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- [00:15]
Amy Goodman
From New York. This is Democracy Now.
- [00:19]
President Donald Trump
It's a memorandum of understanding. And if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head if I don't like it. If they don't behave, will go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head.
- [00:36]
Amy Goodman
President Trump and Iran's president have formally signed an agreement to end the war. But Trump's still threatening to resume bombing Iran. We'll look at what's in the 14 point memorandum of understanding. Then we speak to the head of Oxfam about how the just concluded G7 summit failed to address many of the world's most pressing issues from inequality and climate change. Then the NAACP has filed an air pollution lawsuit against Elon Musk's Xai over its massive data center in Memphis. But the Justice Department is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed on national security grounds. And we'll speak with the acclaimed Nigerian British photographer and activist Misan Harriman, the subject of a new documentary opening here in New York, Shoot the People.
- [01:37]
Misan Harriman
My work is observing the human condition and making art that has purpose.
- [01:42]
Amitabh Behar
The images will be here forever, bringing people together to do something bigger than themselves.
- [01:49]
Misan Harriman
That's the power of art, to say
- [01:52]
Amy Goodman
another world is possible and we have
- [01:54]
Misan Harriman
the power to change things.
- [01:57]
Amy Goodman
All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracynow.org, welcome to the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. As we bring you today the news headlines. The United States and Iran have officially signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in Iran. President Trump signed the agreement at a dinner at the palace of Versailles hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. Hours after the G7 summit wrapped up in the French Alps, Iranian President Massoud Pezestkian signed the agreement in Tehran. He later shared the memorandum on social media, calling it a historical document and a message from a powerful Iran, unquote. The 14 point agreement calls for an immediate end to fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon. The full resumption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the US blockade, the waving of US sanctions on Iran, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, and a 300 an investment fund to rebuild Iran. Iran's lead negotiator, Mohamed Bakr Kalibaf, said, quote, everything we sought to achieve through military action, we obtained several times over through negotiation. It was not even comparable, unquote. On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers have criticized Trump's deal with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, calling it the, quote, worst foreign policy blunder. In decades, unquote. Meanwhile, President Trump signaled that no one will face consequences for the US cruise missile strikes that killed more than 175 people at a girls primary school in Manab on the first day of the U S Israeli attacks on Iran last February. The vast majority of the victims were schoolgirls.
- [04:02]
President Donald Trump
If it was a fault and as you know, that's under investigation. It's such a strange question to be asked at this state because you're talking about a long time ago, but nobody did that on purpose.
- [04:15]
Amy Goodman
Lebanon's national news agency reports an Israeli drone strike near the town of Qatar Tebnet has killed one person, seriously wounding another. A separate drone strike on Beit Yahoon in southern Lebanon wounded two people. Israel's attacks came even though the U S Iran cease fire deal calls for an end hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon. Ukrainian drones have struck a massive oil refinery in Russia's capital region for the second time in a week, sending thick black smoke over Moscow, halting flights at Moscow's four airports. Elsewhere, Russian officials say one woman was injured as debris from downed Ukrainian and drones fell on homes, cars and a fitness center, as well as a large mall and an industrial site. Ukraine's attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Trump and other heads of state at the G7 summit in France. In Gaza, at least two Palestinians were killed, another left wounded after Israel bombed the southern Gaza Strip. The attack targeted the Omawasi, a crowded tent camp that Israel had designated as a so called humanitarian zone. The latest killings bring of deaths since Israel agreed to U. S brokered so called ceasefire with Hamas in October to more than 1,000 dead. Israel now occupies 64% of the Gaza Strip, far more than the 53% allowed under the October agreement. California Democratic Congressmember Rohana has become the first member of Congress to sign a pledge not to take money from pro Israel lobbying groups. The peace pledge stands for pledged to enforce American law, counter foreign intelligence, counter foreign influence and end war crimes. It was created by the group AIPACTracker which tracks political spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
- [06:20]
Rohana
It's pretty common sense. It means that we shouldn't be sending our tax dollar money for foreign wars overseas. We should be spending it here at home. And it says that we shouldn't be taking money from AIPAT or all of its affiliat PACs or bundled money from those organizations and that we have to recognize the genocide that took place in Gaza.
- [06:42]
Amy Goodman
The peace pledge includes a promise to support the First Amendment rights of people critical of the State of Israel, including supporters of boycott, divestment and sanctions or the BDS movement. Peace activists rallied in Baltimore Wednesday to celebrate a decision by the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System to divest most of its hold Israeli sovereign bonds. This is Evie Frankel, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and the Break the Bonds Campaign, the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
- [07:17]
Evie Frankel
When we started this campaign held about 73, 74 million dollars worth of Israel bonds and currently we're down to 11 million dollars in Israel bonds. That's an 85% reduction in their holdings and we're declaring that a victory. But we want them to divest the other 11 million and we want a policy to make clear that they can't
- [07:42]
Amy Goodman
reinvest In Haiti, at least one and a half million people have been displaced and forced to live in makeshift shelters due to rising gang violence across Haiti. That's according to a new data announced by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during a visit to Haiti Tuesday. He spoke from the capital, Port au Prince.
- [08:04]
Antonio Guterres
Since the start of the year, gang violence has killed more than 2,300 people and wounded more than 1,100. It has paralyzed the state, the economy, education and the delivery of aid. Yet the greatest shame is not gang violence. The greatest shame is indifference. A world that looked the other way for too long.
- [08:24]
Amy Goodman
Guterres welcomed the deployment of a new UN backed force to combat gangs, approved by the UN Security Council in September that'll replace Kenyan police troops. But many Haitians have opposed further foreign intervention in Haiti, denouncing a history of political and economic destabilization. In related news, lawyers for Haitian immigrants are petitioning the US Supreme Court to dismiss the Trump administration's efforts to end temporary protected status TPS for more than 300,000 Haitians living in the United States. This comes as evidence uncovered during ongoing litigation has raised serious questions regarding the process officials used to terminate the relief. The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday all immigrants detained at an isolated ICE jail in the Florida Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz, have been transferred to other jails across the United States ahead of the approaching hurricane season. DHS did not say whether the embattled ICE jail would be closed. Advocates warn those transferred from the jail have been disappeared with their whereabouts unknown to family members. People detained at the Everglades ICE jail have described egregious abuses, including the denial of medical care and being placed in a two by two foot cage like structure as punishment, according to Amnesty International. Georgia's state legislature has rejected a push by President Trump to redraw congressional and legislative districts. Republican governor Brian Kemp had proposed a special session to revise Georgia's political maps ahead of the 2028 elections. But on Wednesday, Republican lawmakers revolted, declaring there would be no vote on redistricting, after protesters filled the state Capitol, many of them chanting black voters matter. This is Tennessee State Representative Justin Jones, who traveled to Atlanta to join the protests.
- [10:33]
Justin Jones
I'm here because what happens in Atlanta is connected to what happens in Nashville, connected to what happens in Jackson, Mississippi, connected to what happens in Montgomery, Alabama. They're waging a battle against multiracial democracy in the south, so we have to show up for each other. But what we saw in real time was the power of people. You saw an almost entirely white caucus up there who represents the new Confederacy. We represent a new south that is multiracial, rooted in racial justice, rooted in protecting our vote.
- [10:56]
Amy Goodman
The Trump administration's launched a legal fight to block the United States first ever reparations program, which serves black community members of Evanston, Illinois. The program was approved by the Evanston City Council members back in 2021, allotting some $20 million to Black residents who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969 or their direct decedents over discriminatory housing policies and the lasting impacts of slavery. Robin Roo Simmons, who pioneered the program and now serv chair of Evanston's reparations committee, denounced the Trump administration's lawsuit as a fear tactic. President Trump called off a confirmation hearing for his pick to become the next US Spy chief Wednesday, just hours before it was set to begin. The Senate Intelligence Committee had been scheduled to hear testimony from federal prosecutor J. Clayton, Trump's pick to succeed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who steps down Friday. But Trump said from the G7 summit he would stall Clayton's nomination and would refuse to sign an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance act, allowing for expansive domestic surveillance unless lawmakers first approve the Save America Act. Voting rights experts say the SAVE act could disenfranchise millions of citizens who lack easy access to a required birth certificate or a passport in order to vote. Trump also demanded Senate approval of his personal defense attorney, Jamie McDonald, to replace Jake Clayton as the U.S. attorney here in Manhattan. That means U.S. director of Federal Housing Bill Pulte, a MAGA loyalist with no national security experience, will become acting director of National Intelligence on Friday. Pulte has used his position as a top US Housing official to join Trump's campaign of retribution against his political enemies making criminal referrals over claims of mortgage fraud. Pulte will now have access to the government's most closely guarded secrets across 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. He was opposed by a number of Republicans as well as Democratic senators. The Pentagon has released the names of eight US service members killed when a B52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California Monday. The crash came as the Air Force is testing ways to keep its fleet of so called strategic bombers operating through at least 2050. The B52 can carry up to 70,000 pounds of high explosive or nuclear ordnance. And in Idaho, a federal judge has temporarily blocked a new state law that threatened transgender people with up to five years in prison for using public restrooms that match their gender identity. In related news, the Federal Trade Commission, joined by four statesAlaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, have sued the World Professional association for Transgender Health. The lawsuit alleges the group made deceptive claims about gender affirming care for minors. The group said in a statement, the FTC is, quote, acting out of pure retaliation as part of the federal government's relentless and campaign to undermine gender affirming care. The FTC is not a medical provider and has no place interfering with the process of individualized medical decision making, unquote. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman back in New York here with Nermeen Shaikh on this historic day as millions gather in lower Manhattan for what's expected to be the largest parade in New York history. That's the New York Knicks Victory Parade. Hi, Nermeen.
- [15:12]
Nermeen Shaikh
Hi, Amy. And welcome back to the studio in New York. The United States and Iran have officially signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in Iran. The signing came a day ahead of schedule. President Trump signed the agreement at a dinner at the palace of Versailles hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. Iranian President Masoud Pazechkian signed the agreement in Tehran. The 14 point agreement calls for an immediate, immediate end to fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, the full resumption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of the US Blockade, the easing of sanctions on Iran, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, and a $300 billion investment fund to rebuild Iran.
- [15:56]
Amy Goodman
But the deal also leaves many major questions unresolved about Iran's nuclear program. Iran's lead negotiator, Mohammad Bakar Ghalib, said, quote, everything we sought to achieve through military action we obtained several times over through negotiation. It was not even comparable, he said. Just hours before signing the deal, President Trump spoke at the G7 summit and issued a new threat to Iran.
- [16:24]
President Donald Trump
It's a memorandum of understanding, and if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head. What do you expect the word if I don't like it, it. If they don't behave, we'll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head.
- [16:41]
Amy Goodman
We're joined now by Vali Nasser, an Iranian American professor of international affairs and Middle east studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He recently co authored a piece in Foreign affairs headlined Iran's New Grand Strategy. How a Remade Islamic Republic Will Reshape the Middle East. He's also author of the book Iran's Grand Strategy, A Political History. Professor Nasser, it's great to have you back. If you can start off by responding to this memorandum of understanding that President Trump signed in Versailles. Obviously meant to bring us back to the end of World War I. The Iranian president, of course, signed remotely. But talk about the significance of what we have finally Learned are the 14 points points.
- [17:39]
Vali Nasser
Thank you very much for having me back. I think first of all, the most important part is that President Trump decided to sign this himself rather than have Vice President J.D. vance do it, which then now means that he basically owns this, this document. I think it's important in the sense that it ends this war. It closes the parenthesis on 100 days of both hot war and economic war that has devastated the global economy at face value. And the way in which the political commentary, particularly in the west and the United States, is interpreting it, is that this is a major strategic setback for the United States. The US Started this war with the belief that it will destroy the Islamic Republic within days. President demanded utter surrender for Iran, and now he has to settle for an agreement. And the way this agreement reads, it looks like that the United States is more eager for this war to end than Iran is. The United States has given Iran a great deal of economic incentive in order to agree to sign this agreement, end the war, and then agree to negotiate over the larger issues which supposedly caused the war in the first place. And also it's very clear that in Iran, they're very triumphant. They think this is a big victory for them. Not only that they survived the war, but that they forced the president to sign this agreement. And more importantly, everything the President said yesterday was breaking taboos. Iran can have enrichment. Iran can have missiles. Israel cannot destroy buildings in Lebanon at will or should not, and that Iran is entitled to have its own frozen assets taken back, taken given back to the country.
- [19:28]
Nermeen Shaikh
And if you could comment, Professor Nasser, on the fact that Lebanon figures in the very first point of this memorandum and the fact you've called this agreement a success for Iran because it's created, as you said, a fissure between the US And Israel. If you could elaborate on that, and what you see as the risks given that Israel hadwas not consulted on this agreement, and it's very unclear that it will go along with it.
- [19:58]
Misan Harriman
It.
- [20:00]
Vali Nasser
Well, first of all, the war was. Was a moment of triumph for Israel because it convinced the United States to basically go to war to realize what is essentially and at its core, Israel's strategic aims, which was the destruction of the Islamic Republic through military means. The war did not pan out the way that President Trump understood it would, and that already was official. Now, the president, trying to get out of this war the best he can, has led them down a path that accepts the continued existence of the Islamic Republic, giving money to the Islamic Republic, talking to the Islamic Republic, all of which are basically strategic setbacks for Israel and particularly for Prime Minister Netanyahu. And Iran is actually asking for a price for accommodating President Trump. And the price that Iran is asking is deliberately trying to expand that fissure between the US And Israel. Iran by insisting that Israel needs to back away from its maximal position on Lebanon and settle for a ceasefire now, and perhaps as Iran is demanding even leave south Lebanon, essentially, first of all asserts the fact that Iran is coming out of this war believing that he has more leverage than before it went into this war, but also creates greater tension between Washington and Tel Aviv. And so the Iranians are playing this in a very important way for them. But also we have to think that one outcome of this war is friction between Israel and the United States, period. Because the Israeli strategy of deploying the US to destroy Iran has backfired. And ultimately there will be a reckoning in the US as to why did we go into this war, what were the premises of thinking that would be successful and who is responsible. And even though it's not said loudly, it's very clear in the undertone of what President Trump says that he's lost trust in what Prime Minister Netanyahu tells him, and that he's somewhat angry because he's receiving blowback for a war that was essentially an Israeli strategic agenda, and now he has to carry the political cost of it.
- [22:25]
Nermeen Shaikh
Professor Nasser, I want to ask about this piece that you co wrote with Nargis Bajorli, Iran's new grand strategy, in which you detail the changes that have taken place within Iran from last year, the first U. S. Israeli attack on Iran in June 2025, to now when this invasion took place February 26th. You say the Iranian state underwent something of a transformation. You write, quote, more institutional change took place in those eight months than in the previous 10 years combined. If you could elaborate.
- [23:04]
Vali Nasser
Well, yesterday in Evian, President Trump kept saying multiple times that there has been regime change in Iran and a more pragmatic leadership has taken over. Setting aside the second part of his statement that whether it's pragmatic or not, there definitely has been regime change. I mean, Israel and the United states between the June 2025 war and this recent war have killed over 130 Iranian leaders. And by doing so, they've eliminated a whole class of the country's leadership, which has been replaced by a new generation that has come up through the ranks, generation that has been born in Iran after the revolution, generation that was born not as revolutionaries that were fight against a state, but actually as children of that state and in a bureaucracy, in a system that took place. And they have different attitude towards statecraft, towards how to manage the country and particularly how to manage the war. I mean, one of the things that surprised the United States in this war is the aggressiveness of the new Iranian leadership. The president, as he referred yesterday multiple times, killed General Soleimani, put maximum pressure sanctions on Iran, bombed Iran's nuclear facilities in June. And what he got from the previous leadership in Iran was tepid, conservative, restrained answer. And now he's facing a leadership that doesn't answer the same way. It answers very, very aggressively. And therefore was able to turn the tables on the United States by closing the Strait of Hormuz, by attacking American bases. In addition, one of the big surprises of this war is how quickly Iran reorganized itself between finding itself on the defensive in June and then facing a massive social uprising in Iran in January that it was compelled to suppress very bloodily and brutally and led to the conclusion around the world that the Iranian regime was really, really weak. How is it that this really, really weak regime at war with its own people and having just suffered massive bombardment in June, was able to reorganize itself to survive a very direct massive attack by the world's premier military superpower and the Middle east as most powerful military and not only survive it, but actually come out of the war with strategic wins like the control of the Strait of Hormones was like a chokehold on the global economy and forced the American president into retreat to settle for far less than what he had thought. So if we take stock of this, regardless of whether you like the Islamic Republic or not or how heinous they've been with their own people, you have to account for the fact that Iran, Iran's new leadership, achieved the feat of reorganizing the state, reorganizing their military, managing their economy in a way to be able to achieve what they did in the eight months between the two wars and then during the course of the Hundred Day War.
- [26:13]
Amy Goodman
You write that the view now from Tehran is that, quote, the United States decade long containment of Iran has come to an end. The new regional order will be defined less by American primacy than by multipolarity, with China an increasingly central player and Iran an integral rather than a marginal actor. As we begin to wrap up, Professor Nassar, if you can explain that shifting geopolitics and how exactly what Trump has achieved, what is the difference between February 27, before Israel and the US attacked
- [26:54]
Vali Nasser
Ennass now what Trump has achieved is to end Iran's containment. First of all, Iran destroyed about 16 to 17 US bases, some of them completely. So, so it ended, if you would, the military encirclement of Iran. It created doubt in the mind of the Gulf countries about the wisdom of partnering with the United States in containing Iran. And then yesterday in Evian, the president made clear that even the sanctions regime against Iran is going to come down, down. So economic and military containment of Iran is gone. During this war, both in the Middle east and globally, the United States standing has been diminished. It has lost strategic ground. This was very evident in the President's visit to China. So multipolarity is a big winner against the President who asserted American domination around the world, tried to show it in a war with what he thought was a second rate, third rate military and a country on the verge of collapse has come up short. So he has been cut at the knees, if you would. And what will come, obviously, is a greater assertion of power by various regions of the world, by China and Russia and the United States that will find it more and more difficult to compel the rest of the world to basically follow the U.S. s lead.
- [28:11]
Amy Goodman
Vali Nasser, we want to thank you for being with us. Professor of International Affairs, Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. We'll link to your piece Foreign Affairs Iran's new grand strategy How a remade Islamic Republic will reshape the Middle East. Coming up, we speak to the head of Oxfam international about the G7 summit. Stay with us.
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Marco Chanelli
Cry cause if there will be justice in heaven Try until my knuckles I'll be fine I was born in a shack made of mud and wood 20 other people hanging from westward There was no water and the money was ripped at times where a heart even just say a prayer for all my sins God denies me to heaven on judgment day Mama want you cry cause if there will be justice in heaven try you tease my mind cause I'll be fine I broke anywhere I was When I was nine I stole some food and smuggle the wine I fed my family and when into all my sins
- [29:42]
Amy Goodman
By Marco Chanelli this is democracy now, democracynow.org I'm Amy Goodman with Nermeen Shay.
- [29:49]
Nermeen Shaikh
The G7 summit has wrapped up in the French Alps. On the summit's final day, the heads of the world's leading air companies joined G7 leaders for a working lunch to discuss artificial intelligence. Attendees included the CEOs of Open Mind, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind. Just days earlier, the US had ordered Anthropic to disable Access its most advanced AI models from foreign nationals, citing national security concerns. Their attendance at the G7 also signaled the growing geopolitical power of the world's wealthiest individuals. Ahead of the Summit, an estimated 20,000 people protested the G7 in Geneva. One sign read, your enemies don't arrive by boat, they arrive by private jet. No G7. This is PIPA Soji, who attended the protest.
- [30:44]
M
The G7 for me is a meeting of the rich to further illustrate how the rich can get richer while the poor are left behind. And I think we women need to protest against these rich people even more. Even though there are two women at the G7, it's still very much about representing the patriarchy. So there you have it.
- [31:02]
Amy Goodman
For more, we're joined now by the executive director of Oxfam International, Amitabh Behar. He is joining us from New. Thank you so much for being with us from India. If you can talk about the outcome of this G7 summit and also the significance of what you feel is the deal was made to secure Trump's presence both in its process and its outcome. Thank you.
- [31:34]
Amitabh Behar
I think we need to put this in context. What is really the context in which the G7 was meeting? And as your previous speaker said, it is pretty much a club of the super rich super elites. But the context was essentially rising food prices, rising fuel prices, and rising Fertilizer prices. Most poor people, ordinary people, are not being able to ensure food on their table at this moment. And that is when you have this super club, elite club meeting. And what do they come up with, with, you know, it's essentially like asking the people who have started the fire to kind of put it off. That's, that's not going to happen. And at this moment, what we have seen in terms of the outcome, it does not address the fundamental question that the world faces. And these are questions of international law. This is about ensuring human rights, human dignity for everyone. This is about fighting inequality. And I'm glad that you asked me about the agendas and what the compromises in terms of the agenda that were needed to ensure the participation of President Trump. You have already seen issues like climate and gender go out of the window. And you are then really doing a conversation which is about the self interest of the GC and Amitabh.
- [33:07]
Nermeen Shaikh
Could you talk about this in the context of these massive cuts in humanitarian assistance? Of course, the largest cuts here in the U.S. but also from the EU OECD countries now contribute 23% less aid than they did in 2025. Led by the U.S. a year earlier, the U.S. has cut almost 60% of its aid.
- [33:35]
Amitabh Behar
So you know, last year we have seen almost 48 billion of OTA getting cut. And this is the biggest cut that we have seen. And this has really meant that you actually have communities where people are dying. The direct impact is very, very visible. You're seeing public services crumble, you're seeing countries go, go under the debt burden further. But this is happening when, and I think that's really the irony of the current economic model. On the one hand, you see these countries doing these massive cuts which impacts the common ordinary poor people across the world. On the other hand, you're looking at a conflict. And let me just give you a couple of numbers. Just since the war started, 48 of the energy billionaires from the G7 countries have actually added $23.5 billion to the equity, which is pretty much $300 million being added every day. You have had six oil companies almost being projected to clock a profit of more than 150 to billion this year. So that's what is happening. On the one hand, you create an economic system which essentially redistributes, sucks up wealth from the common ordinary people from the middle classes and concentrates at the top. On the other hand, you have these D7 countries dramatically and devastatingly cutting humanitarian aid. And the impact is visible.
- [35:23]
Nermeen Shaikh
So could you say, I mean Oxfam has been calling for international action like that which occurred during the COVID 19 pandemic as well as following the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Explain the steps that were taken then and what's happened now in the wake of the U. S Israeli war on Iran and also the fact that there were a number of countries that were invited as guest observers from including India, but also South Korea, Brazil, Kenya and Egypt. What were they doing there?
- [35:57]
Amitabh Behar
I think that's, that's really question for us to ask the global leaders. I must say that the communities, the voices that you had from the streets on Geneva are not unique to Geneva. These protests are happening across the world and these people are asking those tough questions of their leadership. But at the moment you're seeing this pretty much a Wall street consensus where they all come together to talk of self interest. And what do you really see in terms of the outcome? You see some pittance going to Gaza at this moment. Yes, it's good that we are talking of increased humanitarian aid, but does Gaza really need humanitarian aid alone? It is about not humanitarian aid. This is about reconstruction, this is about human dignity. This is about ensuring bring safety of people, food, water to everyone. That's what we need. Look at the Ebola outcome. I would say it was positive, we welcome it that you have now international coordination being discussed, that's important. You also are looking at new resources deemed to be new resources, but essentially this is just bringing back back some of the money that's being cut. So at this moment I feel that there's a complete, complete disjunction between the global leaders who are essentially moving towards an economic system which is then getting captured by these super rich super billionaires who then twist the policies in their own favor. While the real questions of the common people, which is about inflation, which is about the cost of food, which is about dignified livelihood, all those questions are not even in terms of the main agenda.
- [37:57]
Amy Goodman
Amitabh Behar, I want to thank you for being with us. Oxfam International Executive Director speaking to us from New Delhi, India. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Nermeen shaikh.
- [38:12]
Nermeen Shaikh
As the SpaceX IPO grabbed headlines this week, rocketing Elon Musk musk to trillionaire status, the Department of Justice has now intervened on behalf of SpaceX in a civil rights lawsuit over potential violations of the Clean Air act involving one of its Xai data centers. The naacp, an environmental group, sued the company in April, saying it is illegally operating dozens of gas burning turbines in Mississippi near homes, schools and churches in North Mississippi and nearby Memphis, Tennessee. In a motion filed by the DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division on Monday, the DOJ asked the court to throw out the lawsuit accusing the NAACP of threatening, quote, American national economic and energy security by seeking to shut off power needed for AI development.
- [39:03]
Amy Goodman
For more, we go to the capital of California, to Sacramento, where we're joined by Abrai Connor, director of the NAACP center for Environmental and Climate Justice. Lay out your response to SpaceX acquiring Musk's AI company XAI and the lawsuit of the NAACP.
- [39:28]
Abrai Connor
Yeah, well, we already were in the fight of our lives with communities by fighting a billionaire who decided to go into a predominantly black community first in Memphis, utilizing mass turbines that were polluting the community, and then copy and pasting that same type of project in South Haven, Mississippi. And then whenever you now move into a place where now there is a trillionaire who is making decisions and feeling as though they don't, he does not have to necessarily follow the Clean Air Act. That's a problem. We filed a lawsuit because the Clean Air act is still the law, law of the land. You cannot actually just go into a community, start polluting and not actually try to get the permits. Regardless of who is potentially in office, the Trump administration, that does not mean that the law does not apply to you. And so that was why we first filed our lawsuit in South Haven. We then filed a motion for preliminary injunction because there are now nearly 60 methane gas turbines that are operating in these frontline communities. And we are saying to the court, you know, that there needs to be action more soon. And once we filed our case, we started to hear rumblings that the U.S. department of justice was planning to get involved because they do have to make that information public. And what we found out, unfortunately, was that for the first time, the U.S. department of justice, even though their mission is supposed to be to protect people, civil rights, the public interest, that they are intervening in a way to support a trillionaire in a way that they're saying that national security does not necessarily mean that it's protecting the people who are having to live and suffer from methane gas turbines every single day, that the security of whatever this Iran war or memo or whatever that is, is more important than the people who actually being harmed every single day.
- [41:48]
Nermeen Shaikh
And Abra, as you said, I mean, it's quite extraordinary for the US to intervene on behalf of a polluter rather than to intervene to enforce the law. If you could talk about the significance, though, of this lawsuit, the NAACP's lawsuit being heard in the Fifth Circuit, which is a conservative appeals court, which would suggest that perhaps the Department of Justice justice has an advantage. Is that correct?
- [42:19]
Abrai Connor
Well, what we know to be the fact is that the Clean Air act, regardless of who the judge is, regardless of who the court is, that that's still the law. And we know that it's important for us to make the case when we're in court that, that this is not that any type of executive order that is being utilized to greenlight these types of projects. That's not the law. And so we're continuing to move forward. We have our hearing for our motion for preliminary injunction in a little over a month. And so that's important. You know, it's important that we're going to move forward. It's important that regardless of who the judge is, regardless of the court, that we are still utilizing what is the actual law, which is that you cannot move forward with a gas plant the size of what Xai and Elon Musk is trying to operate without actually following the law. Now, we recognize that many of the individuals who are listed on the U.S. department of Justice's intervention, our political appointees, however, it's also important to recognize that as attorneys, we have an obligation to actually uphold the rule of law, to uphold our oath, to make sure that we have the ethical obligation to actually share what the law is as it is now. And the law is that if you want to operate methane gas turbines in a community, that you have to get permits. That's not up for debate. The law also stands that if the government does not jump in to actually do something about that pollution, that the communities, that everyday people have the opportunity to actually bring those cases, to actually move forward and say we are going to hold the polluters accountable. And that is exactly what we're doing. And in this type of situation, not Only is the U.S. department of Justice's argument that they should be the ones that should make the final decisions, but that the court in some way, that they actually don't get to make that choice either. That's a problem for democracy overall. That's something that we all should be concerned about. We should be concerned about this type of authoritarian rule. To say that a trillionaire and an administration that is moving forward in a way of bullying everyday people and civil rights organizations, that they should be the ones to make the decisions about our health, about pollution in communities, about stopping sacrifice zones from being furthered because of an agenda that does not serve everyday people.
- [45:23]
Amy Goodman
Attorney Abre Connor. We want to thank you for being with us. Director of the NAAC center for Environmental and Climate justice, speaking to us from Sacramento, California. Coming up, we go to the acclaimed Nigerian British photographer and activist Misan Harriman, the subject of a new documentary that's opening here in New York called Shoot the People. Stay with us.
- [46:01]
Misan Harriman
Ashen faces, forest blazing oh, what have we done? I daydream of time Lying tongues. And who would dare drive a knife through the future of their very own young? And who would dare to set fire to the lungs of the future generations?
- [46:46]
Amy Goodman
Finally Return by Marie sue this is democracy now, democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman with Nermeen Shaikh.
- [46:52]
Nermeen Shaikh
We turn now to the uk where the criminalization of Palestine related activism is on the rise. On Monday, a British court of appeals upheld the government's ban on Palestine Action as a terrorist group over causing, quote, serious damage to property. Palestine Action has carried out direct action protests at Israeli linked military action and industrial sites in the UK since it was formed in 2020. Last week, a judge sentenced four Palestine Action activists as terrorists for their involvement in a protest at a factory owned by Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons manufacturer. But it's not just the government and the courts that are creating a climate of fear around speaking up about Palestinian rights. The latest high profile target of right wing media outlets is British photographer and activist Misan Haraman, an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights who's now being accused of promoting anti Semitism. Harriman has over half a million followers on social media. His photographs of Black Lives Matter movement went viral and he became the first black photographer to shoot the COVID of British Vogue. He's also extensively documented pro Palestine rallies in the UK, highlighting examples of Jewish solidarity.
- [48:07]
Amy Goodman
Over 100,000 people have submitted complaints to the UK's Independent Press Standards Organization following what many call a dishonest smear campaign against Harriman. An open letter in his support signed by over 250 celebrity actors, artists, activists, writers and lawmakers, claims the accusations against him are entirely without foundation or fact. Former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy described the campaign as, quote, a preposterous ad hominem attack, spuriously attempting to cast the an anti racist British cultural icon as an enemy of the Jews. Daniel Levy was a former peace negotiator under two Israeli prime ministers. Well, there's a new documentary about Ms. San Hariman about the importance of protest and taking a political stand as an artist directed by The Nigerian British filmmaker Andy Mundy Castle. It's called Shoot the People. This is a teaser fellow the film.
- [49:19]
Misan Harriman
When I look around what is happening today, it's hard not to feel helpless.
- [49:24]
Amitabh Behar
We shouldn't deny that we're in a really dark moment.
- [49:26]
Amy Goodman
I think the revolution should be televised. I think the revolution should always be documented.
- [49:32]
Misan Harriman
My work is observing the human condition and making art that has purpose.
- [49:37]
Amitabh Behar
The images will be here forever bringing people together to do something bigger than themselves.
- [49:45]
Misan Harriman
That's the power of art to say
- [49:48]
Amy Goodman
another world is possible and we have
- [49:50]
Misan Harriman
the power to change things.
- [49:54]
Amy Goodman
For more we're joined here in our New York studio by Misan Harriman. He's also an Oscar nominated filmmaker, global ambassador for Save the Children UK and the board chair of London's largest cultural centre, the South Bank Centre Center. Shoot the People has just opened in New York and Toronto this week is distributed by Watermelon Pictures. Ms. San Harriman, welcome to democracy now. It's great to have you in studio. I know you'll be having a Q and A at the Angelica tonight with Elliot Page. Before we go into the film and your incredible work over the years, can you talk about this repression of pro Palestine activists, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, whoever they are in your pictures of people are magnificent. The criminalizing especially of Palestine action.
- [50:49]
Misan Harriman
Yes. I mean you've seen the recent, you know, Court of appeal news re Palestine action and what's the first thing to say is extraordinary that the jury of the case did not realize that they would, you know, be terrorism charged charges when they were deciding what their verdict would be. And I think that's the big story in all of this is how can a jury decide what is doing without knowing what the charges will be?
- [51:19]
Amy Goodman
Explain exactly what you mean because for a global audience I don't think there is as much just having flown in from the UK and Ireland yesterday knowledge of Palestine action and how the British government has categorized that.
- [51:32]
Misan Harriman
Yes. So the been, you know, appeals. But the most important point at this stage of Palestine action in the court case is that a jury of our peers decided the verdict without knowing what the final charge would be. And that is an extraordinary thing in any democracy in any part of the world. And I hope there'll be an appeal so that this can be retried. We will see. But I've never heard, and many scholars have spoken about this of a jury deciding what a verdict will be and then the actual verdict has a different charge to what the jury was made to believe. And that's an Extraordinary thing, I think with Palestine action. As a photographer, I have seen rabbis, imams, grandmothers, blind men and women, veterans be arrested and I do not that a 90 year old, you know, great grandmother is a clear and present danger to any nuclear powered nation state. And we've got to a place where this is happening in plain sight for all of us to see. Which is why so many people are incensed by the amount of arrests and the amount that that is costing the state because it costs money to try people and arrest people on mass. And I don't think the support for Palestine action is going to go away because it's been prescribed in this way.
- [53:05]
Nermeen Shaikh
Absolutely. Well, let's go to the documentary now. Shoot the people. This is a clip from right after you attended the Oscars in Los Angeles in 2024 where your short film the after was nominated for an Oscar in the best live action short film category. As you're driving to the ceremony, you pass multiple Palestine protests and the walk on the red carpet is edited in a powerful way with footage of bombs over Gaza. In this clip you reflect on the question of fame and the responsibility it brings to speak out.
- [53:38]
Misan Harriman
I think we live in an age now where it's all too easy to have all this power and influence but literally stand for nothing. The veneer of what I thought the world was supposed to be has clearly come off and I'm seeing how much needs to be changed. I realize I've lived a privileged life and that often collides with my activism and often wonder whether it's possible to inhabit both of these worlds. I could be, you know, jumping from one film and fashion party to the other. I have plenty of, I guess, celebrity friends that I could be hanging around with and just turn my head away from the pain and inequality of the world.
- [54:34]
Nermeen Shaikh
So there you are, Misan, in the documentary. Now, of course you've chosen not to turn your head away. And you've often quoted one of the most extraordinary musicians of the 20th century, Nina Simone, as saying that an artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times. So if you could talk about that and how you became interested in the work that you did and became an activist on so many different issues.
- [55:00]
Misan Harriman
Well, I really stand on the shoulders of the legends that came before me. Peter Margabade, the great South African photographer and being in New York City, Gordon Parks, who in many ways changed my life. And he also straddled activism and shooting for, you know, Life magazine, Vogue magazine himself. I am a child of empire. My parents were born into an occupied Nigeria. There must never be children of a lesser God. That is how I've been raised. There must never be humans of a lesser God. If I step outside of my house and I see a child bleeding out, I'm not going to ask what God that child worships. I'm not going to ask where that child was born. I'm going to help the child. I believe we've got to a place where even children's right to live has become debatable. So instead of using my voice and my art to keep people on islands of rage, I'm there to build the bridges that have been broken by the very groups of people that were supposed to protect us, our fourth estate and our politicians. And I genuinely believe that through art and culture, we can see that the sum of all of our parts is stronger than the powerful few.
- [56:18]
Nermeen Shaikh
And how have you seen over the decades that you've been an activist, what transformations have you seen in the UK in particular, which is where you live, in terms of the expansion or diminution of rights for different communities, lgbtq, for, you know, feminism, black lives?
- [56:38]
Misan Harriman
Well, I've all of it. Black lives, queer trans climate. And the thing about Palestine is it brings it all together because all of those groups I see at Palestine protests, the intersectionality of these movements has come together because the right to self determination of Palestine is deeply rooted, rooted by the same moral compass that people have in other movements. The Jewish bloc, who I march with all the time, are some of the most extraordinary people I've seen in these protests. I believe the central pillar of Judaism is altruism, thinking about others, lifting others up. And they have become brothers and sisters in arms with Muslim, Arab, Palestinian people, all looking toward the horizon to build a future that our children deserve to have inherit.
- [57:26]
Amy Goodman
We're going to do a part two of this conversation post online at democracynow.org, but in this last 30 seconds, talk about the title of this documentary about you. Shoot the People.
- [57:38]
Misan Harriman
Shoot the People is a play on words, obviously of the real violence that black and brown bodies are having to endure generation after generation, but also of the potential shield that is a lens to bear witness to say that we were here and we stood up against tyranny together.
- [57:58]
Amy Goodman
Ms. Ann Harriman, the Nigerian British photographer, social activist and Oscar nominated filmmaker. A new documentary about him has opened this week in New York and also Toronto. It's called Shoot the people. Go to democracynow.org for part two of our conversation. That does it for our show coming up tomorrow, juneteenth Special with Clinton Smith and Rhiannon Giddens. I'm headed to Vermont today. I'll be in Burlington and then Brattleboro, Saint Johnsbury, in Montpelier for a documentary about Democracy now called Steal this Story. Please. I'll be with the director Carl Diehl and my brother, Vermont journalist David Goodman, to see the theaters where we'll be. They're opening for a week there. You can go to democracynow.org, looking forward to seeing people throughout Vermont. And I'm so happy to be home with Nermeen Shaikh. Thanks so much for joining us for another edition of Democracy Now.