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- [00:16]
Amy Goodman
From New York. This is democracy now.
- [00:21]
Rebecca Nagle
We've been told the American Revolution was fought over taxes and representation. But the last complaint, the thing our founders were most angry about, goes like this.
- [00:33]
Juan Gonzalez
He has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages.
- [00:42]
Rebecca Nagle
There's a racial slur in the Declaration of Independence.
- [00:46]
Amy Goodman
Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence July 4th, we'll speak with Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle, her new podcast series First America. She'll join us from Oklahoma. Then the democratic socialist big wins across the country.
- [01:07]
Abir Kawas
Another world is possible. That is a world where Gaza is free to live.
- [01:17]
Juan Gonzalez
I think it's the biggest threat to our nation there is, maybe since our founding. That includes World War I, World War II.
- [01:26]
Amy Goodman
As President Trump attacks democratic socialists, we'll meet Abir Kawas, the Democratic nominee for New York State Senate. If she wins in November, she'll be the first Palestinian American to hold office in New York State. Then to Venezuela, where more than 1700 people have died in devastating earthquakes and rescue operations are still underway.
- [01:52]
Juan Gonzalez
We are procuring and this is something
- [01:55]
Amy Goodman
that has been agreed with the authorities here. 10,000 body bags. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Officials in Qatar say no high level meetings are scheduled between the United States and Iran after the Trump administration said it had sent envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Doha for talks following a weekend of tit for tat attacks around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Foreign Ministry denied Trump's claim Monday that Tehran had requested the meeting, calling it fake news. Iran, however, said it is sending a delegation to Doha to follow up on the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Iran also rejected a plan by France to demine parts of the Strait of Hormuz warning Paris against provocations. Meanwhile, President Trump slashed out against the skyrocketing cost of fuel unleashed by his war against Iran. Trump wrote on Truth Social, quote, gasoline retailers get their prices down immediately, adding that if they fail to lower prices, quote, big problems lie ahead, unquote. Israeli strikes on southern and central Gaza Monday killed at least eight people, among them two children in one of the attacks. Al Jazeera reports a displaced 23 year old mother and her one year old daughter were killed when their tent was hit in the Al Musi neighborhood of Khan Yunis. Israel now claims control of some two thirds thirds of Gaza with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrek calling for the immediate establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza's northern perimeter. Smotrek spoke on Monday from the city of Sidarot on Gaza's border.
- [03:52]
Juan Gonzalez
We're here in Sderot today.
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Abir Kawas
The IDF holds nearly 70% of the Gaza Strip. We must complete the conquest of the
- [03:58]
Juan Gonzalez
remaining 30%, defeat Hamas and above all
- [04:01]
Abir Kawas
we need to establish a belt of
- [04:02]
Juan Gonzalez
Jewish settlements within a territory territory of
- [04:05]
Abir Kawas
the Strip as a protective border for
- [04:06]
Juan Gonzalez
Sidarat and all the communities of the Gaza.
- [04:09]
Amy Goodman
Envelope in news from the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers killed a 15 year old Palestinian boy in the city of Elberre near Ramallah. Mande. Amir Ahmad Jawad Jaber was reportedly shot in the head and chest during a raid. This comes as a new report by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem found Israeli soldiers killed at least 54 Palestinian children and teens in the west bank year in 2025, the highest rate since Israel occupied the West bank in 1967. In Venezuela, rescue crews continue to search for tens of thousands of missing people. Nearly a week after two back to back earthquakes devastated La Guayira and Caracas, Venezuelan health Officials say over 1,700 people are confirmed dead with the toll expected. Speaking From Caracas, the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator said Monday people are still being pulled from the rubble.
- [05:13]
Rebecca Nagle
At least 2,500 structures affected, most of which fully collapsed.
- [05:20]
Amy Goodman
We are procuring and this is something that has been agreed with the authorities here, 10,000 body bags. This comes as the Associated Press reports the United States deported more than 140 Venezuelans including several children. They arrived back in Venezuela just hours before the earthquakes. The deportees were left in a hotel in La Guayira with some survivors describing crawling out of the rubble and barely escaping. This is the mother of one of the men deported to Venezuela from the U.S. she said he suffered life altering injuries in the disaster. It's believed more than 100 of the deportees have died.
- [06:09]
Rebecca Nagle
The flight arrived at 11am Then they went through all the migratory process. He called me at 5pm and told me I love you so much mom. See you tomorrow at home. Like any mother, I prepared a welcome for him with his blue, yellow and red balloons.
- [06:25]
Amy Goodman
We'll go to Caracas later in the broadcast. Ukraine launched a wave of long range drone attacks on Moscow overnight, the latest in a series of assaults on Russia's capital. A regional governor said a six month old baby was killed when a drone crashed into a home. This follows Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine Monday that killed at least eight people and wounded 34 others. On Sunday, Ukrainian drone strikes on two Russian oil refineries sparked massive fires. Russian officials say the attacks left four people dead. In the United States, the Supreme Court has granted President Trump the power to fire and replace commissioners at independent government agencies. Monday's 6 to 3 ruling overturns more than 90 years of precedent that insulated regulatory agencies set up by Congress from presidential control. The case centered around Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who was fired by Trump without cause in March of last year. In a separate ruling announced Monday, justices ruled 5 to 4 that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook could remain at her job as she challenges Trump's efforts to fire her. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts argued the Trump administration's efforts to end the Federal Reserve's independence is, quote, an interpretive leap out of step with the statute Congress enacted and our nation's tradition of central banking protected from political interference, unquote. Meanwhile, Alvaro Bedoya, former FTC commissioner, also fired by Trump, responded to the ruling by saying, quote, they're making clear that the Wall street bankers, the central bankers, they deserve an independent, above the fray regulator. The rest of us schmucks get stuck with the loyalists, he said. In another major Supreme Court decision, justices ruled 5 to 4 to uphold a Mississippi law that allows mail in ballots to be up to five days after an election as long as they're postmarked by Election Day. A ruling overturning the law could have seen hundreds of thousands of voters disenfranchised in future elections due to postal delays or because they live in remote rural locations. A New York Times review of the 2024 election found at least 725,000 such ballots. The ruling's a blow to President Trump, who sought to limit who can vote by mail while promoting conspiracy theories about mail in ballots. In response, voting rights journalist Ari Berman wrote, quote, every major study has shown that mail in voting is safe and secure, but the fact that four justices signed on to Trump's crusade to get rid of mail in ballots is highly disturbing and could embolden the president to attempt to take even more drastic steps to make it harder to vote, berman said. In another landmark decision Monday, the Supreme Court ruled law enforcement agencies must first obtain a warrant before sweeping up smartphone location data from third party tech companies like Google. In her majority opinion, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that a lower court should reexamine whether the technique known as geofencing constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. She wrote, quote, an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy and records about his cell phone's location, and police intrude on that constitutionally protected interest when they demand the information, unquote. The Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider President Trump's appeal of a $5 million verdict in a civil suit that found he sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carrol a department store dressing room in the 1990s and later defamed her. The court dismissed the case without explanation. Trump's lawyers have indicated the last of the Supreme Court to consider a second defamation case, successfully brought by E. Jean Carroll after Trump called her a liar. Following the first verdict, Trump was ordered to pay more than $83 million in that case. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court's handing down the final decisions of its term this morning at the time of this broadcast with rul on birthright citizenship, bans on transgender athletes and campaign finance. Separately, the court announced it will review two Arizona laws requiring people to produce proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. A ruling upholding the laws would dramatically weaken the National Voter Registration act of 1993. In Colorado, 15 term incumbent Democratic Congressmember Diana DeGette faces the most serious primary challenge of her political career from a Democratic socialist seeking to build on last week's upset victories. And New York 29 year old lawyer Milat Kiros is campaigning on a platform of Medicare for All universal childcare, ending homelessness in a complete arms embargo against Israel. Outside groups have poured around $3 million into the race with Super PACS funded by AIPAC and major big tech donors supporting Daghet. Kira says her message is getting through despite the flood of negative campaigning against her.
- [11:53]
Abir Kawas
These issues are popular with the voters of Denver, right?
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Beatriz Ochoa
In fact, socialism is more popular than
- [11:57]
Amy Goodman
capitalism for voters of this city.
- [11:59]
Abir Kawas
But more than anything, what I would explain is that we already have socialism. It's in our streets, it's in our public schools, it's in our fire stations. What we're fighting for is to extend that kind of guarantee and that security into our health care, into our housing, into our childcare and our elder care.
- [12:14]
Amy Goodman
Meanwhile, incumbent Colorado Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper faces a challenge from State Senator Julie Gonzalez, a progressive who's the backing also of Democratic Socialists of America. We'll speak to a democratic socialist who won the primary in New York later in the broadcast. In immigration news, Gothamist reports more than 70 immigrants detained at the Newark, New Jersey ICE jail known as Delaney hall have filed federal lawsuits over medical neglect and other abuses. In May, hundreds of detained immigrants at Delaney hall started a labor and hunger strike that lasted for weeks and ended earlier this month as strikers face retaliation, including solitary confinement and being transferred to other ICE jails. Delaney hall is operated by the for profit prison company Geo Group. In related news, a New York City Council employee who has detained at Delaney hall for more than five months has been released from custody. Rafael Rubio was taken by federal immigrant officers in January during a routine asylum interview. Rubio, who is from Venezuela, was detained despite holding TPS, that's Temporary Protected Status. President Trump purchased up to $5 million worth of stock in the corporation that makes taser weapons just two weeks before ICE solicited a $220 million contract for the devices. Trump's investment in Axon Enterprise was first reported by cnbc. This comes as House Democrats are pushing for passage of the no Getting Rich in Congress Act, a bill that would prevent public officials, including the president, from profiting from conflicts of interest. And New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani's administration has announced the permanent closure of a detention facility inside the Rikers island jail complex. Mayor Mamdani said in a statement, quote, for decades, Rikers island has represented one of the deepest failures of our city government, and this milestone brings us closer to ending that chapter. We're replacing a system built around neglect with one centered on rehabilitation, mayor Mamdani said. This all comes about seven years after the New York City Council in 2019 approved a plan to shut down Rikers for good. But city officials have said the prison complex won't be ready to close by its 2027 court mandated deadline. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York with Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez in Chicago.
- [14:58]
Juan Gonzalez
Hi Juan, Hi Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world.
- [15:05]
Amy Goodman
Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Saturday, July 4, we turn to the people in history most often left out of the nation's founding story. Award winning Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle has partnered with leading Indigenous scholars in a new documentary podcast series called First America. It challenges the conventional US Origin story by examining the experiences of Indigenous peoples and also asks what those experiences can teach us about US Democracy today. The series also traces how legal doctrines first used to dispossess Indigenous nations continue to impact questions of executive power, immigration, xenophobia, citizenship, territorial expansion and US Foreign policy today. This is a clip from episode one, Merciless Indian Savages.
- [16:06]
Rebecca Nagle
We've been told The American Revolution was fought over taxes and representation. But the last complaint, the thing our Founders were most angry about, goes like this.
- [16:18]
Amy Goodman
He has endeavored to bring on the
- [16:21]
Juan Gonzalez
inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages.
- [16:28]
Rebecca Nagle
There's a racial slur in the Declaration of Independence. Native people are called savages. Alongside those lofty ideals, our founders included their deep hatred for indigenous people, the
- [16:42]
Juan Gonzalez
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
- [16:58]
Rebecca Nagle
In case you need a refresher, the popular story of the American Revolution goes like this. Britain unjustly imposed taxes on the colonists and they got mad. But every time they protested, like when they threw tea into the Boston harbor, the king just imposed harsher laws. The colonists started to see their king as a tyrant.
- [17:23]
Abir Kawas
4,000 troops are now stationed here within our city.
- [17:26]
Rebecca Nagle
Some started talking about independence. Late one night, Paul Revere rode his horse to warn militias waiting outside Boston that the the British were coming. The next morning, the militia squared off against the Brits and the Revolutionary War began. A year later, our Founding Fathers gathered in Philadelphia to write the Declaration of Independence. But for two and a half centuries, that document has been telling a different story.
- [18:14]
Amy Goodman
That's a clip from episode one of the new podcast series from Pushkin Industries, First America, host and executive producer, award winning Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle, who's joining us now from Tulsa, Oklahoma, also author of by the Fire. We the generations Long fight for justice on Native land. Rebecca, congratulations on this series. If you can start off by telling us this story about the Declaration of Independence. And as you talk about the racist slur it contains.
- [18:51]
Rebecca Nagle
Absolutely. So the part of the Declaration of Independence that we all know is the beginning part. With those Enlightenment ideals, all men are created equal. But when you read the document, actually most of it is this list of grievances. So it's our founders kind of listing the reasons why they want to rebel against England. It's all the ways that King George III has hurt the colonists. And a lot of historians think that that list has an order, that it starts with smaller things and that it ends with their biggest complaints, their biggest grievances. And the last grievance in the Declaration of Independence is about merciless Indian savages. And so when you read the document, you know, according to our founders in their own words, the thing that they were most angry about was Native people. Yet for two and a half centuries, the story of the American Revolution that we have all been told is that it was about taxation and Representation. And we're frankly just missing the truth of why the American Revolution even happened in the first place.
- [19:58]
Juan Gonzalez
And Rebecca, back in 2011, I did a history of the American press. And one of the things that struck me in the research in my book for news for older people was the extraordinary level of content about Native Americans in the colonial press. I mean, the first newspaper in North America, Benjamin Harris's Public Occurrences, had five separate articles in a three page newspaper on what he called the barbarous Indians and merciless savages that were, according to him, lurking around the Massachusetts colony. And in fact, in the Boston Tea Party, the sons of Liberty, who donned native garb, did it out of the headquarters of the local newspaper, the Boston Gazette, before they went in to dump the tea in the harbor. So there's always been this narrative issue of the American press and Native Americans during that colonial period. What are your thoughts about the role of the press in creating this narrative?
- [21:06]
Rebecca Nagle
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that it's funny because when you go back in time and you look at primary documents, it's very clear that native people were omnipresent in the colonists lives. They were talking about it. I think you could even say they were obsessed with native people. And then the way that subsequent generations have told that that story were erased. But I'm glad that you bring up the Boston Tea Party, because that's a great example. So when colonists stormed ships to throw tea into the Boston harbor, they actually dressed up like native people. And it wasn't for a disguise, it wasn't to confuse British officials. It was actually because pretending to be indigenous in this weird and complicated way symbolized freedom and liberty in the early republic. And so as Americans were kind of, you know, saying we're not British, we're no longer English, but we're not yet American, they actually in certain ways pretended to be indigenous or took on parts of indigenous identity to figure out a new national identity. But when we think about what does it mean to be American, we actually don't tell the full story of how early Americans were figuring that out. And so, yeah, I think your point is, is absolutely right in that when we look back in the history, we're not telling the native part of the story, but Americans at that time very much were.
- [22:35]
Amy Goodman
I wanted to turn to a clip from your first episode of First America where Rebecca, you visit a protest in the aftermath of the ice killing of Renee Goode. In this clip, you ask protesters if they know the history of Fort Snelling and its current connection with ice.
- [23:02]
Juan Gonzalez
How.
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Rebecca Nagle
How far are we from the historic Fort Snelling?
- [23:05]
Juan Gonzalez
I'm just right across Highway 62 here.
- [23:09]
Rebecca Nagle
And do you know what happened there?
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Abir Kawas
Oh, no, no. Don't ask me those kinds of questions.
- [23:14]
Beatriz Ochoa
I'm not good with history.
- [23:18]
Amy Goodman
It's a historic fort. It's historic.
- [23:23]
Juan Gonzalez
Yeah.
- [23:23]
Rebecca Nagle
Sorry to put you on the spot.
- [23:25]
Beatriz Ochoa
I mean, the reason this is all
- [23:26]
Amy Goodman
happening here is because of the ICE offices that are there, not because of
- [23:30]
Abir Kawas
the historic fort, but
- [23:33]
Juan Gonzalez
the for.
- [23:34]
Rebecca Nagle
And the 1860s is actually a concentration camp for Dakota people.
- [23:37]
Juan Gonzalez
Oh.
- [23:38]
Rebecca Nagle
I'm just curious if any of that history feels relevant to what's happening now. Yes, clearly.
- [23:43]
Beatriz Ochoa
You know, but I mean, our state. I mean, just.
- [23:46]
Amy Goodman
I. Yeah, I mean, what's. I mean, you watch that video. Thank God that person was there taking the video on their cell phone yesterday so everyone can see what happened.
- [23:57]
Beatriz Ochoa
You know,
- [24:00]
Rebecca Nagle
after leaving the protest, I went back to see Nick Estes at his office.
- [24:07]
Juan Gonzalez
The murder of Renee Good and the history of Fort Snelling are actually inseparable. First of all, ICE is headquartered on the Fort Snelling area campus.
- [24:19]
Rebecca Nagle
Do you know if that's because it's federal land?
- [24:22]
Amy Goodman
Yeah, it's headquartered there because it's federal land.
- [24:25]
Rebecca Nagle
And why is it federal land?
- [24:27]
Juan Gonzalez
It's federal land because it was once a military reservation from the Zebulun pike treaty of 1805. And that was a treaty signed between
- [24:37]
Amy Goodman
some Dakota leaders and the United States
- [24:39]
Juan Gonzalez
government to create a military outpost.
- [24:42]
Rebecca Nagle
It's not just the same place. The same thing is happening.
- [24:47]
Juan Gonzalez
People are being hunted in their neighborhoods, in their schools. Places that were considered sanctuary sites, such as hospitals and churches, are no longer off limits. 150 years ago, they were hunting us down to kill us, and now they're hunting down immigrants to deport them.
- [25:06]
Amy Goodman
So that's University of Minnesota Native American professor Nick Estes, one of the people you talked to in this series, Rebecca Nagle. Talk about why you feel it's so important. And listening to the episodes of this remarkable series, you're continually going back in time and showing the treatment of Native Americans is a precursor and should have been a warning to. Should have been dealt with so that what's happening today wouldn't be happening.
- [25:40]
Rebecca Nagle
You know, Amy, it was a really interesting experience making this podcast, because when I first set out, I thought I was making a history podcast. You know, I interviewed historians like Nick Estes. I read books. I visited historic sites. Nick and I actually were at Fort Snelling the day that ICE shot and killed Renee Goode. And it was just a coincidence. And so what would happen is I would be reporting on America's past, and then the same thing would happen in our present. And what I heard a lot during the ice surge in Minneapolis was, this is un American. This is un American. This is unprecedented. And actually, you know, rounding people up, putting people in detention, even shooting anybody who gets in the way. These are things that our government has done before. Not once, not twice, but many, many times. We've just. It's. Our government has just done it to people that we don't talk about. It's just this part of our history that as a country, we've never dealt with. And I think that. I think that most Americans see that what our government did to native people was bad. You know, I think most Americans would agree, a lot of people agree, that our government committed genocide. I think even people who wouldn't go that far would say that, you know, atrocities were committed. But I think the problem is, is that people don't see that as affecting their lives. Right. It's a. It's a distant chapter. You know, it's. It's really unfortunate that in the 1860s, the federal government had a concentration camp for Dakota people at Fort Snelling. But what does that have to do with our present moment? Right? And the government that did those things, right, that rounded people up, that made concentration camps. That's still our government. Right. We never went back and had that edit to say, okay, we have to make sure that that never happens again. Here are the things that we're gonna change. And what we're seeing in this moment isn't new, isn't un American, isn't unprecedented, but is these aspects of our government that we thought would stay at the margins, right. That would only affect certain people getting pulled center. And so I kind of think of it as what our government did to native people, Almost like setting up fault lines in American government and American democracy. And what we're living through in our current moment is the earthquake
- [28:11]
Juan Gonzalez
and this relationship that you try to bring out, not only in terms of the ideals of democracy, but also the quest for empire and land in American history.
- [28:26]
Rebecca Nagle
Yeah. And so one of the biggest myths, I would say the biggest myth about the founding of the United States is that our founders built a democracy, right? That's the story even on the left. That's the story that we want to tell, and that's only half true, because they also built an empire. So actually, the same summer that our founders are writing the Constitution, Congress meets in New York. So people Actually leave the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to pass this law in New York called the Northwest Ordinance. And it establishes the first colonies of the United States, which are places like Ohio. We don't think of Ohio as having been a colony, but it was a colony. And those places weren't governed through democracy. There weren't elections even for the white people living there. It was all through top down, appointed leadership. And so that's how the US Governed native people when it wanted to take our lands. It's how it's governed places like Guam and Puerto Rico. And so there has always, since the founding, since the founding, there has always been a part of our government that was not following the blueprint of democracy, that was following the blueprint of empire. And you know what it looks like? It looks like authoritarianism, right? Because when you're controlling people's lives, when they don't have any say, when they don't have accountability, when you're governing top down, I mean, that's what we call authoritarianism. And so this idea, the political moment that we're in right now, so many people are searching, where did this rise of authoritarianism come from? How is it happening in the United States? People are looking abroad, you know, so people are looking to Putin's Russia or Hungary or even Nazi Germany. And we only have to look into our own history. And actually, the reason that this is happening now is, is because we have let that part of our government fester. And we thought that it would always stay separate, right? We thought that it wouldn't infect American democracy, that we could be an empire and that we could be a democracy, you know, and that they would stay separate, that never the two shall meet. And that's just not how government works. And so, you know, from birthright citizenship to bombing boats in the Caribbean to going to war with Iran, to, you know, detaining migrant families, to deploying the National Guard to US Cities. All of these things that the Trump administration is doing, its power to do those things actually goes back to policies we first passed to dispossess indigenous people.
- [30:59]
Amy Goodman
Rebecca Nagle, we're gonna end with the trailer to your first America podcast series.
- [31:09]
Abir Kawas
Are you guys big Chiefs fans?
- [31:10]
Juan Gonzalez
Hell, yeah. Yeah. Yes.
- [31:12]
Rebecca Nagle
This past year, I've been out traveling the country.
- [31:15]
Beatriz Ochoa
Sheep's on three.
- [31:16]
Juan Gonzalez
One, two, three, sheep.
- [31:17]
Rebecca Nagle
To try to understand something about America. I feel like that's gonna happen a lot about where native people fit in.
- [31:26]
Abir Kawas
Do you know who Native Americans are? Yes, they are the people. They're the first people to live here.
- [31:33]
Juan Gonzalez
Do Native Americans still exist. Maybe.
- [31:37]
Amy Goodman
I don't know what he thinks.
- [31:39]
Rebecca Nagle
And the history we've pushed aside. Do you think most people who come to this spot, do you think that they come here to honor the atrocity that happened here?
- [31:49]
Juan Gonzalez
No. They're doing winter sports, going all the
- [31:52]
Rebecca Nagle
way back to how the United States began.
- [31:55]
Amy Goodman
We hold these truths to be self
- [31:58]
Juan Gonzalez
evident, that all men are created equal.
- [32:03]
Amy Goodman
The declaration, which is full, all of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about
- [32:08]
Juan Gonzalez
enlightenment ideals does also have this darker history to it. The merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction.
- [32:20]
Amy Goodman
If we don't understand the full context
- [32:23]
Juan Gonzalez
in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which
- [32:29]
Rebecca Nagle
our nation now finds its own self. So it's been 250 years since 1776. How's this democracy of ours going?
- [32:38]
Juan Gonzalez
Uhoh.
- [32:39]
Rebecca Nagle
Okay. I need a merge.
- [32:40]
Juan Gonzalez
My wife called me. Somebody got shot. Damn, the photos are really bad.
- [32:53]
Rebecca Nagle
We've seen the military deploy to US cities, invasions of foreign countries, billionaires out of control, and a president with unchecked power. I keep hearing people say this isn't who we are as a country.
- [33:08]
Amy Goodman
What is happening right now in America
- [33:09]
Rebecca Nagle
is fundamentally un American.
- [33:11]
Juan Gonzalez
This is just so un American.
- [33:13]
Rebecca Nagle
But what I've learned the past year is that US history tells a different story.
- [33:18]
Juan Gonzalez
150 years ago, they were collecting bounties on us and hunting us down to kill us. And now they're hunting down immigrants to deport them.
- [33:27]
Rebecca Nagle
It's not a new thing.
- [33:29]
Abir Kawas
This is what we've done.
- [33:30]
Rebecca Nagle
We're good at this. As we see more and more signs of fascism, people keep looking to other countries to understand it. But it's right here in our own history. I don't believe we would have ended up in the same spot if people had realized what the structure of the United States government is. I want us to know how we got here, because otherwise we will never find our way out.
- [33:59]
Amy Goodman
Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle just launched a new documentary podcast series called first the True Story of the Founding of the United States. Coming up, as Democratic socialists score big wins across the United States, we'll be joined by one of those winners, a New York City Democratic Socialist. Abir Kawas, the Democratic nominee for the New York State Senate from Queens. Stay with us.
- [34:35]
Rebecca Nagle
Shaking
- [34:38]
Amy Goodman
head in hands, waking mind. Walking hand in hand for humankind
- [34:56]
Juan Gonzalez
Grains
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Rebecca Nagle
of spirit winnowed infinitely through time Greet
- [35:06]
Amy Goodman
the end with open arms My friend thy unite flow fun tail in your
- [35:15]
Rebecca Nagle
teeth snake hoop flowering with the vine tail in your teeth snake who flowering with the vine. Treasure
- [35:47]
Amy Goodman
snake hoop by Marie sue this is Democracy now. Democracynow.org I'm Mimi Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. After a string of victories of Democratic Socialists and primaries across the United States, centrist Democrats as well as President Trump are pushing back. The DSA, or Democratic Socialists of America, endorsed about 150 candidates this year, with 35 either winning primaries or advancing in races in Oregon, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, Washington, D.C. and New York. In the Colorado primaries today, the DDSA is backing 29 year old Milad Kiros against incumbent congressmember Longtime Congressmember Diana DeGette and former DSA member. State Senator Julie Gonzalez is looking to unseat Senator John Hickenlooper. Over the past decade, the DSA has grown from about 5,000 members to over 100,000 members in 200 chapters across the country. On Monday, President Trump called the Democratic Socialists the greatest threat to the nation.
- [36:58]
Juan Gonzalez
It's not socialism, it's really communism. They use the word Social Democrat because it sounds so nice, but it's really communism you're talking about. I think it's the biggest threat to our nation there is, maybe since our founding. That includes World War I, World War II, September 11th. It includes the Pearl harbor attack. I think this is the biggest threat threat to our nation.
- [37:26]
Amy Goodman
Just two days after the DSA sweep and New York primaries last week, a group of centrist Democrats led by Long Island, New York Congressmember Tom Suozzi signed a letter titled Promise to Distancing themselves from the dsa. The letter states, quote, we are capitalists, not socialists. We want safety, not lawlessness. We're mainstream, not extreme. We're proud, not ashamed of America, suozzi wrote. Well, we'll be joined shortly by a proud Democratic Socialist who won her primary for the New York State Senate last week. If she's elected in November, she'll be the first Palestinian American and the first Muslim woman in the New York State Legislature. This is Abir Kawas speaking to supporters after winning her primary with a 20 point lead against state assembly member Stephen Raga last Tuesday.
- [38:21]
Abir Kawas
If after October 7th, imagine if every single Democratic politician said, in order to end this cycle of violence, we need an end to occupation. Imagine if every single Democrat politician, whether they were a city councilor or they were a state legislator or a congressperson, said, we want to end occupation and not fund genocide. We could have saved thousands, hundreds of thousands of lives of Gazans and Palestinians. And that is why we say another world is possible. That is a world where Gaza is free to live. That is a world where working class communities in Queens and New York, all over the United States, but all over the world, have dignity in their lives. That is a world where student activists like Mahmoud Khalil, like Lekka Cordilla, could have spent the last year with their families instead of missing the birth of their child and languishing in prison for a year. And that is a world where my father, whose family was displaced from Palestine in the Nakba, who came to the United States and was incarcerated for three years and then deported. That would be a world where my father could be in this audience to witness his daughter make history.
- [40:17]
Amy Goodman
That's Abir Kawas, Democratic nominee for the New York State Senate from Queens, joining us now in our New York studio. Welcome to Democracy Now. Abeer, congratulations on your victory in the Democratic primary.
- [40:31]
Abir Kawas
Thank you.
- [40:32]
Amy Goodman
If you win in November, you'll be the first Palestinian American to hold a seat in the New York State Senate.
- [40:38]
Abir Kawas
Yes, I believe the entire New York
- [40:40]
Amy Goodman
state, if you can go through your platform as President. Trump not only calls DSA members like you the greatest threat the United States has ever known, two on the same day, talking about the housing bill that he has yet to sign, calling it a yawn and calling affordability a con job.
- [41:08]
Abir Kawas
Well, firstly, I want to say it's incredible to be the first Palestinian and Muslim woman in the New York state legislature. And that is for many reasons, but beyond representation. I believe that is really mostly because as a Palestinian, I come from a group of people who have been waiting for years and years and years for politicians to speak out against the human rights abuses, the genocide, the occupation of our people. And we are a group that has been erased, has been ignored, and has been denied our rights by people in office. And so to actually have the opportunity to be elected into office in this moment is so monumentous because it really gives a chance for us to not only go in and advocate for working class communities, for communities that are struggling, but also advocate for communities that are erased, like the Palestinian community. But it also gives us a chance to go in with strength and to say, this is what people want to see. Now, you mentioned, you know, the president and him talking about democratic socialists as if we are a threat, when really what we are saying is that we want to make sure that people who are struggling are provided the best social services possible by our government, are provided the best transit, the best education, you know, the best health care possible, the most affordable healthcare possible by our government, our same government that is spending billions of dollars killing people abroad. So for me, that is not a threat to people. I think that is a really hopeful message that so many Americans and so many people are looking for. And that is why we were able to win in these landslide victories.
- [42:45]
Juan Gonzalez
Abir, I wanted to ask you about some legislation that was introduced by Zoran Mamdani when he was an assembly member and state Senator Jabari Brisk support the Not On Our Dime act. And what's been your role in that campaign?
- [43:01]
Abir Kawas
Yes, so I worked with then assembly member Mamdani years ago to help write and introduce a bill called not on Our Dime. Now, we had found out as Palestinian activists on the ground that millions of dollars were being raised in New York State to fund settler entities, to fund settlers going to Palestine, to steal Palestinian land, to commit atrocities against against Palestinians, to commit violence against Palestinians. And we said that is not OK for these organizations that are raising these monies to do that under the guise of charitable status. And that was something that we introduced to the New York state both through socialists in office, then Assemblymembers Orhan Hamdani and Senator Jabari Brisport. And one thing that is really fundamental about what we did was that when we introduced that bill, people thought that that would be the end of Zahra Mamdani's career. People had said that to him. People had said that this was, you know, one step too far. And what we saw was that in the mayoral election, that his being part of introducing the Na' Nardine bill, him standing up for Palestinian human rights, him having a politics of conscience and consistency on this issue, was something that really pierced through to voters hearts and made them really feel committed and feel like he could actually deliver on the affordability agenda that he promised because of how consistent he was in his politics.
- [44:25]
Juan Gonzalez
And could you talk about the enormous change that has occurred among the voting public, especially in New York, but across much of the country on the issue of Palestine and the Israeli occupation. Has that surprised you?
- [44:38]
Abir Kawas
Yes, of course. I mean, it has not surprised me because as an activist on the ground, I know that there have been millions of people, and you have all reported on millions of people for years now now who have hit the streets, who have said we want an end to the genocide in Gaza, that we want an end to the occupation in Palestine. This is what most people on the streets are saying. And truly, when we went to knock on doors and this was for a local state election where, you know, the main issues that our constituents are facing are dealing with affordable housing, are dealing with their Inability to afford healthcare. Right. Who are looking for better education policies, all those things. They also were looking for candidates who were speaking out about Palestine. They were also looking for candidates who were anti war. And when they found out that I was somebody who was part of introducing not on our Dime, that made people extremely enthusiastic to vote for our campaign in our district. And so I think that what we are seeing is a reflection of the frustration that so many New Yorkers, but so many Americans have felt about, about having a perspective about going and watching the news every single day or looking at their phones and being so disgusted by the world that they are seeing and not seeing that be reflected by their politicians and not seeing their politicians act in urgency or reflect what they are thinking about and what they're looking for.
- [46:02]
Amy Goodman
If you can talk about the debate not between the Democrats and the Republicans right now, but within the Democratic Party. I mean, Chuck Schumer is the head of the Democratic Party in the Senate. He's the minority leader and he also is a senator. Senator from New York. Have they endorsed you?
- [46:19]
Abir Kawas
No, they have not endorsed me. And of course, you know, I just got through a primary campaign where you often have less endorsements than when you go into the general. But what I will say is that we ran a campaign against a progressive legislator and what we are seeing right now is a redefinition of what people want to define as progressive politics. And that Palestine needs to be part of that fold. Having an anti war platform, reform needs to be part of that. If you are saying I want to deliver affordability, if you're saying you're against ice, then people will only see that as consistent in your politics. If you're also saying that you are against a genocide in Palestine. So in many ways we are transforming the Democratic Party and also the progressive voice in the Democratic Party to make sure that it includes speaking out about Palestine. And that is what we're seeing in this race. That the thing that differentiates us from another progressive was us being on the forefront of that.
- [47:13]
Amy Goodman
What did your dad say when you won? Your deported dad?
- [47:17]
Abir Kawas
Yes, my dad is so proud and happy. But of course it was really difficult to win. I mentioned in my speech to be someone who is making history but not to be able to have my dad in the room is really devastating for us. Us. It was a sad moment because he couldn't be there with us. And until now, you know, he is celebrating and I can't celebrate with him. He's celebrating with his family. He's buying Kunafa. You know this like Palestinian sweet for all his family members. But this is the idea of family separation that I often talk about. And it's not just my family. It's been happening to so many families. It's continuing to happen, is that when somebody is separated from their family, they miss out on some of the, the most beautiful, transformative moments of their lives. Their birthdays, their graduations. Right. Them getting their first job, graduating from college. And in this case, it meant a lot to win a position that I in many ways worked up to because I was always an organizer and advocate because of what happened to my father. But to not have him there to witness that was devastating for my entire family.
- [48:27]
Amy Goodman
Avera Kawas want to thank you so much for being with us. DSA backed Democratic nominee for the New York State Senate from Queens. If elected in November, she'll be the first Palestinian, American and Muslim woman in the New York state legislature. Coming up, we go to Venezuela. More than 1700 people have died in devastating earthquakes, but the number is expected to soar. Over 100 Venezuelans died after being deported hours before the earthquakes to Caracas from the United States. Stay with us.
- [49:13]
Juan Gonzalez
When first onto this country a stranger I came
- [49:20]
Amy Goodman
I called in fair maiden
- [49:24]
Juan Gonzalez
Nancy was her name I called it dearest Nancy I called her day and
- [49:32]
Rebecca Nagle
night till I spin Captain William wine.
- [49:50]
Juan Gonzalez
I called it dear as Nancy I found her in vain can you think
- [49:59]
Rebecca Nagle
of any reason right.
- [50:02]
Amy Goodman
You gonna blame downhill strugglers singing when first unto this country. This is democracy now. Democracynow.org I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. As we turn out to Venezuela where rescue efforts continue as tens of thousands of people remain missing, trapped under the rubble of flattened homes and buildings. Nearly a week back to back earthquakes devastated La Guaira and Caracas. Rescue teams are desperately searching for survivors with Venezuelan health officials Saying Monday over 1700 people are confirmed dead with the toll expected to soar. The UN has said they are procuring 10,000 body bags. This all comes as the Associated Press reports. It's believed more than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the United States to Caracas hours before the earthquakes have died. Very few survivors of that group describe being left in a hotel in La Guaira and having to crawl out of the rubble. For more, we go to Caracas where we're joined by Beatriz Ochoa, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Latin America head of advocacy. Describe what's happening as you sit there today, Beatriz.
- [51:27]
Beatriz Ochoa
Thank you very much for having me and the Norwegian Refugee Council. What we are seeing is a lot of Devastation not only in Caracas, but also in other parts of the country, and particularly in the coastal town of La Guayra and surroundings. We are seeing also a lot of solidarity from the Venezuelan people. This is some of the things that have surprised me the most in a good way. People sharing sometimes very little what they have. But everybody wants to help. Everybody wants to support their neighbors, their friends, of course their family members. But we're also seeing that of course, this is going to be something that needs support for the long term. We're seeing people staying in parks, as shelters, in schools, also as temporary shelters. And this is of course a good step into the right direction because people are safe, they are not sleeping in the streets. But this is only, or this can only be a temporary measure. We will need to transition to more medium and longer term solutions so that people can have affordable housing and a more dignified place to sleep and to be able to rebuild their lives.
- [52:44]
Juan Gonzalez
Beatrice, I wanted to ask you, the US sanctions against Venezuela are largely still in place. What has been the impact of the, of these sanctions on the ability of the Venezuelan government to deliver assistance to their citizens?
- [53:03]
Beatriz Ochoa
This has something that that is, has been in place for, for many years. And in the past the sanctions have impacted the humanitarian operations in a way that there's a lot of due diligence from the banks, from the financial institutions. There's a lot of difficulties to process payments for our staff, for suppliers. So it's more difficult, more expensive, more bureaucratic to do procurement. Now we welcome the general license that was issued a few days ago that it's supposed to allow operations that are intended for humanitarian operations. This has only been in place for a few days. And I think what it's going to be most important is that financial institutions and banks are able to follow this license. Sometimes they are very afraid and then become like averse to process any operation that has the tag Venezuela because they have fines, huge amount of fines. So we welcome the this waiver so that banks and other financial institutions could feel more relief. This is a very positive step. I think it can be a little bit too soon to test it, but for sure it's a very positive development.
- [54:35]
Juan Gonzalez
And I wanted to ask you as well about the Bolivarian Revolution. Always emphasized organizing at the neighborhood of grassroots levels, the development of communes. Has this type of a grassroots organization demonstrated itself in terms of the rescue and operations that have occurred so far since the earthquakes?
- [55:03]
Beatriz Ochoa
Yeah, it's been a lot. The neighbors and the community that have organized themselves and recently I was in a school that is being used as a temporary shelter. And we were told that it was organized by communes and that they were trying to help the people that are already like in their neighborhoods and so on. And of course, this is a way to organize, maybe not the only way, but that's how the school was organizing themselves. I also visited parks and they were organizing in a different way. It was more volunteers, neighbors and the community themselves that was doing, for instance, who's cleaning the toilets, who is making sure that meals are distributed in a more equitable way. So there are different ways that the community are organizing themselves. I can tell you that.
- [56:03]
Amy Goodman
And can you talk about your call, the Norwegian Refugee Council's call and so many others for more support from the international community? What would that look like?
- [56:16]
Beatriz Ochoa
Of course. Thank you. The Norwegian Refugee Council is calling for the international community to keep supporting the Venezuelan people. Already before the Crisis, there were 7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. And the funding situation had fallen very short in the last few years. So this needs to stop. The support. It's been great. There's been already a few countries that have sent search and rescue teams that have already pledged certain amounts of money. This is very generous. We all very much welcome this. We need the money to provide life saving assistance, as I said at the beginning, as safe or safer places to sleep with dignity, where people can have privacy, where people can take showers and have minimum standards of hygiene. But we also will need support for children. Schools are being used as temporary shelters. This is the case in many other crises. This is not just for this one. But children will need access to education, to temporary learning spaces where they can send, where they can have a sense of normality, but also some psychosocial support, some basic tools that can make a difference between processing the traumatic experiences that they have gone through and being more resilient in the short, medium and long term. Another message from the Norwegian Refugee Council is that the support from the international community needs to be sustained over time. So again, not only in the short term, but this will need a long run. I see it as a marathon, not as a sprint. So we will need support for the months and years to come.
- [58:11]
Amy Goodman
Beatriz Ochoa, we want to thank you for being with us. Norwegian Refugee Council's Latin America head of advocacy joining us from Caracas, Venezuela. Again, it's believed over 100 Venezuelans deported to Venezuela just hours before the earthquakes have perished. That does it. For our show, we'll post a Spanish interview with vetriz@democracynow.org Also, we're hiring an education program manager and fundraising and outreach interns. Find out more@DemocracyNow.org jobs I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. For another edition of Democracy Now,