. And just a matter of days, advances of decades are being wiped out.

[Amy Goodman]

And what about Florida, where you have the Florida Governor DeSantis signing a new gerrymandered congressional district map into law, posting on social media, signed, sealed and delivered. In this last minute, we have Aria. Overall, where you see this all headed?

[Ari Berman]

Well, Florida passed a map that would give Republicans four new seats. It was very aggressive. DeSantis was basically claiming that he knew what the Supreme Court was going to do, and he felt like it gave him a green light. And this is what's happening. We are in now a perennial gerrymandering arms race that's going to lead to more partisanship, more polarization, less competition, all the things that Americans hate the most about the political process. And it's all being driven by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, which is going to get more and more attention in terms of the need to ultimately reform that court going forward.

[Amy Goodman]

And the context of the Voting Rights act finally being gutted.

[Ari Berman]

Well, what it means is that the country's most important civil rights law no longer effectively exists. And that's going to have ramifications of on American democracy. For a very long time, this was the law that made America a multiracial democracy. If the Voting Rights act no longer exists, multiracial democracy in America will be under threat forever.

[Amy Goodman]

Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones magazine. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm in Austin, Texas, capital right now, but I'm headed to Minneapolis tonight and Friday morning at the Main cinema for screenings about the new documentary about Democracy Now. Steal this story, please. Then in Chicago at the Music Box Theatre on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, I'll be joined by Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez and the film's directors, Tia Lesson and Carl Diehl. Then on to Milwaukee at the historic Oriental Theater on Sunday. Back in IFC in New York, I'm Amy Goodman with Nermeen Shay.