About potential changes to their pensions and Union Leaders say the measures will cut retirement payments as well as aid for poor families the countrys top union has called for a general strike. Of course of all of those stories on the web site of al jazeera dot com back with more news in thirty minutes next on aljazeera its the strain do stay with us. Facing reality if a piece of machinery goes wrong is there a chance of litigation true which we can bring a legal system to bear getting to the heart of the matter i dont think we needed to but some of my producers just to hear their story on talk to how does it at this time. For the ok go in the stream we are live on aljazeera you cheap today its been six months since the grenfell fire tragedy in london are survivors getting what they ate and im really could be glad ill be bringing our gas your comments also on today show a new report by the committee to protect journalists says that twenty seventeen saw a Record Number of journalists jailed will be asking why first a stunning defeat for the Republican Party right here in the u. S. And some say for President Donald Trump as well have a look at this clip from the aljazeera online tape. Joining us now from new york sometime cohosts of st actually have d. N. A. Is. On it as well hes returned from alabama just on wednesday night at made for people who are following this story trying to keep up with it from overseas in a nutshell whats it about what is it me. Well this is really a historical moment in the United States after everything thats happened with President Trump in the last year i mean for the first time in twenty five years a democrat got elected to the u. S. Senate in alabama and to give you some context you know birmingham alabama is americas fourth largest city but it is a very segregated and perhaps a segregated as states get today its where rosa parks refused to give up her seat on the bus of course Martin Luther king jr wrote his letter from birmingham jail where you know these four little girls in one nine hundred sixty three a very historic moment birmingham were killed in the sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing so you know this election very much today was not only about a referendum on President Trump but about alabamas kind of bloody civil rights history and that factors into how many africanamericans voted so you know a lot of the medias attention here in america for those who might not have been as you know caught up on the nitty gritty of this election has been on the Sexual Assault allegations and child molestation allegations against roy and more people saying thats what helped push jones over the edge but to me its important to Pay Attention to the fact the black vote the black vote in alabama was a bigger percentage of the vote than they are the population you know if when its funny you say that we got this one from laura he says this wouldnt have happened without the hard work of black folks and young people and of course we also saw a lot of tweets online of people congratulating and thanking really black women for voting which of course sparked a lot of conversation because they also willie helped push that when for the democrats you spoke to black voters what is it they told you ahead of the vote. Well you know theres been a lot of things in the Mainstream Media recently that it appeared you know in two thousand and eleven when moore whos and i recall a candidate that many people should have felt or said to me that they felt should have been disqualified from even being considered he appeared on this radio show where he talked about getting rid of constitutional amendments after the tenth amendment here in the u. S. He said that would quote eliminate many problems and how our government structured so imagine being a black voter you know and hearing that theres a man who may very well represent you in washington as your senator and hes you know flirted with the idea of getting rid of the thirteenth amendment which abolished slavery and you know he said many incredibly controversial things about you know america like you know President Trump his campaign was about making America Great again you know he said that even during slavery america was great because families reunited so you know we spoke to for example the fifth little girl who was you know in that bombing but survived she lost her eye and she put it as simply as this you know roy moore wants to go backwards he wants to take us back to this socalled time when america was great we want to move forward and kind of that despair and shock and disbelief that this was actually even happening that this could be their senator was was enough to get them out into the polls and also spent some running more support task im just going to ask them revise comments without already having. This is woodstock a town and big county just outside of birmingham alabama americas fourth black a city but this county is seventy six percent white and in two thousand and sixteen trump won seventy seven percent of the vote if they wanted to do something they should have done it before when he was running for the bank and why after forty years to come power. A lot of people say that women sometimes when they do get you know assaulted or what have you that it takes them years to get the courage to come forward one of them had the interview on tape. There were no tears and if they had her mascara look at them if theyre not true why would all these women be saying this now who do you think would be behind i think just the democrats. This is so redeeming act like what did it tell you about america that right he didnt know already im just following up from cycle sites its fascinating watching it from outside the states its almost a spike up on. Yeah the cognitive dissonance the cognitive dissonance was striking it really alarmed me you know weve been living all for you know a very polarized and divided through a very polarized and divided time in our country and you know this just confirmed all those things you hear about online and fake news and you know perception versus reality a lot of people in alabama i hate to say are ignorant about very basic you know facts when it comes to not just roy moore but to the history of certain candidates the Alabama State legislator and specifically what you hear when you you hear you talk to these people who are you know claiming to be how can i put this you know they claim that the reason that they support roy moore is because of his christian values a lot of them pointing to the fact that you know he erected a statue of the Ten Commandments in city hall something that got him fired from his judgeship there in alabama you know because it was illegal and so a lot of people kind of unable to articulate beyond the fact that he will make America Great justifying even some of his his comments saying that you know family is what makes us great and maybe there were you know people saying straight to my face that maybe hes not wrong to say that about slavery i really just goes to show how polarized the Political Landscape is but on the flip side that this happened in the heart of dixie in alabama and the south is not just a referendum on trump i mean he had overall vote totals in alabama thats that all time you know high record so for doug jones to have prevailed it really speaks to not just how an electable roy moore is but this time in American History you know when trump ism is kind of being rejected and we have such a focus on these exploitation and abuse of boehner. Peoples in particularly women and in growing worse case children by powerful men who are you know not really with the current times and i dont like to pull you said and yet we got this comment on facebook because we asked whether or not this represents a political shift in alabama you know the first time that theres a democrat a democrat and a lot of years billy here says no i truly dont believe this is a shift at all the republicans put up a truly repugnant candidate whose own words and actions did him in that said of course this is the view of billy on facebook hes still god were talking roy moore here almost half the vote there still were a lot of people and included in that package of people that you talked to who were willing and ready to vote for him you know and thats an extremely important point i mean the context around this election is very critical you know its true that this is the first time a democrat gets elected in twenty five years but it is also true that there are enough people who believe the fake news stories to believe that this was all a democratic ploy. And you know the real troubling thing is this is a time when you have people like President Trump who can make it into office you have people like roy moore who could get close to making it into office so in many ways even though believe brings up a good point its important to remember that trump despite all the allegations against him just a year ago got elected and even though this is not you know a president ial election its interesting to note that trump very similar to roy moore both in terms of his political you know kind of friendship you know blow up the system approach to politics was elected and run more wasnt so at the very least you know if President Trump invested heavily in one more he recorded brokaws there was a lot of big donors coming from washington in the last week of the election he traveled down south you know steve dan and was there so in many ways this is very much a rejection of trump as our trump is. Well. I may thank you so much were going to leave it there and we go from the u. S. State of alabama to the capital of the u. K. Six miles off to find a Public Housing tower block and campaigners say their work is not yet done we covered this story extensively after it happened and at that time one of the main concerns was how to how survive this d. J. I was a guest on this train. Somebody said to me this and all of books went to you thats why when i spoke to somebody who are just a middle class and i said you know weve got twenty one you know we could put some of the families in that and apparently they would if they would if they were to go into. Places that weve offered them and they they are making them so theyre not Homeless Animals at all priory so whats their priority if theyre westway in the ghetto and if i can find them somewhere where they can be a little bit more calm. If they dont become primary. As you heard there campaigners were worried that the Housing Needs of survivors were not being met quickly enough at the time british Prime Minister theresa may promise that those who lost their homes would be re house within three weeks but according to the British Health service and campaigners only forty five of the two hundred ten households made homeless have been permanently resettled and joining us now from london Richard Bergen is just a spokesman for the labor party and fresh from the silent march commemorating the six month anniversary of the grunfeld fire eakins is a Community Activist welcome to the stream both of you i want to start with pictures from that vigil the silent marches ken loach hundreds of people have arrived for the silent walk you can see them there holding their signs ones have graced the other says justice for grand heres another tweet fiona says tonight im at the grand tower walk which marks six months since the fire its very emotional here hundreds of people have gathered outside Notting Hill Methodist Church where the peaceful march will begin and melvin youre just back from that march thank you for taking the time to join us here today describe for our audience what the atmosphere was like. Its a very somber atmosphere a time to reflect the whole day has been pretty much about remembering the lives of the people who who lived in the towers seventy one people officially. We had a Memorial Service at our cathedral Central London cathedral sent poles which set the tone for the day where we had fifteen hundred guests together with members of the royal family to pay their respects to those people who lost their lives and now we are continuing it again this evening as we have done for the fourteenth of every single month since the file to commemorate the dead mother when we last talked about when for we were still talking about how many more families still have to buy a house if you could sum that up where are we right now still very much behind schedule ultimately the government said initially that they would house everybody within three weeks theyve obviously message leave over the shop that they have subsequently said that they aim to have three housed all of the survivors by christmas that leaves them with two weeks to house near one over one hundred people and i do believe that they are not going to meet that second target. Rich if i can just bring you in here as an inquiry that subtle and you also got together with some of the survivors and ask them for their stories what are the stories that really stood out in your mind because each time you go back and revisit the ground for tragedy it just reminds us how her rhetoric a tragedy actual was what it what stood out for all. What start for me with the stories of people escaping down the stairwell of the of the block and sadly having to pass by people who had passed away on the stands it was very shocking people talking about the fear of being in the block but also people talk about their experiences after the fire people shunted into hotel rooms rather than actual houses and being pulled upon the procedure the hotel searches you cant have your wife if she had you to be give birth staying in a hotel thats against hotel policy so the same time that people worrying about their loved ones who are still in hospital from smoke inhalation for example theyre having to contend with the bureaucracy of being in hotels and not being in proper accommodation so people have been let down before this horrific fire and afterwards as well because action should have been taken so fulfill the promise of getting everybody into suitable and proper accommodation is not too much to ask the people and families deserve far better than this i play a video comment we got from a campaigner who is also our previous dream gas and this is what he told us about marking this anniversary six months on from the gravel tower tragedy we were united today with people of all faiths cultures backgrounds at the same poles national Memorial Service it was a reminder that we have more in common with each other and it was a chance for us to reflect stand in solidarity short of the show the of all the survivors and the bereaved families but also was a very very important lesson a reminder for us to think to Work Together to mobilize as one community as we responded in the aftermath of the fire to continue our work to reste justice and accountability. So he mentions reaching justice there this is what Trevor Allman on twitter says a total change of culture is needed towards people in Public Housing his view of justice he says i know from my time as a councillor tenants are far too often seen as a nuisance and treated with contempt as are their concerns about the buildings they live in now then whats changed since the last time you were on the show justice wise well very little ultimately the Public Inquiry only really kicked off two days ago so we are very much into our infancy in terms of investigations and disclosure as to what actually happened the police the metropolitan Police Service in this country have said that they may not even get to questioning Certain Companies and individuals to his latest twenty nineteen so the process is going to be very slow and painstaking in the process and the to say thats going to be very frustrating so people who are immediately affected and members of the community who want altons richard you written a piece just in the last few hours from the independent what i learned from the grenfell families about the inquiry this week i just want to show our audience whos in charge of this inquiry some martin more basic you have some concerns about how the inquiry is going to be run and its only the first week what do you whats your biggest concern about this inquiry. The point i make to start off with is that quite rightly survivors and buried families feel let down by this dumb shit totally so this given whats happened to them in the fire and given what happened to them afterwards and so whats key is that their trust is earned through this process inquiry has to earn the trust of the community cant assume it and what we need is an inquiry which will get truth and justice because thats what people deserve at the very least and so what we need in my view is a panel with diverse Life Experience in order to make sure the inquiry earns that trust and delivers truth and justice now the Prime Minister trees a man has the power in law to secure and deliver that in consultation with the judge so far she chose not to do that and the families actually delivered to downing street early this week a petition asking for an Inquiry Panel to be set up the similar Inquiry Panels that weve seen in the past and really now the good the Prime Minister as a nominated minister in legislation under the inquiries act needs to take this action in order to ensure weve got that Inquiry Panel because people at the very least deserve truth and justice so who in your opinion should be on that panel. Well the community there is a very Diverse Community and i think that the panel needs to be diverse as well diverse in its Life Experience a point was actually made by one of the lawyers for the family very effectively of the day in the inquiry proceedings on this very point so i think its in the promised and now needs to take action to deliver because she in consultation with the judge can appoint a balanced and diverse Inquiry Panel to assisted judge in ensuring that this inquiry delivers the answers we need to get to the bottom of what happened we need to get to the bottom of why working class people are being treated in this way what we have is people who survived grunfeld and bereaved families having to fight for year after year to get to the truth in the way people for example did after the Hillsborough Disaster i want to end with this comment we got via you tube because the world is watching nick says perth in australia woke up about Safety Standards because of that this tragedy it woke us up and its sad that it had to happen that way thank you to Richard Bergen and melanie for your time for joining us today we hope to have you back as the story develops now a shocking report from the committee to protect journalists says that a Record Number of journalists were imprisoned for their work in twenty seventeen this sea p. J. Video highlights the case of just one. One of our colleagues mamas has saying is also in prison in egypt and hes been there for three hundred fifty nine days Rights Groups and out of iraq are demanding his release with us to discuss this we have courtney ratch cheneys advocacy director at the committee to protect journalists cody this is this is not a great job that you have unfortunately talking to people about how many journalists are in prison. This year were you surprised about the number and country. Sadly no we were not surprised weve seen turkey being the leading jailer journalist last year and then this several years ago we know that there was this post coup attempt crackdown that has resulted in massive arrests of journalists and closures of Media Outlets sat idly under president sisi egypt has become one of the leading the worlds leading jailer of journalists as well when i lived in egypt and worked there that there were no journalists in jail and now its consistently at the top and unfortunately china is also perennially at the top of the list so we see that these three countries have been at the top of the list they continue to jail journalists we no longer have an International Community who is routinely condemning this so sadly no im not surprised. Theres a comment here that most journalists wont like but its via facebook and i want to bring it up because there are people that think like this anthony is not the only one anthony says good for them because most journalists nowadays are fake news provider so there is that view there heres what u. S. Senator john mccain has to say about that press freedoms anyone report he tweeted shows a Record Number of journalists imprisoned worldwide and twenty seventeen including twenty one on fake news charges poetess a United States president must understand his harmful rhetoric only empowers repressive regimes to jail reporters and silence the truth courtney talked to us about what quote unquote fake news has done for press freedom. So fake news as a catchall term obviously there are things such as distant from asian campaigns but what we see is the that fake news is a term thats used to diligent my is journalism to try to undermine journalism and to try to essentially undermine as keep democracy so its very concerning when you see china and official chinese agencies coming out and welcoming President Trumps use of the word fake news its very disturbing when you have come both using the fake news excuse to kick out independent media from their country its disturbing when you see russia and egypt using that as an excuse to imprison journalists and not only that to then deny them medical care its completely false and illegitimate to think that journalists deserve to be in prison for their work they are the ones who are bringing us the information that we know theyre risking their lives on the front lines in syria and the d r c in mexico to bring us news so its sad to hear that perspective that anyone thinks a journalist should be jailed for doing their job of us following this program to get to see p. J. Dot org and you can see the jenison present in twenty seventeen where the red areas are you can click on it and you can see the numbers agendas techie has seventy three china forty one heading up to russia five and so on and so on according to people watching this theyre following this that theyre seeing this report what do they do about it. Theyve got to demand that their leaders stop using this terminology to fake news they need to realize that most of what they know is that isnt come from the media and demand that journalists be given the respect that they need to pay for news that will help pay for journalists and for the defense that they need make sure that when you know the president despite the president of the United States decides to give his president ial visits to the leading jailer of journalists that that is seen as unacceptable or at least that that issue of jailing of journalists is on the agenda and please join us at press freedom on twitter and join our campaigns including the one person who used who has an dire condition and needs medical attention that he is being denied and your colleague who has also been denied medical attention quote you ratched thank you so much for being with us today will always feeling the work of a c h a if youve got a site that you would like us to hate on the street send is a tweet hash tag. C online. And new perspectives can change your wilds. The one sin is in what began as a home he has grown into a passion a way of life. Teaching the next generation to strive for a higher level. And in so instilling in his country a sense of freedom and strength. To new heights my chin is at this time on aljazeera. Cool. Stuff. Setting the stage for a serious debate up front at this time on. The evidence is undeniable the weapons might as well have had