I tried to imagine myself in a house that was burning and i was not going to carry on business as usual. I thought the only thing i can do is put my whole body on the line, have regular actions, and include the historically noble thing called civil disobedience. Amy then becoming a dangerous woman, embracing risk to change the world. That is a new book by media legend pat mitchell who was arrested alongside jane fonda and 140 others friday. Mitchell was the first woman president of pbs, cnn productions, and of the paley cent f for mia. What do i mea by dangerous . Dodont mean being fear o or feararfu but i io mean ing more fearless. I i dontt mean abusgower, but i mean using it, sharing it tompower others. D speaki up and showing up for those without voice or representation. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A house judiciary commitittee lawyer has raised the possibility of additional articles of impeachment against President Trump if the house uncovers new evidence that trump attempted to obstruct investigations of his actions. The possibility was raised in a filing monday amidst legal battle over whether the democrats can force former white House Counsel don mcgann to testify. He was special counsel robert. Uellers central witness the house has already impeached trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress Related to trumps effort to pressure ukraine to investigate his political rival joe biden. This is not the first time democratic lawmakers have raised the prospect of additional articles of impeachment. Among them, Democratic Texas commerce number al green, who in 2017, was the First Congress member to call for President Trumps impeachment from the floor of the house. This is congressmember green speaking on democracy now just after trumps impeachment. We have brought these articles of impeachment dealing with the bigotry, hatred, the homophobia, islamophobia, antisemitism we brought three articleles of impeachment addresessing these things, understanding, of course, the house of representatives went so far as to condemn the president for his racist comments. But that wasnt enough. Was at best impeachmentlight. If Andrew Johnson could bee impeached for reasons rooted in his hatred, bigotry, and racism, this president can be impeached for these reasons as well. Amy to see houston congressmember greens full interview, go to democracynow. Org. Boeing has fired ceo Dennis Muilenburg amid ongoing controversy engulfing boeing over its troubled 737 max passenger jet. Earlier this month, boeing halted production of the jet following outrage over two crashes in ethiopia and indonesia that killed all 346 people on board. On monday, boeing tapped David Calhoun as the new ceo. He previously worked at blackstone, nielsen, and general electric. The New York Times reports the pentagon is considering withdrawing many, if not all, of the u. S. Troops stationed in west africa. The potential pullout could include withdrawing u. S. Troops from a newly built drone base in niger and ending u. S. Support to French Forces fighting in mali, niger, and burkina faso. The shift could be announced as early as january. Its part of defense secretary mark espers efforts to shift away from the United States post9 11 war on terror. There are currently 6000 to 7000 u. S. Troops deployed across africa. In syria, up to 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Northwestern Province of idlib amid an intensification of the russianbacked Syrian Government bombing there. About 3 Million People currently live in idlib province, which has been bombarded by russian and syrian airstrikes for months. Increasingly heavyigighting recent days has forced tens thousands s of people toto flee toward t the turkish b border, s the Syrian Government seeks to seize control of one of thlalast territories heldy antigovernmt rerebe. Humaninitarian groups say dodozs of syrian cicivilians haveve ben killed in ththe past week k alo. In china, leaders from japan, china, and south korea are meeting today in the southwestern city of chengdu to discuss Regional Cooperation and reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The meeting comes as north korea has threatened the United States with a Christmas Gift if the u. S. Doesnt lift the economic sanctions against north korea. Gift. Ristmas during t todays meeting, sououh korean presisident moon jaeinin encouraged north k korea and the u. S. To work toward peace. We agreed that piece on the Korean Peninsula was in the common interest of the three countries. We also agreed to make efforts togetherer to help mold north korea, u. S. S. Dialogue for denuclearization and peace. Amy in canada, indigenous communities are condemning the canadian governmenent after it s revealed that ththe royal canadn mounted police prepared for the potential use of lethal force against indigenous land defenders resisting the construction of a natural gas pipeline on the wetsuweten nations ancestral land in british columbia. The guardian first revealed the documents in which commanders of canadas National Police force argued lethal oveverwatch is required a term for deploying snipers. The preparations came ahead of a police raid last january against a protest enmpmpmentherere indigenousroroups ve b bee fightinghehe coaal g gasnk pipeline. In resnsnse tohe r revationsns the granchchief thehe aemblyy of manitoba chiefsn n cana said this rmrm of ate e vience i i happeng to i iigenous peoples arououndhe woror. Its dishshrtening g know thateveven icananadathis sam type of anned vience is stilbeing consideredgainstst first nations. Present trummet with accused criminal accused war criminal Eddie Gallagher a month after trump overruled his own military leaders and granted clemency to three u. S. Servicemembers who have been accused or convicted of war crimes, including navy seal Eddie Gallagher. Instagram photos show the two meeting at trumps private resort maralago in florida over the weekend. Gallagher has been accused of multiple war crimes, including shooting two iraqi civilians and fatally stabbing a captive teenager in the neck. Gallagher was convicted of posing with the teenage corpse but acquitted of premeditated murder. In maryland, a 56 yearold nigerian man died in while in ice custody thats the immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on saturday. Ice says anthony oluseye akinyemis death is under investigation but that the cause appears to be death by suicide. On monday, democrarats with the House Oversight and Reform Committee sent lettersrs to immigration officials demanding documents related to the mounting number of deaths of migrants in the custody of u. S. Immigration agencies. Hours later, hundreds of protesters rallied in los angeles, houston, chicago and portland, oregon, on the second night of the jewish holiday of hanukkah to protest against migrant detention. The protests were organized by the jewish group never again, which draws parallels between the holocaust and the situation facing immigrants today. In more immigration news, Colorado Governor Jared Polis has pardoned Ingrid Encalada latorre, who has taken sanctuary in the Unitarian Universalist church of boulder while fighting her deportation to peru. The governors pardon means her immigration case can now be reopened and her deportation order reconsidered. She is one of four women in sanctuary and colorado. The others are araceli velasquez, rosa sabido, and jeanette vizguerra, who was named one of time magazines 100 most influential people in the world in 2017 for her work as an immigrgration activist. She could not come to new york for the festivities, so they held them her friends and supporters held them in the church that she had taken refuge and in denver. And former black Panther Robert Seth Hayes has died at the age of 72. He was born in harlem on october 1947, the grandson of sharecroppers. He was drafted into the vietnam war and awarded a purple heart. He joined the black Panther Party after the assassination of dr. Martin luther king jr. And worked in the parties free medical clinics and free breakfast programs. In 1973, was convicted of the killing of a new York City Transit officer, which he always denied. He was released from prison on parole last year after 45 years behind bars. Making him one of the longest held Political Prisoners in the United States. He died on saturday morning at his home in new york. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As bush fires fueled by a historic heat wave threaten australia, high tides threaten to flood v venice, and the philippines prepare for a christmas typhoon, we begin todays show with a new round of protests calling for action to address the Climate Crisis. Last friday, a day before jane fondas 82nd birthday, the twotime Academy Awardwinning actress and longtime political activist was arrested for the fifth time as she has been nearly every friday in washington, d. C. , since she started fire drill fridays, inspired in part by the swedish youth climate activist Greta Thunberg. Jane fonda was arrested along with more than 140 others inside the Hart Senate Office building. Demonstrators saying sang to her as s she was taken o outsid. Happy birthday to you amy this month jane fonda wrote an oped in the New York Times headlined we have to live like were in a Climate Emergency. Because we are. In it, fonda said it should come as no surprise that i believe in the power of protest. Thats why i moved to washington to start what i call fire drill fridays, joining the millions of young people around the world who turned out in the fall for protests to demand that our leaders act to save their futures. Well, on monday, jane fonda joined us from washington, d. C. , and i asked her about her new organization and her protest and rest around fire drill fridaday. I wanted to pick up thehe cal that greta s sent out, get out f yourur comfort zone e this is a crisis. So i decided to actually move my the center ofced power in the United States come and do what i could to raise the sense of urgency, try to get other people, older people to join me. I have been told that since fire dural fridays fire drill frfridays began, older people ae now joining gretas rallies and europe, which makes me very happy. Amy talk about why this issue, why the climate catastrophe we are facing around the world, why it is this that has grabbed you now as you turn 82. What grabbed me. When i realized that climate scientists are unanimous in saying this is a crisis because. E did not act sooner our current t budget the amot ofof carbobon that we cacan cone to emit has gotten very, very small. And we have 10 years to reduce it. The science is very clear. There are not two sides to the story. The scientists themsmsves s say ththe only way that human beings e e gointo b be le to force theirovernmen to do wt is eded is to mobile in unprecedend d numbs. Ll, i knoabout mobilizing i havdone it fore. I havexpererieed what hpens when verlargrgeumbersrs deman something, so i decided i was going to try to lend my platform. I have a hit television series, so, you know, that is helpful when you are an activist to try to get more people. We are building an army. The senators i met with from the senate task force on Climate Change said, youre building an army. Make it big. We need presessure from the outside. Torically, we have seen all of the things that have ever happened, it is because millions of people have demanded it. During the new deal in the 1930s, millions of people were rising up because they were desperate and they demanded change, jobs, programs that would help them. Franklin roosevelt. He said to them, i agree with yoyou. Now go out and make me do it. I have gone out and joined with the young people to try to mamae them do it. To thewant to turn democratic president ial debate in los angeles thursday evening, the last one of the year. This is the moderator of politico. Were going to talk about climate now. Senator klobuchar, would you toport a new federal p program subsidize the relocation of American Families and businesses away from places like miami or paradise california, perhaps, davenport, iowa . Because we know these places are going to be hit time and time again. I very much hope were not going to have to relococate ente citities, but we will probably have to relocate some individual residents. Would you supportrt a new federal program, mr. Steyer . Look, i am hoping that we in fact will do what im suggesting which is declare a state of emergency on day one of my presidency. I believe im the only person here who will say unequivocally this is my numberone priority. Mr. Buttigieg . Is at stakeke. That is whwhy i insisist we have massive increases in renewable research, Renewable Energy, Energy Storage and carbon storage. Senator sanders . It all the respect, your question misses the mark. It is not an issue of relocating people and towns. The issue now is whether we save the planet for our children and our grandchildren. Amy that is bernie, amy klobuchar, two credit president ial candidates, debatingng on thursday night, te last president ial debate of this year. One of the previous president itl candidate who has since dropped out, jay inslee, the Current Governor of washington state, called for a debate solely focused on the Climate Crisis but the dnc has repeatedly rejected that. Jane fonon, what do o you thinkf the democrats approach, what theyre suggesting for the climate, and what t you thinknk needs to happen in this Election Year . Nt vote for anyone who doesnt understand t the urgency of the crisis and the other catastrophe, utter devastation that can happen if we dont do what is needed. We have a very small window to do something unprecedented in human hihistory, which is reduce Carbon Emissions by half in the next decade and then nenet zeroy the middle of f the century. That requires extremely bold action on dayay one of the new presidency. So i would not support anybody who doesnt understand that this is not about carbon taxes were Carbon Capture for Carbon Capture or moderate things moving people around out of harms way. Well, some people. I dont want to endorse anybody, but t too fefew o of them are tg abouout thehe real proboblem, ws fossssil fuels. Talkining about relocation, you can talk about windmills and the renewables that have to come into play, but point our fingers at the criminals, the people that have e caused this to happn to us, the fossil fuel industry. They knew in 1977 w what they we doing. Their sitete has told them they were poisoning the atmospheree and it couldld lead to irreversible damage, and they lied to us and they hoodwinked us and they kept o on drilling. Ththat is why right nowow it iso late for moderation. We have to take very, very brave , bold steps. Whoever gets elected next november, we have to hold their feet to the fire. That is why it is important right now to build an army bigger and bigger and bigger so that by next november, we will have the wherewithal to do what is necessary which couldld mn shututting down the government. We are fightining for the future of our children. Young people know what theyre facing, and they are furious. And they have e every right to. And we have to do everything we can no matter what, it is going to get worse before it slows down because of all of the heat that has been baked and because of our inaction over the decades. We have to help communities, frontline communities, the most vulnerable of us in particular, to feel resilient. We have to build resiliency. That is why many of us are supporting a Green New Deal because it would Center Justice in the Climate Movement. It would center caring for the people that are going to be the most impacted by what is coming. And then moving very swiftly to reduce fossil fuels. Amy we have just come from madrid, spain, where we were covering the u. N. Climate summit, officially the United NationsClimate Change conference. I want to turn to the swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. This is what she said to the gathered World Leaders and climate negotiators. Why is it so important t to stay below 1. 5 degrees . Because even though one degree, people are dying from the Climate Crisis. Because that is what the United Science calls for to avoid destabilizing the climate so that we have ththe best possible chance to avoid setting off irreversible Chain Reaction such as t the melting glaciers, polarized and soaring arctic temer r frost. Every fraction of a degree matters. How you react to these numbers without feeling at least some level of panic . Amy there is Greta Thunberg addressing her elders at the u. N. Climate summit, that turned out to be a monumental failure i think even called out by the climate negotiators, not to mention the massive number of activists outsiside both in madd and around the world. Jane fonda, this 16yearold girl who began her activism at 15, standing inn front ofof the swedish parliliat every day demanding they do something about Climate Change. And when the election happen there, she moved it to once a week. And now has led this movement around the world. Certainly not the young first young person to engage in climate activism. Talk about when you first heard of Greta Thunberg and when you made your decision, how you came to this decision to move to washington to lead this movement, really, of elders, to when youhe youth started fire drill fridays. It happened very recently. It happened over labor day weekend. I was in big sur with some friends and i read naomi kleins book. I knew about Greta Thunberg. I knew she was on the autism spectrum. But i had never read anybody explained what that means in terms of her relationship to the Climate Crisis and her way of communicating. Naomi klein enabled me to see what it is about greta t that makes her so powerful as a leader of the young Climate Movement. If someones with as is interested in a topic, their focus is laserbeam. They are not concerned with what other people think or they might be unpopular or oh, my god, this is terrible, polar bears are starving. And if i mens later, i just bought a new parable jeans. She doesnt think that way. Is as focused and she science nerd. Ofn she heard and learned the science and that the scientists were alall in agreemt about the crisis that was looming, first she did not believe it because she said, if this is true, nobody would be talking about anything else. It cant be true because everyone would have stopped their life and be focused totally on this issue. When she realized it was true and nobody was behaving appropriately, is so traumatized her she stopped eating and speaking for so long that it stunted her growth. When i read that, it just hit me like a train. I knew that what greta had seen was the truth and t that we were not behaving accordingly. I tried to imagine myself in a house that was burning come and i wasnnt goining to carry on business as usual. I thought, the only thing i can do is put my whole body on the line. Actions andular include the historically noble thing called civil disobedience. When you have spent decades begging, pleading, signing petitions and writing letters and marching and rallying, you have used all of the levers that democracy offers you to make your voices heard and they dont pay attention, then you have to go the next step which is nonviolent civil disobedience. It calls more attention to what is going on. It has changed things in history. We know that during the civil rights movement. Freedommery and india won from colonialism with nonviolent civil disobedience. So i decideded to do that. Therere was a letter p presented showing it successful proceeded showing it would be successful. I think it was the right thing to do at the right time. People in growing numbers are coming frorom all over who have never before engaged in civil disobedience. And risked being arrested and it is a very transformative experience because you are aligning your whole self, your valuess. Your deepest your becomoming integrated andd empowered and it is a very beautiful thing to see. And it seems to be gaining a a t ofof traction. So i think were going to roll it out across the country. A lot of people are asking for help in s starting friday fie drill fridays and their own towns and cities, and were going to do that. Amy longtime political activist, feminist, and twotime Academy Awardwinning actress jane fonda, founder of fire drill fridays. And her activism on the Climate Movement in a minute. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the e war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we continue with my conversation with twotime Academy Awardwinning actress, longtime political activist, feminist jane fonda, who has organized weekly fire drill friday protests in washington, ducey, last friday she was arrested for the fifth time along with 140 others at the Senate Hart Office building, including Gloria Steinem and moral mondays founder reverend dr. William barber, and many more. I asked jane about her message. O the s senators at this point, my message is mostly to the people outside the power. F that is who we have to mobilize. We havave to let people know tht now is the time. , if youvery interesting willll, privilege that we h hav, those e of us who are healththyd alive during this decade. It is in our hands. That can makeade a difference in how many hundreds of millions of people die suffer and many of them depending on our actions. What a power in our hands. And we need to be in the many, many millions to force our governments in every country of the world to do what is right. They have to be forced. Even if the best candidate in the world gets elected next november, we have to force them to do what is right. And over 500 environmental organizations have supported a call on the next administration. From day one, he or she can have 10 bold actions in the first 10 days commissioning a Climate Emergency alert, stopping all fossil fuel expansion because we can have all of the windmills and the solar collectors in the world, but if they keep drilling and fracking and mining, it is notot going to ddo any goodod. They said, well, we have to keep fracking for gas bececause it wi affect our national security. Oh, really . Then why are they sending so much of it overseas . We are now exporting gas and oil. All of that would stop on day one. Also, issuing a gradual phaseout out of fossil fuel. Also making surere the families anancommunitieies and woworkerst would be affected by that would be protected with union jobs,raining, benefits, penensions with all of the security they have no working in the fossil fuel industry, then working in a Sustainable Energy system. Right from day one, a president could call for that. And many, many other things that could happen r right as executie orders in the first 10 days. Yourhat is what original question was, what do have to say to people in the halls of congress . Do what you can right now. We dont have to wait for next novembers election. There are things going on in cities and towns and they around this country. Boulder,maine, oakland, california where they are actually beginning to move to Renewable Energy and it is democratic and decentralized and puts people in charge of the kind of transition theyre going to make. It is very, very beautiful what is happening. Once the government is behind them with all of its p power, tt can be ramped up fast enough. The scientists tell us they can be done. We still have time. We have 10, 11 years. But it can be donene. We have the technology. The possibility street and the theticians they have fossil fuel industry in the politicians they have bought off site it is a fanantasy and it wl destroy us. That is what they said about the the 1930s. They called roosevelt aa communist anand fascist and trid to overthrow him. He was brave and he did what he did because people were demanding g it of him. And ththe people discovered it s helping them so it succeeded because even people who were sususpicious in the beginning started to support what he was doing because they saw they were getttting help. That is what the president has to do. Wwe are also encouraging people at a local level to start reducing the Carbon Footprint of their own households, but more impoportantly, their comommunits and their townwns and citities p we can do o it. That is what is hopeful about it. The scientists tell us we can. It is the political will that is missing. Too many governments around the world have been an dutch enthralled at the fossil fuel industry. The cop 25, the conference in madrid you just left, there was one good thing that happened. It was the first time in an International Conference like that that they pointed the finger directly at the fossil fuel industry. Up until now, everybody kind of steered away from that. That is an important step step amy and the kind of organizing that was going on around it, not so much inside the cop committed outside all around it. Jane fonda, you went to Standing Rock of the standndoff is standg rock. Deeply involved with the antiwar movement, along with your then husband tom hayden with whom you had your son. You also helped to find, mainly funded the campaign for economic democracy, the california videosn, by your workout and also reached people, to say the least, especially women, millions of women across this country, across the political spectrum. You have done black panther support. You supported the American Indian movement. Decades of your feminist work supporting vday. You come out in support of palestinian rightsts. You have engaged in criticism of both President Trump and president obama for pipeline building and pipeline politics. So this movement, the fire drill fridays, coming o out of your inspiration from this 16yearold swedish climate activist. Describe it for us. This was not the first time on friday right before your birthday that you got arrested with over 140 other people, leaders and movements across many different fields s coming together around the Climate Crisis. This was like the fifth time that you got arrested, as you get arrested each week. Describe the s scene. Was weiday, which focused on the Climate Crisis effect on health, but we also had a Birthday Party for me. I felt it was a kind of turning point because behind the big banner that we were all holding, support agree new deal, were leaders of so many other movements that are not usually associated with climate. Reverend william barber, Gloria Steinem, delores huerta, aijen poo, among others, all coming together to focus on the Climate Crisis. It was a beautiful experience. We committed civil disobedience in the atrium of the hart senate building. Reverend barber led us in song. Every time we do this, somebody who can sing that beautifully with us, it really makes a difference. We had been there before with far fewer numbers. Theooking around and seeing diversity young, old, black, white, asian, latina, everybody was there. So many people singing and chanting together. There are many layers of balconies going up and so many people from the Senate Offices leaning over and throwing us fists and highfives. Fire drill fridays posters. Then we were arrested and then we were taken by a bus to a detention center. It is a big warehouse. At first we were in little cells in the Capitol Hill Police department, but then there were so many of us they had to take us to this warehouse with a lot of folding chairs. There were about 20 men on one side and about, i dont know, there were 143 altogether. Ththere were a lot m more women. Mamaybe it was because it was my birthday. Is because it was so close to christmas. With the please let us move around. There were huddles of women talking to each other, organizing, sharing stories. I can tell you one think of it was the best Birthday Party i ever had. Accomplished, 70 people came from all over and firetted t to doing friday drill fridays. California is seen as a very environmental state. There are so much that is s very progressive in california, but we have not cut ourselves off from the oil drilling. And the frackingng. So when i go bacack to californ, wewe will do fire drill fridayso try to get our governor to stop already with the drilling and fracking. Let us in california really be climate leaders, but we cant do it if we continue to drill and frack and export. That is our next goal. Amy i want to turn to a climate activist confronting 2020 president ial hopeful joe biden. Isaac larkin, a 27 euros phd candidate at northwestern, lessening joe biden questioning joe biden and a climate town hall. I know you signed the no fossil fuel money pledge, but i have to ask, how can we trust you to hold these corporations and executives accountable for their crimes against humanity when we know that tomorrow you are holding a high dollar fundraiser hosted by andrew goldman, fossil fuel executive . Is not a fossil fuel executive. He is not a fossil fuel executive. In fact, the fact of the matter is, what we talk about is what are we going to do about this corporation . What have we done . Everywhere along the way, for example, have argued and pushed for us suing those executives who are engaged in pollution, those Companies Engaged in pollution. I have never walked away from that. Amy there you have, jane fonda, this was a client climate form held by cnn, young people demanding of these candidadates accountability, not just rhetoricic. Is this where you see the hope . Absolutely. That is exactly what has to be done. We have to be vigilant in knowing what theyre doing, where their money is coming from. We have to get this fossil fuel money well, we have to get corporate money out of politics. I think it is exactly what has to happen. We have to be very concerned about political candidates that have ties to the fossil fuel industry. Whoever the democratic candidate is, i feel that my responsibility is to help build a movement that will force them to do the right thing. But i think the detererminationf who that candidate will be should depend and very large part on their willingness to sever ties to the fossil fuel industry. Because as long as they are and aing help and money nanarrative from those fossil fl powers, it is going to be hard for them to be independent. If you are taking money fromom someone connected to the gas industry, then youre going to buy into the narrative, as joe biden and the clip you just showed well, we cant stop right away. We cant, but we can stop expanding and exporting right away. And he is probably someone who believes in the narrative that enenergy sourcee which with a really bad stuff like coal and oil this is the narrative and when we finally get to renewables. At that is a false narrative. Because natural gas is extremely bad for the environment. Methane, for example, is a terribly dangerous greenhouse of that is a bypyproduct fracking, not to mention what it undergroundter aquifers where wat is beingg polluted. An unusual cancers are being experienced in communities near fracking pits. It is bad. Fracking is bad. We have t to do away with that. It is not a bridge source of energy. And people who say, well, we needed for natural for our nanations security. It iss going to be our nations securityty. We have the secure form of energy. It is called solar and wind and geothermal. It is they are. It is not so expensive. It d does not harm the environment. And that is what we have to move to. Amy twotime Academy Awardwinning actress, longtime political activist, jane fonda, founder i fire drill fridays. She also starts with lily tomlin in the Netflix Program grace and frankie. Last friday she was arrested for the fifth time, along with more than 140 others, including media legend pat mitchell, author of the new book becoming a dangerous woman. We will speak with pat mitchchel in a minute. E. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We end todays show with a meda legend pat mitchell who joined jane fonda at the fire drill friday protest in washington, d. C. She was arrested there with her along with more than 140 others. Pat mitchell was the first woman president of pbs, cnn productions, and the paley center for media. She is chair of the Sundance Institute and the womens media center. She tells her story in her new book becoming a dangerous woman embracing risk to change the world. Mitchell also includes the voices of other dangerous women like stacey abrams, aijen poo, ava duvernay, Mary Robinson and many others. Pat mitchell says these women arent dangerous to the world, but to the existing power structure. She writes being dangerous doesnt mean being feared but being fearless. For more, pat mitchell joins us from atlanta. Welcome to democracy now it is great to have you with us. I am glad you are out of jail. Talk about why you were arrested on friday. Looks good morning, amy. What a privilege that was to participate in fire drill fridays. Seen and as you have everyone has heard t this morni, for so many reasons, jane fondas willingness to put her body on the line and ask the rest of us to join her in moving out of our comfort zone and doing something bright and bold and important to show how committed we all are to this emergency. For me, it was a privilege. Additionally, i got to share it with my granddaughters four two of them underage so they did not get to stand in the civil disobedience action but they participated in all of the rest of it. And they said to me they wanted that for the holiday experience because it was the experieiences that matter mostst of them, not gifts or presence. And afterwards, described what they heard and experienced as a great gift in their lives. These are 13yearold young girls. It gives me great hope about what that end of the spectrum is doing to be more dangerously affected. Then i was arrested with my 21yearold granddaughter. So we shared this experience of feeling we were doing our part, making a difference, taking a stand, showing up. Amy being dangerous women, which is the title of your book becoming a dangerous woman. Talk about why you decided to write this book and what dangerous women me to you. It began as a mentoring memoir. I am committed to mentoring women. That is our single most dangerous act, preparing each other supporting each other, supporting showing up for each other, championing each other. It began in that way. As i wrote about my life and work, i saw the connections to so many of the challenges still being faced, so many of the barriers still raised for girls and women to achieve their fullest popotential. Ti along the way, as the mes became more and more dangerous, as we saw a rise in violence, climate deniers and power, and became more and more clear to me that a different level of activism and commitment was needed. A different level of risktaking was needed. As i looked around the world and saw the gretas of the world at one end of the spectrum and the jane fondas at the other, all stepping forward taking the risk to change the world, to make a difference, that is when i nearly i was willing at 77 to do that, to step forward and declare myself a dangerous woman. To talk to i begin friends from all different parts of the world, all different sectors of work and life, i discovered a lot of other women saying the same thing stop we are living and dangerous times. In such times require of us to meete more dangerous to those challenges. Amy pat mitchell, you have broken so many barriers. I was wondering if pbs or cnn got in touch with you after you got arrested on friday as you were the first woman head of woman president of pbs and have cnn productions, the paley center for media . So you have broken through so many glass ceilings most talk about where you came from. My life began in an unlikely place, a small cotton and peanut farm in south georgia with no indoor plumbing or electricity. We had one big pot belly stove in the kitchen. That is where my mother and i lived together while my dad was in world war ii. But i had this a amazing grandmother who told me Great Stories and ignited a curiosity. That curiosity, i think, really drove me to take some early risks, amy. Because i did not want my life to be defined by the limitations that i saw everywhere and experienced as a girl growing up in the rural south in the 1950s. And it tooktaking mentors. I got very lucky and having an eighth grade teacher who saw me, believed to my potential, and helped me get a scholarship to college. And then i i came of age at exactly the same time thatt two great civil disobedience, social Justice Movements were happening. Civil rights for africanamericans and the womens movement. Me both clearly d defined f for a pathway forward. Times,to many different some failures, some mistakes, some wrong turns. I wanted to share all of those as a way of encouraging other may be growing up in similar circumstances or certainly recognizing how many women around the world are living with ever present dangers every day at work, at home, in their communities. I hadng that post work seen, lies i had witnessed through my work as a journalist for many, many years. And more recently the last 20 years, my work has been as an activist. I have seen those women taking risk, being brave, and i wanted to share anyway that i could exexperiences and my life that might encourage all of us to do the same. To support each other. That is our single biggest dangers lever for change. Amy i want to turn to the program nationally syndicated. Alkshow that you hosted this is a 1983 clip of wowomano woman. Do you u avoid elevators, hih plplaces, clouds . Do you sometimes feeeel like a prisoner in your ownwn home . If so, could be phobic. That can interfere with yoyour life and become paralyzing. Today we will hear surprising truth about phobias and how you can overcome them. Maybe it is time we wage some psychological warfare against phobias. And one of them is that phobics are nonot nuts or neurotics. Secondly, phobias are not funny. There is nothing very amusing about being terrified. Ththird, phobibia can be e cure. We canan get help. We recommend that you do that by getting in touch with the phobia society of amemerica and washington, d. C. Remember, we can always help each other. Amy always help each other you always ended your shows by saying and taking on very serious issues. From this issue around phobia to a very brave revelation in this book that you talk about dealing with in the midst of hosting this show woman to woman, and that is the issue of incensed and sexual abuse. Can you talk about what you confronted and also what it meant to go public . This was a very difficult revelation that all survivors of any kind of abuse can testify. A childhoodory of abuse that i had buried very deeply, which is true of many survivors. So deeply thatat i really did nt have any conscious memory of incidents in my childhood in which it had occurred. An hosting a woman to Woman Program with incest survivors, the memories came flooding back which i am told by the therapist who helped me that this often happens. You never know quite when the trigigger will be, but it almost always happens. It is very rare that a survivor can go through an entire life and nott confront the trauma. Survivors or many of them do end up being highly successful people. It is all part of the perfection syndrome in many ways that many people have written about. But that started a recovery process. Gratefully, from a, i had wonderful help and i did recover recognize the to signs in my recognize the signs in my life that show the effect and the impact of the early lack of unconditional love, which is one of the fromies that you take away families by abuse. But recovering it, still, i did not become an active person on that except when i joined vday with eve ensler and became a member of her original board and the work to end violence all kinds of violence everywhere. I began to deal with a lot of incest survivors, a lot of rape survivors to a lot o of survivos of all kinds of sesexual assaul. And that has become a very driving passion in my life, working with those women along vda activist. E ywriting the book, i had not intended to share that part of my life except that as i began to tell the truth about a lot of things about failures, professionally, personallyy, tht it felt important. And then witnessing what had happened in the last 10 years or momore in this country, sayining more and m more survivors come forward and many, many of them not believed. Most recently, and the suprereme Court Hearings that we witnessed. It felt important to share it. So i did. It does leaeave one with a sesee of vulnerability, which alall survivors feel. But it also felt to me that had my generation been a lot more etooont about the m experiences, we all knew what was going on, we knew we were being paid less than our male colleagues, we knew the Sexual Harassment was real. But we did not speak up because we were in our silos. We were told to protect our turf, not to trust each other, allied ships. That kept us silent. Try to do now whatever i can to break that silence, to make it safer for survivors to come forward and to get the help they need and to show up in ways that are necessary to help each other. Yes, i ended every woman to Woman Program with that message , we can and do help each other. Amy pat, final message to young people, older people as well. You have Greta Thunberg inspiring jane fonda and you go to join jane and 100 other people to be arrested last friday. On what that kind of feminist solidarity means. It means everything to me. I say my women friends are my source of Renewable Energy, amy. Bond witnessed that deep with my granddaughters all the over 100 that i had the privilege to interview in a series i have and now the women that i work with all over the world. If i might just say one brief thing about the Climate Movement worldwide, gathering together some 35 global Women Leaders recently, they were not climate experts not one of ththem they came from all different kinds of backgrounds. They get together and drafted a declaration on climate justice. 700 World Leaders have signed. Amy we will do part two of this discussion and post it online at democracynow. Org. Including some of the women that you feature in your new book becoming a dangerous woman embracing risk to change the world. Our christmas special, we remember toni morrison. On thursday, Michael Moore joins us for the hour. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] singing and clapping drumming