Such measures may include the use of force. Amy fear is growing last weeks coup in niger could lead to regional conflict. Ecowas, a bloc of 15 west african nations, is threatening to use force to expel nigers no military rules. Burkina faso, mali and guinea have warned. We will get the latest. We will also remember juan ramos, a founder and leader of the philadelphia chapter of the young lords. And we will look at the life and legacy of the groundbreaking irish singer and political activist Sinead Oconnor who has died at the age of 56. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In ukraine, russian missiles struck a residential highrise in the city of kryvyi rih on monday, killing at least six people, including a 10yearold girl and her mother. Dozens more were injured in the attack. One resident said she raced to the scene of the blast after receiving a panicked call from a friend who lived nearby. I only heard, help me. What we saw was pure horror committed by the russian they hit a residential building and her blog is just next to it that everything in her apartment was ruined. She survived and is alive, thank god. Amy it is the first place of the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. Elsewhere, officials in ukraines russianoccupied Donetsk Region say two people were killed and six others injured when ukrainian artillery fire struck a civilian bus. In moscow, Russias Defense Ministry says ukraine launched a fresh wave of drone attacks on russias capital, with one of the devices striking an office tower that had been hit in a previous attack on sunday. The governments of burkina faso, guinea and mali have warned other west african nations not to intervene in niger, following last weeks coup that deposed democraticallyelected president Mohamed Bazoum. A burkina faso Government Spokesperson made the announcement monday after the ecowas bloc of west african nations imposed sanctions and threatened to restore bazoum by force. We warned that any military intervention against niger is tantamount to a declaration of war against burkina faso and mali. We warned that any military intervention against niger would entail burkina faso and mali as well as measures in support of the people of niger. Amy burkina faso and mali are led by military rulers following recent coups. On monday, germany suspended aid to niger, after the European Union and france cut humanitarian and military aid last week. Meanwhile the Biden Administration has stopped short of calling president Mohamed Bazoums ouster by his own president ial guard a coup. Such a declaration would trigger an end to u. S. Military aid to niger, where in 2019 the u. S. Opened a massive new drone base. The u. S. Also has about a thousand military personnel in niger. They are saying they are being confined to the u. S. Military base. Well have more on the coup in niger after headlines. In senegal, at least two people were killed monday as protests erupted following the arrest of Opposition Leader ousmane sonko. The senegalese government also dissolved sonkos patriots of Senegal Party after officials accused him of inciting violent protests last month in the capital dakar. This is the first time a Political Party has been banned in the west african nation since its independence from france in 1960. Sonko is a likely candidate in the 2024 president ial election whos popular among younger senegalese voters. Hes been accused of plotting an insurrection and criminal association with a terrorist body, charges he and his supporters say are false. In lebanon, fighting between rival armed groups inside the largest Palestinian Refugee camp continued for a third day monday after attempts to broker a ceasefire failed. Another four people were killed, bringing the death toll to nine. Dozens of others have been injured. Families are trying to escape the ein elhilweh refugee camp, which houses tens of thousands of palestinians, but many have nowhere else to shelter. Meanwhile the United Nations has suspended its aid and operations at the camp amid the violence between militant factions and members of the fatah group. In northern china, at least 11 people are dead and more than two dozen missing, after the remnants of last weeks super Typhoon Doksuri flooded beijing for the fourth consecutive day. Its one of the worst storms to hit chinas Capital Region in over a decade. Another major storm, typhoon khanun, is bearing down on the japanese island of okinawa and could turn toward Mainland China later in the week. Here in the u. S. , a wildfire that erupted friday in the Mojave Desert has exploded in size, consuming more than 77,000 acres in california and nevada. Its among dozens of wildfires burning across the United States. Elsewhere, a summer heat wave in the southern u. S. Enters its third month today, with record temperatures forecast for cities in texas and the gulf coast. In arizona, phoenix recorded a High Temperature of 108 degrees monday, ending a recordbreaking string of 31 consecutive days with highs above 110 degrees. British Prime Minister rishi sunak says he will authorize more than 100 new licenses for oil and gas drilling in the north sea to maximize domestic extraction of fossil fuels. Sunak announced the plan on monday during a visit to a shell gas terminal in northeastern scotland. Sunak insisted his plan is compatible with the uks commitments to achieve net zero Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050. When it comes to energy security, we will still need oil and gas. 25 of our energy will come from oil and gas even in 2050. Amy geologists say the rosebank field in the north sea holds more than a half billion barrels of oil, more than enough to prevent the uk from meeting its climate commitments. Friends of the earth scotland said in a statement quote, burning oil and gas is driving extreme weather and killing people on every continent, yet rishi sunak is gleefully encouraging the arsonists to go and put more fuel on the fire. the u. S. State Department Says it will soon introduce a resolution at the United NationsSecurity Council authorizing a multinational armed force to be deployed to haiti as the island nation grapples with worsening political instability and gang violence. Last weekend kenyas government offered to send one thousand Police Officers to haiti to support haitian police, an offer applauded by u. N. Secretarygeneral antonio guterres. Many haitians remain opposed due to the disastrous history of u. N. And foreign interventions in haiti. The filmmaker, author and activist Catherine Kane has died at the age of 84 after a long struggle with cancer. She founded the haitian restaurant and cool to room center in miami Cultural Center in miami. She also documented how the United States twice supported coups against haitis president. In 2004 she helped organize a flight that brought him from exile in the Central African republic to jamaica. The pentagon says President Biden has selected Colorado Springs to host the permanent headquarters of u. S. Space command, reversing a decision by former President Trump to move the facility to huntsville, alabama. The announcement on monday came as republican senator Tommy Tuberville of alabama continued to block the senate from confirming bidens military nominations over the pentagons policy of paying for employees abortionrelated travel expenses. U. S. Health officials are urging states to retain more lowincome people in medicaid as they warn too many recipients are now losing their coverage. Some four Million People have recently been dropped from medicaid over paperwork issues as states continue to purge the rolls after the lifting of a pandemicera rule on eligibility. That figure is likely higher, as only 38 states have voluntarily made their data public. And secretary of state Antony Blinken has rejected a call by australias top diplomat to end the Biden Administrations efforts to extradite wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face espionage and hacking charges. Australian foreign minister penny wong made the remarks during a joint News Conference with blinken after talks in brisbane on saturday. We have our view that assan ges case has gone on for too long and our desire is that it come to a conclusion and we have said that publicly. That reflects the position we are articulating. Amy a growing number of australian elected officials, including Prime Minister anthony albanese, have urged the u. S. To drop its case against assange, who is an australian citizen. Secretary blinken responded saturday saying assange was charged with quote very serious criminal conduct. The actions that he is alleged to have committed risk very serious harm to our national security, the benefit of our adversaries and put name to sources at grave risk. Amy australian lawmaker andrew wilkie, who is cochair of the bring Julian Assange home parliamentary group, rejected the claims by secretary blinken, calling them patent nonsense. He told the guardian quote mr. Blinken would be well aware of the inquiries in both the us and australia which found that the relevant wikileaks disclosures did not result in harm to anyone. and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Im joined by cohost Juan Gonzalez in chicago. Hi. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. Amy we begin todays show looking at the growing crisis in niger where the countrys democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown last week by his own president ial guard. The former president has been detained since wednesday. Many of his top political allies have been arrested. Over the weekend, ecowas, a bloc of 15 west african nations, slapped sanctions on leaders of the coup and threatened to expel them by force unless they cede power within a week. This isecowas president of gone via. In the event that authorities demands are not met within one week, take all measures necessary to restore Constitutional Order in the republic of niger. Such measures may include the use. Amy but three other african nations burkina faso, mali and guinea, have warned that any military interventions in niger would be seen as a declaration of war against them as well. The two countries also warned that military intervention in niger could destabilize the entire region. A burkina faso government sports person spokesperson made the announcement monday. We warned that any military intervention against niger is tantamount to a declaration of war against burkina faso and mali. We warned that any military intervention would entail a withdrawal of burkina faso and mali from ecowas as well as the adoption of self defense measures in support of the armed forces of the people of niger. Amy niger is a former french colony which gained its independence in 1960. Over the weekend nigers new rulers accused france of plotting to intervene militarily. Niger is a major supplier of uranium to france and the European Union. France is planning to start evacuating french and eu residents today. On sunday, thousands of supporters of the junta attempted to storm the French Embassy in the capital niamey. Niger has also been a close ally to the United States. The u. S. Has approximately 1,000 troops in niger. Following the coup the troops have been restricted to a military base in the Northern City agadez where the u. S. Spent over 100 Million Building a drone base. The Biden Administration has so far refused to describe last weeks event as a coup because doing so would force washington to cut security aid to niger. The intercept reported last week that one of the leaders of last weeks coup was Brigadier GeneralMoussa Salou Barmou who had been trained by the u. S. Military at fort benning in georgia. According to the intercept, u. S. Trained military officers have taken part in 11 coups in west africa since 2008 including in burkina faso and mali. In moscow the kremlin has described the situation in niger as a cause for serious concern. But the head of the Russian Mercenary Group wagner has reportedly welcomed the coup. Yevgeny prigozhin has been quoted saying what happened in niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of niger with their colonisers. To talk more about the crisis in niger we are joined by stephanie savell. She is codirector of the costs of war project at Brown UniversitysWatson Institute for international and public affairs. Shes an anthropologist who has researched u. S. Militarism in west africa and beyond. Professor, welcome back to democracy now can you start off explaining how this took place, the involvement of the president ial guard, etc. . Stephanie on july 27 the members of the president ial guard detained the president and the spokesman for what they are calling the National Council for the safeguard of the homeland declared that the president was overthrown on National Television and that the general who oversees the president ial guard declared he was leading a transitional government. The exact reasons for the coup are still unclear. He talked about the need to stop the countrys demise and he was referring to similar reasons for coups in burkina faso and mali because there has been so much insecurity and so he was saying that because the country is spiraling, the military needed to step in. He was the head of this council and a bunch of senior military leaders stepped in to support him. What is confusing about his claim is that this region is a hub for terror attacks. There have been over 1800 in the First Six Months of the year, but only 77 deaths occurred in niger as opposed to about 4600 in total in burkina faso and mali. Niger has really managed to keep a lot of the attacks and the insecurity and the conflict to its border areas. It is known to be a bastion of stability and resilience in a region that is spiraling into chaos. It is a purpose in claim on the part of the general. Juan could you talk to us about the rising presence of not only u. S. Forces, but also other european troops in the country . Most americans are not aware of this growing u. S. Military presence in africa. Stephanie not at all. I was there in january and it was shocking to me when i was in the airport how many foreigners were moving in an out of the country which was a first for me. Over 1000 u. S. Service personnel are in niger but lots of other countries are also there. France, germany, italy, belgium, canada has provided assistance. A lot of these western regions saw niger as this stable democracy and were pouring Security Assistance, funding for military and police efforts, training efforts, a lot of weapons sales as well from the u. S. And elsewhere. They are pouring all of the Security Assistance to bolster this socalled democracy and i went to see the u. S. Installation, the airbase. It was 100 million that the u. S. Spent on building this airbase. It cost about 30 million per year to maintain. It is a massive, sophisticated installation in the Sahara Desert and the drones there are being used in the u. S. Counterterror operations, what we call the post 9 11 wars, in the surrounding desert area. It is strategically located in the middle of algeria, libya, niger, burkina faso, mali, that whole belt where we have seen the growing unrest. The u. S. Is there conducting real operations. The u. N. Is also located at a couple of other bases in niger and different parts of the country with special Operations Forces. There are four more people than those official 1000 troops. There are lots of people going in and out and those do not even count toward the total. Juan you mentioned the recent coups in burkina faso and mali but those were conducted from what we understand by people who were trained by the United States. What do we know about the coup leaders and what is happening here . Stephanie we do know that at least one of the coup leaders, he was definitely trained by the u. S. Military. We can look at this at an individual level. There are arguments to be made that u. S. Training empowers certain military leaders. We also need to look at this as a structural issue. What happens when the u. S. And other western powers for hundreds of millions of dollars into the Security Assistance sector, this is basically money for the military and the police that also fight the insurgency. The military is really boosted at the expense of other government institutions. A recent study showed that countries who have oversized involvement of the military and political life and a long history of military leadership and government which a lot of these countries do, they are far more likely to have an ongoing pattern of military coups. There are a lot of factors that make a coup more likely. Certainly the u. S. Pouring all of this money and this outsized reliance on the military as a tool for aid to these countries is a contributing factor. Amy i wanted to go back to that , who he is. The intercept reporting that the Brigadier General met with the head of the Lieutenant General at the u. S. Drone based in niger. Also, secretary of state was there. If you could talk about the significance of this and also talk about uranium. When i saw all of this happening, i thought back to joe wilsons piece, the former state Department Ambassador who in 2003, a few months after president george w. Bush invaded iraq wrote the famous New York Times oped asking did the Bush Administration manipulate intelligence about saddam husseins Weapons Program to justify an invasion of iraq. The piece was headlined what i did not find in africa and he is talking about uranium in niger. If you could address all of those things. Stephanie uranium niger is the sixth or seventh largest uranium producer in the world. This is certainly a dynamic of the conflict. I visited africa last year and there is a lot of talk of not just the uranium in niger, but all of the regions Natural Resources because there are many other types of mining going on in this area. They are rich in terms of some of the resources that go into a lot of them. A lot of important your cell phones and other kinds of things. There is a talk of the need to provide stability and stable governance in this area because of all of these Natural Resources. That is one of the reasons we are seeing such a big outcry against the coup in niger at this moment because there is talk of sanctions against russian uranium. This uranium has become a really important global source. That is one answer to your question. The other about the general, as you said, he has a very close relationship with the United States. He has been trained by the United States over the years. He works closely with all of the special Operations Forces that are going on in niger. The u. S. Is certainly in 2017 was a special operations in niger in which the u. S. Have four servicemembers who were killed. Some viewers may were member that. At the time the u. S. Was saying what are u. S. Service members doing in niger . They were leaving a raid on a compound and these were special Operations Forces who were working in Close Partnership with the Nigerian Special forces. This has been an ongoing relationship. Juan over the weekend a bloc of 15 west african nations not only slept sanctions on the leaders of the coup but also threatened to intervene military a. What is your sense of what the potential is for this internal conflict to become a broader conflict in west africa . Stephanie it is very worrisome. It is the first time ecowas has threatened military force against a coup in the region. When the coup in burkina faso and mali happened in the past few years, ecowas enacted sanctions and other kinds but they did not threaten military force. Now with ecowas threatening military force to reinstate the president and burkina faso and mali, which have these militaryled governments. What they are saying is in solitary solidarity with the new militaryled government in niger, we will step in and retaliate. It is a real threat and it is quite worrisome. One of the most important things to bear in mind is this is an incredibly impoverished region. 4. 3 Million People in niger alone are in need of humanitarian assistance. Climate change has been a huge factor in impoverishing people and preventing them from pursuing livelihood, pushing them to nomadism and herding and farming the land has become increasingly arid. There are a lot of dynamics at play and the reasons that the conflict is happening. It is horrifying to think that this could devolve into a broader conflict between nations. Amy talking about this broader conflict at a global scale, as we said in moscow the kremlin says the situation in niger is cause for serious concern. Wagner head has been quoted saying what happened in niger is nothing more than the struggle of the people of niger with colonizers this weekend, major protests supporting the coup, people shouting putin. What about this says proxy war . Stephanie i hate to have us see it that way. I think the media in the u. S. In particular is quick to frame it as a new cold war type of situation. What i can say is that the wagner group is playing on anticolonial sentiment, that is for sure. What i saw when i went to the region is this is a region that is roiling with the aftermath of colonialism. There is a ton of anticolonial sentiment directed at the french. This is a generation, a young generation that is coming to terms with that historical legacy and all of the injustice. There is so much political and ethnic tensions and rivalries that are a Ripple Effect of the colonial era. A lot of personal grudges and fighting that we see between the political elites are a reverberation of colonial ties. People are kind of grappling with that legacy. A lot of people are honestly furious at this. That is a big part of what is going on. There is a real sense, a popular sentiment of the french must leave us alone at any cost. I think people popularly see russia as an alternative, a big power alternative that might provide a possible support and ally. I dont think that there is a lot of action behind that sentiment. The wagner group has been limited in this burkina faso, mali, niger region. It has really been mali that has worked most closely with the wagner group which has been indicated in human rights abuses and mass killing in mali in the name of terrorism. So far for bettina faso it is rumored that they might be working with the wagner group. In niger people were telling you absolutely not. Certainly the wagner group might be able to provide mercenaries on the ground but they will not be providing hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance that the west was providing. I think it is not quite accurate to see it as either or. Certainly local governments are seeing a situation in which they can ally with either the u. S. Or the allies or russia. People have said to me we will use whatever assistance is offered to us. We will take some guns from china and military assistance from the u. S. Whatever these countries are offering, we will take advantage of that. Amy stephanie savell, thank you for being with us. Anthropologist Whose Research in militarism in west africa and beyond. When we come back, we were member the founder of the philadelphia chapter of the young lords and we will look at the life and legacy of the groundbreaking singer and political activist Sinead Oconnor. Stay with us. Nothing compares 2 u performed by Sinead Oconnor that shot to the top of the charts. We will talk about her in a moment. First, this is democracynow, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. I am amy goodman in new york as we turn to remember one of juan s longtime comrades juan ramos, former Philadelphia City councilmember and a founder and leader of the philadelphia chapter of the young lords. Juan ramos has died at the age of 71 after a battle with alzheimers. Ramos was just 2 when his family moved from puerto rico to philadelphia, and became active in civil rights in high school. Ramos spoke out against racism, police brutality, as well as poverty and housing issues in communities of color. He later helped lead efforts in the Puerto Rican Community to defeat philadelphia mayor frank rizzos attempt to eliminate term limits. Juan ramos went on to found and lead the Puerto Rican Alliance, which fought for bilingual education, against police brutality, and spearheaded a large Squatters Movement in abandoned government owned houses leading to over 150 puerto rican families eventually winning titles to those homes. He also served as a Philadelphia City councilmember, a Union Organizer and a church deacon. First of all, our condolences on the loss of your friend. Can you share more about his life . Juan it is really not possible to overestimate the influence that juan ramos had on the social and political liberation struggles of the puerto rican Latino Community but also all communities in philadelphia. He was widely respected by people in power as well as ordinary folks on the street of philadelphia. He founded the young lords chapter in philadelphia. He and other people with him, the others who founded the chapter had a much more difficult situation than those of us who were involved with young lords in new york. We were organizing in the era of john lindsay who was basically the mayor of new york who was a liberal republican and did not tend to want to crack down any kind of movements. However juan and the other young lords were facing perhaps the most male fascist mayor in American History who was an ultra white ring ultra right wing democrat. He had a chief inspector of his Civil Affairs unit, a red squad of philadelphia and they were the ones who stripped the black panthers naked when they arrested several of them in north philadelphia who beat up a young man when he was just a High School Student organizing for better conditions of black students in philadelphia high schools. George would go to every single demonstration and personally lead any activist know that he knew their first name, he knew where they lived and he was consul he trying to intimidate folks. The lords in philadelphia were firebombed twice in the first year of their existence and no one ever found out who did the fire bombing. That was the kind of climate in which juan was able to begin organizing in the Puerto Rican Community at the time and he had amazing success. Even though i knew him from the lords, it was not until i moved to philadelphia in the mid to late 1970s that i actually worked closely with him. By then he was leading the fight against rizzo, a successful movement and out of that came the Puerto Rican Alliance which juan was not only the founder but the first president of there were Amazing Things that the alliance did. He was one of the first people to talk about the Navy Presence in the islands mostly because a lot of the fishermen who had been pushed out of their homes by the navy had ended up moving to philadelphia. There was a Large Community of former residents who lived in philadelphia. They produced a lot of solidarity efforts on behalf of their family members who were still on the island. Of course, i think probably the most significant contribution that juan made was his leadership of the Squatters Movement. After the savings and loans crisis of the late 1970s there were thousands of thousands of abandoned homes that were federally owned because hud had foreclosed on them no one was living in them. The alliance led a Squatters Movement basically for people to break into the homes and make them livable again. We had hundreds of families in those homes but the government was still threatening to evict everyone so we started a whole protest movement. I remember in early 1980 we led an occupation, an independent hall, the only time it was occupied by a group of protesters. With the families and the children, we sat at independent hall for a day until the police evicted us. George was so worried about the bad publicity of arresting children and mothers that they basically put everyone into paddy wagons, rolled them a few miles away and dump them in the street. Subsequently, the most significant civil disobedience action was in april of 1980 when we were still trying to get the tiles to the homes the titles to the homes of the squatters so we decided to occupy the headquarters of jimmy carters president ial campaign. At the time jimmy carter was in a tough race against an insurgent ted kennedy who was trying to contest his nomination for the president and they were and neck going into the pennsylvania primary. The day before the primary we occupied the offices of jimmy carter. Back in those days the officers were key because all of the mobilization of voters was done by phone banking and the index cards that you had of your preferred voters. This was long before the invention of computers. They needed those headquarters and we had occupied headquarters downtown on Chestnut Street in philadelphia. The Carter Administration dispatched the dean of the congressional delegation of philadelphia, an africanamerican minister, who was a good friend of ours. It was midnight before the pennsylvania primary and he met with juan ramos and myself in a little bar a few blocks away from the protest. He said the white house sent me down here and authorized me to negotiate with you. I give you my word that if you leave the offices tonight, because we need them for tomorrows election, you will get the titles to the homes for the squatters. However, we cannot make any announcement. We cannot look like we have given into you, but i give you my word. I was not in favor of just a word. I wanted something in writing. But juan was much more wise about this. He said, i have known bill all my life. I trust him. I will accept his word and we will pull out. So we did. The families pulled out, the primary went ahead. Carter won the pennsylvania primary and from then on he swept ted kennedy in the remaining primaries. I think it was important that juan had that kind of practical sense. He was a revolutionary but he also had a practical sense. He wanted to get things done. One of his other great accomplishments was the development of a childrens festival at hunting park in philadelphia which became an annual event attended by thousands of people. Basically, a series of games and athletic events and others that became a fixture of the Puerto Rican Community in philadelphia. There are so many things that he was able to accomplish. Besides being a city councilman, an appointee of mayor john street and the street administration, he was just a wonderful person with an enormous capacity for understanding how you meet the needs of people who are oppressed and in need of organizing. This is a great loss to the Puerto Rican Community and i want to especially express my condolences to his wife of many years who herself is the director of a fantastic advanced group in philadelphia. Amy juan, we thank you so much for that remembrance. Our condolences. Rest in peace and power, juan ramos. When we come back, we will look at the life and legacy of the groundbreaking singer Sinead Oconnor who has died at the age of 56. Stay with us. The emperors new clothes by Sinead Oconnor. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We spend the rest of the hour remembering remarkable life and legacy the renown singer, songwriter and political activist Sinead Oconnor who has died at the age of 56. She was found unresponsive last wednesday in her london home. Her friend, musician and activist bob geldof has said she sent him Text Messages quote laden with desperation and despair in the weeks before her death as she coped with the tragic death of her son Shane Oconnor by suicide about a year and a half ago at the age of 17. She had 4 children. This is part of a tiktok video Sinead Oconnor shared shortly before her death. The way these kids are unfortunately passing away is not good. Anyway, hi. [indiscernible] i am going to write some tunes. Amy Sinead Oconnor rose to stardom in 1990 when she released her version of the prince song nothing compares 2 u. The song was on her second album, i do not want what i havent got which also included her own song, black boys on mopeds, about the 1983 death of a 21yearold black man in london named colin roach in Police Custody after they accused him of stealing his own moped. The police said roach had died by suicide. The inner sleeve of oconnors album shows a photograph of roachs parents standing next to a poster of their son. In 1992 sinead performed bob marleys war on saturday night live, then proceeded to rip up a photo of Pope John Paul ii on live tv, declaring quote fight the real enemy. The move, a protest against systemic child abuse in the Catholic Church, of which she was a survivor, provoked widespread uproar. She addressed her snl performance days later during an interview with entertainment tonight. Ireland has the highest instance of child abuse. I experienced it myself. I am compelled to tell the people of ireland, when i studied the history i found out that the people responsible where the vatican who were permitted the invasion of countries and the destruction and murder of entire rates of people and the subsequent overtaking of the educational systems led to distortion of historical fact. Amy a week after her saturday night live appearance, goodfellas star joe pesci appeared on the show and had this response during his monologue. She was very lucky it was not my show. Because if it was my show, i would have given her such a smack. Amy two weeks after sineads snl appearance, oconnor was booed at a bob dylan tribute at Madison Square garden after being introduced by Texas Country singer kris kristofferson. I am really proud to introduce this next artist whose name has become synonymous with courage and integrity. Ladies and gentlemen, Sinead Oconnor. Amy Sinead Oconnor was set to perform bob dylans i believe in you, but as the crowd continued to boo, she responded by singing part of war by bob marley, the same song she sang on snl. [singing war] amy a decade later in 2002, an investigation by the boston globe shined a spotlight on sexual abuse and its coverup in the Catholic Church. Sinead oconnor was an ally to lgbtq communities and marched for abortion rights decades before it was legalized in ireland. She converted to islam and started using the name shuhada sadaqat in 2018, alongside the name Sinead Oconnor. She spoke out for palestinian rights, respecting the Palestinian Civil Society call for bds, boycott, divestment and sanctions against israel, once saying, quote, on a human level, nobody with any sanity, including myself, would have anything but sympathy for the palestinian plight. Theres not a sane person on earth who in any way sanctions what the israeli authorities are doing. Earlier this year in march, Sinead Oconnor was met with a prolonged standing ovation at the rte choice using towards when she accepted an award for i do not want what i have not got. the astonish work by an artist as a resident today as it was 30 years ago. One of the last photographs of sinead shows her beaming as she accepted the award and dedicated it to all refugees in ireland. We are joined by jamie manson as president for catholics for choice and Allyson Mccabe who is a music journalist and author of the book why Sinead Oconnor matters. Her new piece is titled Sinead Oconnor was always a protest singer. Allyson, give us the history and your response to her passing last week. Allyson thanks for having me on the program. Also for describing her as a little activist. That is something that the world is really catching up on now. Of course, i am gutted and shocked and really have not had much sleep since wednesday but i am grateful for the opportunity to join you and to talk about her music and her life and legacy. Like a lot of the world for a long time i knew that her hair was shaved. I did not necessarily know that that was something that she decided to do very early on in her career before the release of her first album in 1987 as an act of defiance against the recording label who wanted to market her on her appearance rather than the strength of her music. I knew that she had had a megahit in 1990 with prints with princes nothing compares 2 u. I did not know that that was not a hit until she recorded it. I did not necessarily know that she was trying to draw attention to the crisis in the Catholic Church which we all now know israel. We all now know is real. It is really catching up on all of that that may be go back and reexamine Different Things that she had said and statements that she had made over the years and the music that she made not just up until 1992 but really until the end of for life. She continued to make music and she always spoke out against injustice. Sometimes she did not Say Something perfectly. Sometimes her message was not always heard. But she never stopped trying. That is really the key take away, that she never ever stopped trying. It is not enough for us to say that she was a brave warrior. We have to be brave warriors and we have to have those conversations that she tried to spark from the beginning of her career. Juan i would like to ask jamie manson, president of catholics for choice, when she tore up the photo of Pope John Paul ii in 1992, you were living in long island in a traditional catholicitalian family. What was your response then and how do you assess her life . Jamie i was surrounded by men like joe pesci and i had a different experience of that incident than my family. What is so important to understand about her is that what she did came out of great love of the church and she said that in a recent documentaries. She said she had the right to fight those people because of her love of the church and she felt she had a contract with the holy spirit to speak out and not to diminish the importance of child sex abuse but sinead understood the pervasive harm john paul the second was doing, setting back womens rights by centuries, creating the theologies that develop so much sexual shame. She understood that this was happening globally. What she was seeing in ireland had global consequences. It is so important to understand , she is like a true prophet. She saw things no one wanted to see. She said things no one wanted to hear. She risked everything for that and she basically lost every thing. In terms of assessing the current state of things, it is important to remember that pope francis canonized john paul ii in 2019. It shows you how far we still have to go and how prophetic she really was. Amy Allyson Mccabe, we only have two minutes to go in this segment. Then we are doing part two and posting it at democracynow. Org. If you could talk about the rest of her life because every aspect was a claim, a praise, pushing the limits, being attacked but it never stopped her. Allyson it never stopped her. She said that what happened on snl did not derail her career. She said it rerailed her career because it set her back on the path of what she called was her calling. She never intended to be a popstar. It was something that just happened when that song blew up in the 1990s. If you look at the rest of her catalog, she continues to make music with meaning, excellent music. We have a lot to catch up on in terms of the issues she was raising. Not just talking about child abuse that we mentioned. She was antiracist. She was speaking out against sexism. She was early on talking about hiv aids awareness and so many other issues. We could go on and on. We dont have a lot of time, but it was all there when i saw that, it inspired me to reframe her narrative. Now there is this outpouring of love and my only regret is i wish she were alive to experience that. It is coming now but i wish she would experience that during her lifetime. Amy in a blog post that was widely shared, a musician slammed the Music Industry and said we are hypocritical and cynical for paying tribute to Sinead Oconnor only after her death. You praise her now only because it is too late. You had not the guts to support her when she was alive and looking for you. We will end it there but to continue our discussion with Allyson Mccabe, author of the book why Sinead Oconnor matters. Thank you so much to jamie manson, president of catholics for choice. We will speak to you both about Sinead Oconnor and post it at democracynow. Org