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- [00:15]
Amy Goodman
From New York. This is democracy now.
- [00:21]
Migrant/Activist
We were abused in Ceuta.
- [00:22]
Amy Goodman
Now I just want to go back
- [00:23]
Migrant/Activist
to my country because Morocco is better than Ceuta.
- [00:26]
Dave Zirin
Suta is also Moroccan.
- [00:28]
Amy Goodman
Therefore we have nothing to do here.
- [00:29]
Migrant/Activist
I would prefer Gabon to the sons of dogs here.
- [00:33]
Amy Goodman
Tens of thousands of migrants are returning to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after more than 50,000 people crossed the border last week by land and sea. At least 86 people died, many by drowning. We'll get the latest. Then a new investigation by the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq looks at how the Israeli settler Inan Levy escaped justice after fatally shooting Palestinian activist All the who helped produce the Oscar winning documentary no Other Land.
- [01:10]
Taseen Elian
The investigation reveals conclusively that Ode Hathaween was fatally shot by a live round discharged by settler.
- [01:18]
Amy Goodman
You know Levy.
- [01:19]
Taseen Elian
The shooting occurred in the absence of any imminent threat to Levi's life.
- [01:26]
Amy Goodman
Then Dave Zirin, author of the new book the People's the Outsized Life of
- [01:34]
Dave Zirin
Howard Zinn, a Zenaissance in this country because Howard Zinn's politics of radical optimism rooted in history is something that both we and our movements desperately need right now. And besides all of that, the guy had an incredible life.
- [01:49]
Amy Goodman
All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. Amy I'm Amy Goodman. President Trump said the US Will hold off attacking Iran since negotiations over Iran's nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz are still ongoing. The pause follows a sharp escalation Friday when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck two oil tankers attempting to transit the strait under US Military escort. Tehran claims the ships used an undeclared route. This comes as a New York Times visual investigation found evidence suggesting the US dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on and Kesham island, killing three people. Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza over the weekend, killing at least 25 Palestinians. On Saturday, the strikes killed seven people across the Strip. On Sunday, the toll climbed higher. At least 18 were killed as warplanes hit Gaza City. Derabullah and Khan Younis, Gaza's health ministry says 152 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in July, the highest of any month so far this year. Since the so called ceasefire took effect in October, Israeli strikes have killed at least. This is an eyewitness to one of the airstrikes Sunday. They said there was a truce, but where is the truce? This truce is just us collecting corpses,
- [03:16]
Migrant/Activist
collecting flesh, collecting brains, dismembered men and
- [03:19]
Amy Goodman
hands why Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally terminated President Trump's $1.8 billion so called anti weaponization fund late Sunday. The fund was designed to potentially compensate rioters in the January 6th insurrection, which drew criticism even from Republic. Blanche's order caps weeks of negotiations with Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom blocked his nomination for attorney general over the fund. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Blanche's confirmation Tuesday. The US is experiencing its largest measles outbreak in 30 years, with more than 2,300 confirmed cases as of last month. A cluster of infections has been reported in states like Arizona, Delaware, South Carolina and Utah. As vaccination rates plummet due to the Trump administration's policies and misinformation. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Continues to defend his role in propelling anti vaccine policies and skepticism nationwide. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, RFK Jr. Failed to take responsibility for the measles outbreak. The outbreak is happening on your watch and even before becoming HHS secretary for years you have been one of the leading voices questioning the efficacy of vaccines. Do you accept some responsibility for this measles outbreak?
- [04:46]
Dave Zirin
Absolutely not.
- [04:49]
Amy Goodman
Capital One says it closed the Trump Organization's accounts after an internal anti money laundering investigation. The disclosure marks the first time a bank has formally tied money laundering concerns to Trump's family business. Capital One made the claim while seeking to dismiss the Trump Organization's lawsuit. That suit accuses Capital One of illegally debanking the Trump Organization on religious or political grounds, a claim the bank now disputes. President Trump's social media platform Truth Social launched a new service Saturday, allowing paid users to get alerts for new posts made by the president and other top accounts before general users. Trump has 13 million followers on the platform and regularly uses it to release official statements. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff have blasted the service office, saying the subscription quote appears to be an outrageous abuse of the president's office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets while enriching Wall street and other wealthy insiders, unquote. The Trump administration Friday dropped its case against the former US Olympian canoeist Davey Hearn, who was accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool on June 19th. Hearn stopped by the pool while on a 64 mile bike ride. He says he touched the pool to what it felt like and was then arrested, handcuffed and held for five hours by U.S. park Police. President Trump, in response, blasted U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro who said the damage to the reflecting pool was due to poor construction and not the act of vandals as Trump previously claimed. In Spain, migrants are returning to Morocco from the enclave of Ceuta after attempting to cross the border. The local government reports as many as 86 migrants were killed in the crackdown. Some of the victims drowned, others were crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence. About 60,000 people crossed into the Spanish enclave from Morocco since Thursday. Authorities say virtually all have now returned voluntarily. Spain's Civil Guard Officers installed a 500 meter floating barrier along the sea border Saturday. Meanwhile, hundreds of Ceuto residents rallied against a planned far right anti immigrant demonstration administration, forcing organizers to cancel it. This is a Moroccan migrant who swam into Spain's Ceuta.
- [07:21]
Taseen Elian
We're really hungry.
- [07:22]
Dave Zirin
We're trying to hold out. We're holding out a bit. We eat a little, a little.
- [07:26]
Taseen Elian
Sometimes, even though it's not a good meal, we do it so we don't die.
- [07:30]
Migrant/Activist
That's all.
- [07:31]
Taseen Elian
We eat sugar cakes, things like that. We drink water.
- [07:35]
Amy Goodman
We'll have more on this story after Headlines In Greece, two firefighters were killed Sunday when two helicopters battling a massive wildfire collided west of Athens. Two other crew members in one of the helicopters were rescued. More than a hundred homes were destroyed overnight this weekend in blazes that broke out around the coastal village of Porto Remennais. Hundreds of people have been evacuated. This is a local resident.
- [08:01]
Dave Zirin
It's not a good situation.
- [08:02]
Amy Goodman
This is extremely sad.
- [08:04]
Migrant/Activist
The wind is very strong.
- [08:05]
Howard Zinn
It keeps changing direction.
- [08:07]
Dave Zirin
It's difficult to deal with. The firefighters who are trained and experienced can't contain it. How can we?
- [08:13]
Amy Goodman
Meanwhile, Hungary has temporarily shut down the country's sole nuclear power plant for the first time in more than 40 years amidst a scorching heat wave and severe drought that triggered water use restrictions in more than 100 cities and villages. In more related news, Britain's National Farmers Union warns rising heat and a water drought could lead to shortages of certain foods in parts of England. This is at least the drought in five years, with some areas of England not seeing rain in over a month here in the United States. In Washington state, nearly 65,000 people have received evacuation orders amidst intensifying wildfires around the city of Spokane. Local officials say blazes in the region have destroyed more than 700 homes and businesses. In Cuba, the electricity grid collapsed Sunday, plunging the island into another nationwide blackout. The island has suffered at least three blackouts in July of loan due to a U S imposed oil blockade following the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Back in January, Venezuela had been Cuba's primary oil supplier. Imports from Mexico also halted amidst increased US pressure. Another immigrant has died in ICE custody. 29 year old Priscilliano Trejo Ricano reportedly began feeling ill while jailed at the Stuart Detention center in Lumpkin, Georgia and was reportedly denied medical care. He was suffering from an aggressive form of leukemia and died July 24 after being transferred to the hospital. At least 50 immigrants have died in ICE custody since Trump returned to office in Texas. A key witness in the Houston ICE Fatal shooting of 52 year old Mexican father Lorenzo Salgado Araujo is speaking out after his release from an ICE jail. Surveillance footage and witness accounts have repeatedly refuted ICE claims that Salgado had attempted to assault ICE agents when he was shot in the abdomen and killed Jose Trinidad Rojas Pilat Cliago was a passenger in Salgado's van. He spoke to CNN last week. Did Lorenzo threaten ICE agents? That's a lie.
- [10:24]
Dave Zirin
At no point, neither behind nor in front.
- [10:28]
Amy Goodman
At no point were the ICE agents in front.
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Dave Zirin
Lorenzo never did that.
- [10:32]
Amy Goodman
That's Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio Moreno is calling on his ex son in law, Ohio Congressmember Max Miller, to step down in light of his daughter's domestic abuse allegations. Miller's ex wife Emily Moreno, the daughter of Senator Moreno, claims that Miller burned her by throwing hot water at her, held a gun to her head and fractured their two year old daughter's collarbone. Miller is also accused of abuse by former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was in a relationship with Miller prior to his marriage to on social media, Senator Moreno wrote, quote, he should not serve in the House of Representatives. I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional hope to end the clear pattern of abuse he's left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does, said Senator Moreno. In Georgia, Republican U.S. senate candidate Mike Collins is facing scrutiny over his son in law, David Allen Shearer ii, who's been linked to white nationalist and anti semitic online content. Reports revealed Scheer shared neo Nazi imagery and produced promotional material for Collins private trucking company. Collins ended his news conference early last week after repeatedly declining to answer questions about his son in law. Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff said, quote, he needs to apologize for his office's ties to white supremacists. He needs to release every single email, text message and communication between his office and these white supremacists and he needs to finally answer the question you've all been asking him for two weeks and that he's refused to answer, which is how much did he or his businesses pay this neo Nazi for his services? Ossoff asked who's running against Congressmember Collins for Senate? And here in New York, Dominican American scholar, historian and prison abolitionist Dr. Johanna Fernandez has passed away after a years long battle with cancer. She was 55 years old. As a professor of history at Brook College and CUNY Graduate Center, Fernandez was a leading scholar of the Young Lord's publishing the award winning book the Young A Radical History in 2019. In 2015 she co curated the exhibition the Young Lords in New York. Fernandez also created the Latinx Freedom Movement Archive and Exhibition project alongside historian Felipe Hinojosa. She was a longtime supporter of the imprisoned activist and journalist Mumia Abu Jamal. Over the years, Fernandez appeared on Democracy now many times. She joined us in 2015 to look back at the legacy of the Young Lords.
- [13:18]
Taseen Elian
What we see is that the movements of the 1960s, what is known as
- [13:24]
Amy Goodman
the New Left and the Black Power movement, transformed the relationship between people of
- [13:29]
Dave Zirin
color and white people, challenged US Foreign
- [13:32]
Amy Goodman
policy, but also transformed our understanding of gender and sexuality. And those were the issues that the Young Lords were concerned with. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy now. Democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Migrants are returning to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after a deadly border rush killed as many as 86 people, according to local government officials. Some victims drowned, others crushed while trying to climb the breakwater that holds the border fence. About 60,000 people crossed from Morocco since Thursday. Authorities say most have now returned voluntarily. The Spanish enclave is home to 86,000 people. Many migrants reported difficulties finding food and shelter. Ceuta is located on the North African coast and shares a five mile border with Morocco. Spain's civil guard Officers installed a 1,600foot floating barrier along the sea border Saturday. Meanwhile, residents rallied against a planned far right anti migrant demonstration, forcing organizers to cancel. This is 42 year old mujahid Ahmed of Sudan who made the trip to Ceuta.
- [14:50]
Migrant/Activist
I was in Morocco for one year and a half. I didn't try only for one time, but my friends, they tried maybe 30, 40 times. One day when I was watching the media I saw that people they are coming by thousand the border. So I say okay, let's try. It's better than to do and you know your results then never you try. I am not a Moroccan.
- [15:14]
Taseen Elian
If they should return me, they should
- [15:17]
Migrant/Activist
return me to my country. And this is this situation. Can you return the people to the countries which is having a conflict or crisis, war? We are human.
- [15:30]
Amy Goodman
The reasons for the surge are not entirely clear. Some migrants reported Moroccan officials had encouraged their crossing. Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez blamed human trafficking networks, who he says misled migrants about how easy it would be to remain in Spanish territory or get to mainland Europe, while others blamed Sanchez on account of his relatively liberal policies. For more, we're joined by Miriam Auroch, professor of digital anthropology at the University of Westminster in London, also an associate fellow in the anthropology department at Oxford University. She's joining us from Oxford. Her forthcoming book is titled Mobilized Lives, Revolution and Counter Revolution in Morocco. Professor Miriam Arach's parents migrated from Morocco to Holland in the mid-60s. Professor, welcome to democracy now. Can you explain what's taken place over this last week? What accounts do you believe for this surge?
- [16:32]
Taseen Elian
Oh, thank you so much for having me on this very important topic. Before I answer your question, I wanted to start by acknowledging the very sad loss of life. As you mentioned in your report, almost 100 have died, but they have joined more than thousands and thousands of people who've migrated over the years from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean seas and are at the bottom of the oceans and many of them who are not accounted for and are still unknown to their families. So I would like to acknowledge that and acknowledge the fact that many, many people have heard Moroccans say allay Alhamdul walitin alay Subaru walitin in the last few days. This means may God give mercy to the parents. May God forgive us for the grief we put our parents in. This is a response to the many, many young people who have decided quite last minute in some cases to just try and cross into septa. The reasons have been widely discuss discussed on social media to the extent that we have heard quite wild conspiracy theories varying from Israel has paid Morocco to destabilize Spain to Trump has encouraged Morocco to invade Spain. These are quite problematic explanations, not only because they're not factual and not making us understand the reasons behind this surge of migration, but also because they are very orientalist and quite racist in the way it reduces ordinary people's agency in a continent that has seen migration forever and has also seen Morocco become a transit country to Europe. In answer to your question, I think what we've seen is the confluence, the concentric circles coming together in a way in a quite unique moment last week. On the one hand, we have the post colonial neo colonial border policies of Spain and Europe in general. Many people who've seen the maps this week are a bit surprised because they thought that they would see Soted or Melillia in mainland Europe. And then they see actually they are town cities in Morocco. How do you explain that? And this is very important to understand how the decolonization of Morocco has been both a loss and a win in the sense that there was independence, but with really strict conditions, one of them being the remaining control of territorial areas in Morocco. So Ceuta and Melilia are Spanish cities adjacent to the towns in Morocco near Tetuan and Nador. These towns near cities like Tangier have become also transit cities for migrants not only from Morocco, not only from Africa, but from the whole world. During my fieldwork in Tangier and Al Hussein, I have also interviewed and researched many people who have been working on the ground in grassroots organizations to support migrants from Africa, but also from Afghanistan, from Syria, from Palestine, etc. These migrants, they always try to cross multiple times. Some of those we've seen last week, this was not their first journey journey. But what was different last week is that we saw a few conditions coming together. On the one hand, these postcolonial realities of territorial borders that make it very ambiguous to have a border inside the continent. On the other hand, there is a extreme increase of inequality in Morocco itself. We've seen that the majority of the people who've tried to cross last week are Moroccans. And this is quite extraordinary. It is a return of the 1990s, the so called Harraga, the crossing into Europe by Moroccans that peaked in the 80s and 90s and then slowly reduced and the numbers were slowly replaced by non Moroccans, African migrants, refugees from all over the world. What we've seen now is a surge again in Moroccan migrants. And this, this has to be explained by the situation in Morocco itself. And it is very troubling to see and to hear the commentary of people, including people I highly respect critical commentators who completely ignore the domestic dynamics and focus only on static geopolitical top down analysis. But the matter of the fact is that repression in Morocco has increased tremendously. Last year there was the so called Gen Z protest across the world. We've seen that in Bangladesh, in Indonesia, we've seen it actually in the last few weeks, also in India, but also Morocco has had its Gen Z protest. Young teens who are really fed up with the situation. Hundreds of them have been arrested and only last month a group of them have been released and they were awaiting outside the prisons by their families, their mothers, their friends, young teens. We have seen repression in Morocco also with regards to critique of the normalization with Israel, the Abraham Accords and the banning of pro Palestine protests in Tangier only a few weeks ago, which had led to major protests in response and in anger at banning these protests. Protests. And we have seen an extreme deepening of inequality. The rich, the small group of rich are getting really much richer. Morocco is a rich country. The slogan of protesters goes to oceans and phosphates and people are still hungry. The Atlantic, Mediterranean phosphate minerals, the Sahara. Really there is no lack of natural resources and agriculture and fishery, but ordinary people do not enjoy these fruits and benefits. And so this has led to growing inequality that has been deepened also by the other very important condition, namely the European Union stronghold. It's not only the fact that the European Union has its borders externalized to Morocco. So Morocco is one of its key, key external borders. Frontex, Fort Europe, they're all delegating the dirty work of violent repression at the borders in Morocco. But European Union also imposes the social economic policies in Morocco. The imf, the European Union are demanding cuts in public sector spending, are demanding also subsidies to be dismantled. And this has led to even more higher levels of economic crisis. So all these conditions coming together, the border policies, the inequality, but also the kind of impetus that we have seen growing in the last few months due to Spain's decision to legalize, as they call it, thousands, hundreds of thousands of migrants in Spain that has given, given a sort of empowering incentive to people to try to go to Spain, which is a very pragmatic decision of Spain, by the way, not so much purely from goodwill, but also from the fact that Spain, unlike Italy or France or other countries that are led by right wing governments that know that they need migrants, they really need these people to stay and to work, but are actually led by right wing rhetorics against migrant. In Spain, there's a social democratic government that kind of is pragmatic and understands we need them and they're here, we will legalize them. This has incentivized people to think, okay, it's safe to go to Spain. Now. There is another condition that is we
- [25:19]
Amy Goodman
just have a minute left, a lot
- [25:20]
Taseen Elian
of people wondering and we are still finding out the exact facts. And that is that there has been a temporary moment in Morocco last week where the border controls have been reduced. There might be a geopolitical reasoning in the background that all border cities and all countries which have important ports and borders use from time to time as leverage, namely to reduce security at borders in order to leverage another demand. So it could be that this has happened in the background at the same time as the inequality, the border policies of Europe, the incentives to go to Spain has happened. And these conditions coming together, so not each of them explaining it on its own, but these conditions coming together has led to what we have seen in the past week, and we know from witnesses and we know from anecdotal stories that people have been told that it was okay to cross for now by border police and through viral news that were spread on Facebook and social media. And that has led to people trying to get that small window of opportunity to cross the border. But that was reversed in no time. And the border police that might have said, it's okay to cross, we're going to close our eyes for five minutes, have returned with a vengeance and violence and beat those people back from where they came from.
- [26:54]
Amy Goodman
Marianne, I want to thank you so much for being with us. Professor of digital anthropology, anthropology at the University of Westminster in London, also associate fellow in anthropology at Oxford University. Her forthcoming book, Mobilize Revolution and Counter Revolution in Morocco. Coming up, a new investigation by Palestinian human rights group looks at how an Israeli settler escaped justice after fatally shooting Palestinian activist Oda Hathlin. A year ago, Ada helped produce the Oscar winning documentary no Other land. Back in 20 seconds.
- [27:40]
Howard Zinn
When first on to this country, A stranger I came. I called it fair maiden Nancy was her name I called it dearest Nancy I called her day and night till I spy. Oh, there be Captain William wine. I parted here as Nancy I found her in vain.
- [28:23]
Amy Goodman
Could you pick a mini R Went first into this country down here. Hill strugglers. This is Democracy Now. Democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman. The killing of Alda Beyond a Settler Crime. That's the title of a major new investigation by the Palestinian human rights group Al Haq, released a year after the fatal shooting of Hathelin, a Palestinian activist, English teacher, father of three young children. He was fatally shot by an Israeli settler in a village near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, July 28th 8th, 2025. Aline played a key role in the production of the Oscar winning documentary no Other Land, which follows Palestinians in the community of Masafiryata as they struggle to stay on their land amidst violent attacks by Israeli settlers. Residents identified Hedelin's killer as Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler who was put on a European Union sanctions list in 2024 for his violent attacks on Palestinians and their the Trump administration last year lifted the Biden era U.S. sanctions on levy. Al Haq's Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit used synchronized video footage, a three dimensional digital reconstruction of the scene and expert analysis to recreate what happened the day Alda Hathelin was killed, concluding he was fatally shot by Levy as he stood unarmed in the public garden of Umm Ahez Community center, filming settlers operating an excavator in the distance. This is a clip from the OHQ investigation and to Adda's killing.
- [30:08]
Taseen Elian
Upon his arrival, Levy is observed with his firearm drawn prior to any physical confrontation with residents. As activists document the excavator operation, an altercation begins between Levi and the residents. At 5:29pm and 13 seconds, Levy fires a single shot which hits Ode in the heart, causing his death. Five seconds later, he fires another round toward his left. In the footage recorded by Aude, Levy is seen moving laterally to his right immediately prior to firing, stepping aside from surrounding individuals while maintaining his orientation to a draw disposition of falls. At the exact moment of the shooting, we created a 3D model which shows when Ode was killed, he was positioned in an open area behind the fence of the community center. He was physically separated from the altercation occurring near the excavator.
- [31:18]
Amy Goodman
A clip from the new Ahaq investigation the killing of Oda Hateleen Beyond a settler Crime. Ahaq argues that Alda's killing must be understood within a broader system of institutional support and state protection that enables Israeli settler violence, quote, to serve as an instrument for consolidating control over Palestinian land. Well, for more we go to Ramallah in the west bank where we're joined by Taseen Elian, Deputy Director of Al Haq. We welcome you to democracy now, Taseen, this is the year anniversary of all those cases killing. Tell us more as youhow you engaged in this investigation and exactly what you understand and what you're accusing Levy of and how he was or wasn't held accountable.
- [32:17]
Migrant/Activist
Thank you for having me. Actually, based on our documentation of human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory territory, we have noticed the sharp increase in settler violence and settler crimes against Palestinians and their property. And we have also noticed that this guy Levi is involved directly in these crimes committed against Palestinians. So this time we tried to find linkages. I mean to establish his criminal responsibility for this crime and establish linkages, find out about linkages that connect him with other organizations, settler organizations and Israeli official or government institutions. And this is what we have succeeded in doing. We established that he is directly responsible for the killing of Odi Hadalim. In addition to that, we found out that there is a relationship between his, between him and other Israeli and occupation organizations such as Amana, such as Hashomer Yosh, all of these organizations that support settlement activity and settlement crimes in the Occupied Palestinian territory. Because most of these crimes are not prosecuted and those who commit them get away with them. We prepared this scientific evidence in order to send it to the icc, the International Criminal Court, in the hope that these people are held accountable. Just to give you an indicator or example of how settler violence and crimes have increased over the past years, I would tell you that since 7 October 2023, about 1,100 Palestinians have been killed. And out of these, more than 35 Palestinians have been killed by settlers. None of these has been killed, held accountable by the Israeli legal system, which tells us a lot. It tells us that the Israeli occupying forces and the Israeli government are involved in these crimes. And this reflects a state policy. These are not individual crimes. They are not isolated incidents. They are part of an Israeli policy that aims at entrenching Israel's settler colonial project in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is characterized by disposition, fragmentation, colonization and all of these acts that we try to work against.
- [35:29]
Amy Goodman
This is a clip of all the Hathaleen from the night before he was killed a year ago.
- [35:36]
Migrant/Activist
Our future is really dark.
- [35:40]
Dave Zirin
It's like a black tunnel. There is no lights in it. We don't know what to do. We don't know what to say. We the humans of Omal Khair, we the real humans of Umm Al Khair,
- [35:52]
Migrant/Activist
we are just asking about our justice. We want to be safe.
- [35:55]
Dave Zirin
We want to be, you know, I
- [35:57]
Migrant/Activist
don't want to be better than anyone else, but let us be equal. Let us be equal with others. Here in Ummah Khair, every, every day, every day there is something going to happen. We don't know when, we don't know why, we don't know what.
- [36:11]
Amy Goodman
Last year, Democracy now spoke to Auron Zev, a reporter and photographer with 972 magazine and the independent Israeli news site Local Call. He co wrote a piece with Basiladra and Yuval Abraham headlined the Most Peaceful Person. Uma Khair Mourns Activists Slain by Israeli Settlers. Contrary to the settler's account, eyewitness testimony, analysis of video footage shows Alda Hathelin was gunned down in cold blood. They wrote, this is Ziv speaking on Democracy Now. Soon after all the killing, his friends
- [36:46]
Migrant/Activist
and colleague told me, and I also knew him personally, that he was the most peaceful man. Every time I came there, I would see him. He'd always host and greet people and make tours there. He was in contact with the media. He was updated, updating me weekly on the harassment, on the campaign of the settlers and the army to force them to leave. And it's a tragedy that it's hard to imagine. You know, Umm El Khair will not be the same without him.
- [37:16]
Amy Goodman
So if you can tell us more about who he was, where he was standing, filming, and what happened right after his killing. The Israeli military moving in and arresting Palestinians.
- [37:36]
Migrant/Activist
First of all, Awda Hadalin is a human rights defender. He is a resident of Ummil Khair. It is a Palestinian community that is located in the south, southern Hebron hill in the south of the West Bank. And his family came originally from Birisam Sabah, meaning that he and his family are refugees. The second time, meaning that the Israeli occupying authorities, through their colonial project that they are trying to entrench in Palestine, do not want any Palestinian to be here. So they killed him. They have been putting pressure on him and on his family and on his community to leave in order to enhance the presence of Israel settlements within the area. Hazalin not only was a human rights defender, he was one of the most peaceful protesters. He was one of the most peaceful and pacific human rights defenders. He did not use any other means, other than peaceful means to stop in the face of settlement and settlers. When he got killed, he was not allowed to be treated immediately. The settlers who were present in the area blocked the medical teams from providing medical health for him. And later on, Israeli occupying forces came accompanied by the killer, Levi. Yanon Levi, who gave them the names or directions to arrest those who were present in the area when the killing took place. And this is what they did. They arrested those who were defending their land and they were present in the area. So instead of arresting Yanon Lay Davy, who is the killer, they only took him for a few days and they sentenced him only two, three or four days house arrest. This is not a unique case, by the way. All of the settlers who kill Palestinians do not receive appropriate persecution. They are not. I mean, the sentence that they receive is not proportionate with the crime or with the offense they commit. The maximum is a social service or house arrests, and they are then released. And he was only charged with manslaughter. How come that he had a gun and he pointed his gun at them. This guy who was very far away from him, who did not pose any threat to his life or to the life of any other people. He was trying only to document what was happening. What was happening exactly like what he does usually.
- [40:51]
Amy Goodman
Taseen, we just have 30 seconds. What are you calling for now? What is Al Haq calling for?
- [40:59]
Migrant/Activist
We call for accountability. We want the third states parties, including the United States, States and Europe, to hold perpetrators of the most serious crimes accountable. We do not want them to look at this crime as if it is a unique or as if it is an isolated individual crime. This crime is part and parcel of a system of colonialism and apartheid. And those who are responsible for it must be held accountable. And the United States must stop attacking the icc, the International National Criminal Court, and stop attacking the organizations that are cooperating with the icc, including my organization that is sanctioned because of its cooperation with the icc. So cooperation with the ICC is not a crime. And criminals must be held accountable. And this is the responsibility of their state parties, including the United States and European states.
- [41:56]
Amy Goodman
Tassin Elian, thank you so much for being with us. Deputy director of Al Haq, which has just published an investigation. We'll link to it. The killing of Valda Helene, Beyond a Settler Crime. Coming up. Dave Zirin, author of the new book the People's Historian, the Outsized Life of Howard Zinn. Back in 30 seconds. Children, we all shall be free Children,
- [42:22]
Dave Zirin
we all shall be free Children, we all shall be free when when the
- [42:30]
Taseen Elian
Lord shall appear Children, we all shall
- [42:35]
Dave Zirin
be free Children, we all shall be free all shall be free when the
- [42:45]
Amy Goodman
Lord shall appear we want no cowards
- [42:51]
Taseen Elian
in our band that from their colors fly we call for a valiant heart in men that are not afraid to
- [43:01]
Amy Goodman
die Children, we all shall be free
- [43:05]
Dave Zirin
Children, we all shall be free Children, we all shall be free when the Lord shall be we see the pilgrim
- [43:19]
Amy Goodman
as he lies with glory Children, we all shall be free. From the album Songs of Slavery and Emancipation, this is democracy now. Democracynow.org we turn now to the new book the People's the Outsized Life of Howard Zinn. Written by our next guest, Dave Zirin, the book explores the remarkable life of late historian, teacher and activist Howard Zinn. He's best known for writing a people's history of the United States. First published in 1980, the book is sold more than 4 million copies. Howardson died in 2010 at the age of 87, but his work is still seen as threatening to many and by others. By empowering so many during his first term, President Trump directly attacked Zinn's work.
- [44:15]
Migrant/Activist
The left wing rioting and mayhem are
- [44:18]
Howard Zinn
the direct result of decades of left
- [44:20]
Migrant/Activist
wing indoctrination in our schools.
- [44:23]
Howard Zinn
It's gone on far too long.
- [44:26]
Migrant/Activist
Our children are instructed from propaganda tracts
- [44:31]
Howard Zinn
like those of Howard Zinn that try
- [44:33]
Dave Zirin
to make students ashamed of their own history.
- [44:37]
Amy Goodman
Over the years, Professor Howard Zinn appeared on Democracy now many times. In 2009, he talked about the importance of teaching students the true history of the country. Country.
- [44:50]
Howard Zinn
It's true that people have asked that question again and again. Now, should we tell kids that Columbus, whom they have been told was a great hero, that Columbus mutilated Indians and kidnapped them and killed them in pursuit of gold? Should we tell people that Theodore Roosevelt, who is held up as one of our great presidents, who was really a warmonger who loved military exploits and who congrats, congratulated an American general who committed a massacre in the Philippines, should we tell young people that? And I think the answer is we should be honest with young people. We should not deceive them. We should be honest about the history of our country. And we should be not only taking down the traditional heroes like Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, but we should be giving young people an alternate set of heroes.
- [45:51]
Amy Goodman
So that is the late, great historian Howard Zinn. Dave Zirin joins us now. Dave, you wrote the People's the Outsized Life of Howard Zinn. Everyone knows you as a sports writer. Why you switched gears for now if in fact you did. And tell us Howard Zinn's life story and his impact.
- [46:13]
Dave Zirin
Well, I could tell you that in the 1930s, as a teenage union organizer, Howard Zinn played for his union, union basketball team and used his tall frame as a way to recruit people to the union. But that still doesn't make this a sports story. That's as close as we're going to get. Howard Zinn's life was remarkable. It was 70 years plus of activism, 64 of those years alongside his incredible partner, Rosalind Schechter Zinn. And it's in those 70 years that we have so many lessons for us today and for our, I mean, we're talking about somebody who in the 1930s, like I said, was a teenage union organizer during the depression. In the 1940s, he was a bombardier in World War II who hated fascism so much he signed up to be a bombardier even though he'd never been on a plane. I mean, I get claustrophobic in the middle seat and he's there as a bombardier. You know, in the late 1940s, he lived through the Red Scare as a firebrand, 20 something organizer fighting for veterans rights in Brazil, Brooklyn, which is an incredible story which he never told unto himself, which I was able to get documentary information on. In the 1950s, teaching at Spelman College, HBCU for women in Atlanta, he taught an incredible generation of women, people like Alice Walker, the author Marian Wright Edelman, Beverly Guy, chef Tal. Women who were the first to graduate from Harvard Law School school. And Howard Zinn was their beloved professor. They voted him the professor of the year on campus in their yearbook, which is an incredible little exhibit of the Howard Zinn of at that time, 1961. And then he's forced out of the school because he dared stand up not just for his students, right, to protest Jim Crow in Atlanta, but also their fight against the patriarchy and sexism on their campus. He wrote an article for the Nation magazine, which got wide coverage. The virality of the 1950s, that. That was called a finishing school for pickets, about the women at Spelman. Then he goes on from that and becomes one of the adult organizers of one of the vanguard organizations of the civil rights movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Like the fact that he was asked to be an adult adviser of people like Stokely Carmichael, soon to be known as Kwame Ture, Bob Moses, Diane Nash, Dorothy Ladner. I mean, they were looking to both Howard Zoo and his partner at the time, Ella Baker, to be his work partner, to oversee and help with sncc. And then he worked alongside folks like James Baldwin and Dick Gregory, like in the heart of Jim Crow. And it wasn't all roses and flowers either. I mean, they had comrades die in those streets and in those swamps fighting against Jim Crow. And then he goes on from that to become a leading figure in the movement against the white war in Vietnam, including traveling to North Vietnam, traveling to Hanoi on behalf of the peace movement during the Tet Offensive. During the Tet offensive, to free POWs. And he continues being active into the 1980s, into the 1990s and in the 2000s, as you well know, because he loved appearing on Democracy now to talk about this. The wars in the Middle east, the endless wars of George W. Bush. He spoke out against something we're dealing with so strongly today, the growing surge surveillance state that we were seeing under the patriarch and George W. Bush. So the lessons of Howardson's life over 70 years are so important to us. And I would argue the most critical lesson is that he lived through the ups and downs. It wasn't all pie in the sky. There were tremendous difficulties along the way, particularly during the Red scare of the late 1940s and early 50s. And yet he persevered. And he persevered because he wasn't just an activist. This is what the so interesting about him to me is that he was also a trained historian. And we don't always see trained historians on the front lines of activism. And frankly, that's why so many, I would call them centrist or liberal historians are so resentful of him and his work because he was such a frontline fighter. And for him, being an academic was always secondary to being in the streets and making history, not just studying history.
- [50:25]
Amy Goodman
I want to go Back to a 1997 film, that Oscar winning film Goodwill Will Hunting, which had this famous scene featuring Robin Williams and Matt Damon.
- [50:39]
Dave Zirin
You want to read a real history book? Read Howard Zinn's People's History the United States.
- [50:43]
Amy Goodman
That book will knock you on your ass. Better than Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. Do you think that's a good book there? It is. And you have a lot from Matt Damon in this book.
- [50:54]
Dave Zirin
I was able to interview Matt Damon for the book. He was incredible, incredibly generous with his time in talking about Howard Zinn because, you know, he grew up next door to Howard Zinn and Rosalind Zinn and the Zinn family in Newton, Massachusetts, practically. They shared a wall of their duplex to the point of which Matt Damon talks about his brother hearing Howard Zinn type out a people's history of the United States on one of those old typewriters. And Matt Damon told a lot of stories about growing up at Zinn knee barbecues, things of the like. But the story I loved the most was that Howard Zinn was giving their family early drafts of A People's History of the United states. And at 10 years old, Matt Damon's mother, Nancy Carlson Page, who's an incredible education activist by the way, Nancy Carlson page read her 10 year old son the opening chapter of A People's History of the United States, which is of course all about the plunder of Christopher Columbus. Columbus, the depravity in terms of how he treated indigenous people in this country. So 10 year old Matty Damon goes to school and does an oral report in class about Christopher Columbus and all of his crimes. And they actually, they called his parents because they were so concerned that he was coming into school talking about this. And as Damon said to me, he said, Donald Trump might say that was the beginning of my indoctrination.
- [52:14]
Amy Goodman
I want to go back to Howard Zinn and Democracy now, like 20 years ago. Howardson, you Called your autobiography. You can't be neutral on a moving train.
- [52:25]
Taseen Elian
Why?
- [52:26]
Howard Zinn
Well, it came from. I stole it from myself. That is, I used to say that to my classes at the beginning of every class. I wanted to be honest with them about the fact that they were not entering a class where the teacher would be neutral. It was not going to be a class where, you know, the teacher spent a half year with this or a year with the students, and they would have no idea where the teacher stood on the important issues. This is not going to be a neutral class. I said, I don't believe in neutrality. I believe neutrality is impossible because the world is already moving in certain directions. Wars are going on, children are starving. And to be neutral, to pretend to neutrality, to not take a stand in. In a situation like that, is to collaborate with whatever is going on, to allow it to happen. I did not want to be a collaborator with what was happening. I wanted to enter into history. I wanted to play a role. I wanted my students to play a role. I wanted us to intercede. I wanted my history to intercede and to take a stand on behalf of peace, on behalf of racial equality or sexual equality. And so I wanted my students to know that right from the beginning, no, you can't be neutral on a moving train.
- [53:46]
Amy Goodman
You can't be neutral on a moving train.
- [53:49]
Dave Zirin
Incredible.
- [53:50]
Amy Goodman
And, Dave, how did you come to know Howard Zinn?
- [53:53]
Dave Zirin
I came to Howard Zinn because he got my sports writing from a mutual friend, a collaborator of Howard Zinn named Anthony Arno. And Howard read it, and he asked me if I would write a book for his people's history series called A People's History of Sports in the United States. And we got to know each other, and he asked me if I would travel with him at the end of his life and interview him on stage. I gotta tell you, the easiest, as you well know, the easiest interview in the world, you would just say, howard Zinn, civil rights movement, Your thoughts? Half an hour later, and three different times of people applauding and interrupting him. I would just sit there. I could have had coffee and popcorn, and I would have been as happy as anybody in the crowd. Just a terrific interview. And I got a couple of times I said to him, when he would tell his stories, what we need is a people's history of Howard Zinn, because I think this is very much of Howard Zinn being of that generation of the 1930s, the depression generation. You're always looking at the movements, you're always looking at the struggle. So he would Pull his name from the stories and tell them more generally. And I said to him, we to need. We need your stories. I never thought I'd write it, but now I have.
- [55:03]
Amy Goodman
And talk about him being a bombardier in World War II and very powerful. What he then did afterwards, going to the sites he had bombed.
- [55:13]
Dave Zirin
Well, he spoke about when he was a bombardier, about being quote, unquote, war crazy because they psych you up, they push you to bomb these areas. And then he realized what was happening, and he became a person of peace for the rest of his life.
- [55:28]
Amy Goodman
Let's go to Howard Zinn talking about this on Democracy Now.
- [55:32]
Howard Zinn
And we don't know how many people we killed or how many people were terribly burned as a result of what we did, but I did it like most soldiers do, unthinkingly, mechanically, thinking, we're on the right side, they're on the wrong side, and therefore we can do whatever we want and it's okay. And only afterward, only really after the war, when I was reading about Hiroshima from John Hersey and reading the stories of the survivors of Hiroshima and what they went through, only then did I begin to think about the human effects of bombing. Only then did I begin to think about what it meant to human beings on the ground when bombs were dropped on them. Because as a bombardier, I was flying at 30,000ft, six miles high, couldn't hear screams, couldn't see blood. And this is modern warfare.
- [56:23]
Amy Goodman
That was the great historian Howard Zinn, who went to fight fascism, was a bombardier.
- [56:28]
Dave Zirin
He bombed occupied France, yes, and a place called Royan. And he returned there in 1966 to really learn for himself about the damage that he did. He was one of the first bombardiers to drop what they called jellied gasoline, which came to be known as napalm, which burned, burns off the skin, used infamously during the war on Vietnam. And the thing about Howard in war which is so interesting is he then spent decades, not with no publicity, writing to the Pentagon after 1966, trying to get the truth of what happened in those bombing raids. Did they know they were bombing civilians? Did they know the effects of napalm? And he had a folder. He had a folder in his archives that I found that was all about his correspondence with the Pentagon. And they sent him back letters all the time, too, about what they would and wouldn't show him. And he had written on that folder just very, very big. He just wrote, never again.
- [57:26]
Amy Goodman
As we wrap up, what were you most surprised by in researching your book, the People's Historian, I was most surprised
- [57:34]
Dave Zirin
about his ability to endure the downs that his life wasn't to going just about up, up and struggle because we hear things certainly people my age hear civil rights movement, antiwar movement. And you think of these things as these mass struggles that are just up, up and away. There were tons of ups and downs along the way. There was a lot of demoralization along the way. But he was able to weather that through his knowledge of history. And I think that's what our movements so desperately need today because we need to be able to endure 2026 because as how Howard Zinn said, you know what, the history is full of surprises and sometimes we can do the surprising.
- [58:11]
Amy Goodman
Well, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Dave Zirin, author of the new book the People's the Outsized Life of Howard Zinn. He's sports editor at the Nation, author of many other books, including A People's History of Sports in the United States that he did at the request of Howard Zinn. We're going to bring you post show@DemocracyNow.org, dave is a sports writer and we want to find out the politics of what just happened, the attempted privatization of FIFA. Go to democracynow.org for that. Thank you so much for this book. Thank you, Amy. Dave Zirin, Democracy now is produced with Mike Burke, Dina Guzner, Angelique Comet, Messiah Rhodes. I'll be in Edinburgh next next Tuesday and London next Wednesday. Check our website at democracynow. Org.