Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20151116

Families are distressed. The country suffering and i have issued a decree to proclaim three days of national mourning. In retaliation, the French Air Force carried out its largest airstrikes to date in syria, targeting raqqa going to the fact oh capital of the socalled Islamic State. We will go to paris for the latest and hear voices from Place De La Republique, were thousands have gathered to mourn , plus democratic president ial andidates Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders sparked over the u. S. Role in the rise of the self acclaimed Islamic State. I would argue that the disastrous invasion of iraq, something i strongly opposed, had unraveled the region and clearly and led to the rise of al qaeda and to isis. Ive said the invasion of iraq was a mistake, but i think if were ever really going to tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand this and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. Amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. France has entered a third day of mourning after a string of suicide bombings and shootings killed 129 people friday and it was the deadliest attack on french soil since world war ii. Hundreds more were wounded. 99, critically. In a series of coordinate attacks friday evening, gunmen and bombers targeted restaurants , the National Soccer stadium, and the product line concert hall where at least 89 people were killed. Authorities have blamed the attacks on the supper claimed Islamic State in retaliation france launched its heaviest airstrikes yet against the syrian city of raqqa which has long served as isisls defacto capital. Electricity has been knocked out. National security adviser ben rhodes said the United States would join france in intensifying airstrikes. What we maker to the french is we will be shoulder to shoulder with them in this response. Our military campaign already. Clearly, they want to energize efforts. Theres a two star general who has there to help the coronation go ford and we are confident in the coming days and weeks working with the french, we will be able to intensify our strikes against isil and the syrian in syria and iraq to make sure there is no safe haven for these terrorists. Amy earlier today, u. S. Planes for the first time had bombed hundreds of trucks used to smuggle out oil in a bid to cut off a key source of isils revenue. French authorities said they believed the paris attacks were carried out by eight assailants working in three teams. Seven of the men died in the attacks and a massive manhunt is underway for the 8th salah abdeslam, a belgianborn french national. Two of his brothers were said to have died in the attack. Several of the attackers were french nationals. Overnight french authorities , carried out 168 raids making 23 arrests as part of the investigation. Authorities also said onof the suicide bombers who blew himself up outside the National Stadium was carrying a syrian passport and his fingerprints matched someone who passed through greece in october. In response to the attacks, polands incoming European Affairs minister said poland now cannot accept refugees under European Union plan while the governors of alabama and michigan in the United States also refuse to resettle any Syrian Refugees. European Commission President said Syrian Refugees fleeing from isil should not be confused with the paris attackers. We should not mix the different categories of people coming to europe. The one who is responsible for the attacks in paris cannot be put equal foot with real refugees, asylumseekers, and displaced people. He is a criminal and not a refugee and not an asylum seeker. Amy reports of islamophobia have emerged following the paris attacks. In st. Petersburg, florida, a mosque received a voicemail from a caller who threatened to firebomb you and shoot whoever is there in the head. We will spend the rest of the hour on the paris attacks and the aftermath after headlines. The paris attacks have dominated discussions by World Leaders at the g20 summit in turkey. Protesters have been kept miles away from the meeting venue and dozens of people were arrested during peaceful protests opposing g20 policies on war and climate change. In iraq, two mass graves containing scores of bodies have been found in the area of sinjar after Iraqi Kurdish forces said they had reclaimed the area from the Islamic State. One of the bodies reportedly contained the bodies of 78 women believed to be members of the yazidi religious minority. A second grave contained about 50 or 60 bodies. Authorities say they expect to uncover additional graves. Lebanese forces have arrested nine people in connection with last weeks double bombings in beirut which killed at least 44 more than 40 people. Seven of the suspects are from syria while two are lebanese. Hundreds of people were wounded in the attack on a civilian neighborhood, marking one of the worst attacks to hit beirut in years. The attacks took place one day before the massacre in paris. While facebook activated its safety check feature for the paris attacks, allowing residents to mark themselves safe to reassure family and friends, the feature was not activated for the attacks in beirut. At least 15 sudanese refugees have been shot and killed while attempting to cross the border from egypt into israel. There were reports the refugees were shot dead by Egyptian Border Police after failing to heed calls to stop, but conflicting accounts said they may have been caught in crossfire between smugglers and police. It appears to be one of the highest death tolls in years for people from sudan, eritrea and other east african countries who cross the Sinai Peninsula, looking for asylum in israel. Israeli troops have killed at least two palestinians and injured three after entering a refugee camp near jerusalem. The troops arrived to demolish the home of a palestinian accused of shooting and killing an israeli this summer. On saturday, Israeli Forces destroyed the homes of the families of four palestinians accused of fatally shooting israelis. The u. S. Supreme court has agreed to hear a challenge to a sweeping antichoice law in texas, marking what could be the most significant abortion rights case in decades. The case was brought by abortion providers against a law which could shutter all but 10 clinics in texas if it comes into full effect. Already, about half of the more than 40 clinics in texas have been forced to close under the law. In a statement friday, the center for reproductive rights, which represents the plaintiffs, said today the Supreme Court took an important step toward restoring the Constitutional Rights of millions of women, which texas politicians have spent years dismantling. Justice Anthony Kennedy is expected to be the key swing vote in the case, which could shape the future of Abortion Access nationwide. Democratic president ial candidates faced off saturday during a debate in iowa, the day after the attacks in paris. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders criticized former secretary of state Hillary Clintons 2002 senate vote in support of the iraq war, saying the disastrous invasion of iraq, which sanders opposed, led to the rise of isil. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton invoked 9 11 to defend herself against sanders criticism of her wall street ties. Why over her political career has wall street been a major the Major Campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton . Now, maybe they are dumb and they dont know what theyre going to get, but i dont think so. Quite i represented new york and i represented new york on 9 11 when we were attacked. We were attacked in Downtown Manhattan where wall street is. I did spend a whole lot of time helping them rebuild. That was good for new york, good for the economy, and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. Amy clintons reference to 9 11 in response to criticism of donations from wall street led to widespread criticism on social media. In a twitter post read aloud by moderators during the debate, one user wrote have never seen a candidate invoke 9 11 to justify millions of wall street donations. Until now. The Obama Administration has transferred five yemeni prisoners out of guantanamo to the united arab emirates. Each of the prisoners had been held by the United States for nearly 14 years without ever being charged with a crime. Their transfer brings the total population of guantanamo prison to 107. University of missouri football coach gary pinkel has announced his resignation a week after voicing support for africanamerican players who went on strike to protest racism at the school. Pinkel supported the Football Players boycott, which forced the resignation of university of missouri president tim wolfe and chancellor r. Bowen loften. Coach pinkel denied the move had anything to do with the protests, saying he was leaving after being diagnosed with lymphoma in may. Protests have erupted in minneapolis, minnesota, after the shooting of an africanamerican man who is reportedly on life support. Police said jamar clark was shot after a scuffle with police who responded to a report of an assault. Witnesses have said clark was handcuffed when he was shot. Black lives matter activists occupied the entrance to a police precinct, calling for police to release Security Camera footage and for a federal investigation. And protests against the Transpacific Partnership trade deal have escalated around the world after the full of the 12nation deal was released earlier this month. Multiple actions are expected today in washington, d. C. , after a series of protests in new zealand over the weekend. Here in new york city, medical students, doctors, and activists gathered outside the headquarters of pharmaceutical giant pfizer friday to protest provisions they say will protect corporate patents and hinder access to cheaper, generic medications. Alison case, education and advocacy fellow for the american medical students association, spoke outside pfizer headquarters. We are here today because we wanted to expose the heavy hand the pharmaceutical industry did have on the tpp negotiations. Speaking withork the trade representatives, with president obama. We know they were present for the negotiations when Civil Society groups, elected officials were kept out. These negotiations were entirely secret except for the presence of corporations. Big pharma being one of them. They did influence heavily the access to medicines provision. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. France has entered a third day of mourning after a string of suicide bombings and shootings targeted restaurants, a concert hall, and the National Soccer stadium on friday night. The simultaneous attacks killed 129 people and injured hundreds more. It was the deadliest attack on french soil since world war ii. The worst carnage was unleashed as three gunmen killed at least 89 people at a rock concert at the bataclan theatre before detonating explosive belts. In retaliation, france launched its heaviest airstrikes yet against the syrian city of raqqa which has long served as the de facto capital of the socalled Islamic State. Fridays attack in paris came just a day after the Islamic State claimed credit for a double attack in southern beirut that killed at least 43 people and two weeks after the group claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian Airliner over the Sinai Peninsula killing all 224 people on board. Over the weekend, french president Francois Hollande described fridays attack as an act of war. Hello, citizens. What happened yesterday was an act of war. Faced with war, the country is to take appropriate steps. It is an act of war committed by a terrorist army. In Islamist Army against france, against the values we are pulled her out the world, against to we are come a free country, which speaks to the whole planet. Amy speaking in turkey at the g20 summit, president obama described the events in paris as an attack on the civilized world. As was true with the terrible attacks that took place in ankara, the killing of innocent people based on twisted ideology is an attack not just on france, not just on turkey, but it is an attack on the civilized world. Amy authorities said they believed the paris attacks were carried out by eight assailants working in three teams. Seven of the men died in the attacks. A massive manhunt is underway for the 8th salah abdeslam, a belgianborn french national. Two of his brothers were said to have died in the attack. Several of the attackers were french nationals. Authorities also said one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up outside the National Stadium was carrying a syrian passport and his fingerprints matched someone who passed through greece in october. Overnight french authorities , carried out 168 raids making 23 arrests as part of the investigation. Police in the belgium city of molenbeek also carried out a series of raids this morning. Fridays attack came just 10 months after two brothers, said and cherif kouachi, attacked the french satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in paris. Armed with assault rifles and other weapons, they killed 11 people and injured 11 others in the building. Thousands of parisians have been gathering to m in the vijay prashathe place de la republiqu. Democracy now producer sam alcoff spoke to people in the square on saturday. My name is alvin. We are in charis, Place De La Republique. Were here to be reunited against what is happening, simply a massacre. What happened is unspeakable. It is what happened in syria, in the middle east, israel. It happened under our own balcony. We didnt see it coming. Ere here in homage simply bad. Were parisians. Radio. Ard it by the we came together to leave flowers, bouquets, messages to honor the victims and their families, to support them. People were killed. I was taking drink with friends on the street. I cant believe it. Someone was just mad people. The werehen i knew many attacks. I was well into the match of my dad. Youre watching the francegermany football match. They told is on tv. The news announced the first shot in the cap face cafes. It was just that in the beginning. Many people were shot. Already shocked by Charlie Hebdo. It is too much. I think their children of the republic. They were badly educated at some moment in their lives, and they went off the right track. And after come in france, they had enough. Well as they say in french understand . This is why they took up arms. Tonight i was near [indiscernible] anyone. Be i am here because so much people die. To think with these people, and with other parisians. And i want to say, im not afraid. Thats all. It is very difficult. I am of algerian origin. I lived through the 1990s and on syria, and i will tell you, it is very complicated. And they will be scared. They will not want to leave their homes. They will ask themselves questions that one should not ask themselves. I do not lose hope in the french people. We proved january 15, 2015 that we could be united. We will again show that we are very strong here in france. When you walk the streets outside in paris, this is where you really see what people think. In the face of these events. They are not split. There together because they know the real truth. I want to say, there is no problem. Unity. Unity is a good word. [indiscernible] as far say no, one of the terrorists was a syrian. [indiscernible] it is a good thing to work on closed borders and stuff. [indiscernible] sure that this will give more voice. Doesnt have all the solutions will stop also, they can have influence in little towns and villages come on old people, not the new generation that grew up together. I think you would say with france. [indiscernible] me, personally, it doesnt bother me. They can all come, ans and is that one. Theres lots of room. They should come. Europe will surely retreat concerning refugees. They will be the first victims of these attacks. The refugees will pay first. Second will be muslims. Third, every one of muslim or perhaps muslim dissent, middle eastern, will be the target of the politicians, of the public regard, unfortunately. But the refugees will be the first victims. That is sure. Amy voices of parisians gathering to mourn at the Place De La Republique on saturday night. A special thanks to democracy gold,am alcoff and anna both in paris. When we come back, we go direct the to paris. Stay with us. [music break] amy a french pianist who pulled his piano up to the bataclan theater just outside the theater were so many of the killings took place. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. As we turn right now to paris, france. Mira kamdar is there, the parisbased member of the International New york times editorial board. You have been writing quite a bit these attacks took place. Can you share with us your thoughts . Yes, i can. I have to say these thoughts as share with you are my personal thoughts as a resident here and i cannot speak officially on the part of the board. We are a plural number of people and everything we write is on the part of the board, not individually. You know, we are all in shock. I just learned on my way to be with you this morning that a friend, a colleague of my husbands was killed in a restaurant. This hits very close to home. It was eerie over the weekend traveling on the metro saturday night having no one there. There is apprehension about what will come next since there is the europewhite search warrant on for the eighth terrorist attack or still at large and no it does what else may be in the offing. Theres also concern at least i have concern about the state of emergency that has been declared. And apparently, the government intends to ask for it to be extended for an additional three months. The state of emergency gives the government sweeping powers, some of which we saw in action overnight. You mentioned the numbers of arrest and searches that had taken place. But there are other rights that are suspended in the state of emergency, so all of this is contributing to a feeling of apprehension in the wake of mourning. Amy can you describe where you are standing right now . I am standing at an angle just a few hundred yards from. He bataclan nightclub the police have blocked access from directly in front of the club, of course. I am surrounded by, i would say, dozens, at least, of Television Cameras from media around the world. Ive never really seen so many cameras in my life. There are flowers and messages pinned all around the periphery, the police periphery of the club in all different languages. Memories ofck to me 9 11, of course, when our candles and flowers all over. Amy mira kamdar, can you describe the places that were struck . Take us through what happened on friday night, what you feel was the significance of the targets that were hit. All right. So the targets were all in the sort of hippest part of paris. Imagine the east village of paris where there are lots of restaurants and nightclubs and cafes in a place where young people gather on the weekend. Most of the victims were young people out having during strengths, having dinner. And of course the many that were killed inside the bataclan music concert hall. The gunman honestly knew the neighborhood and it seems clear they had planned their route starting at a Little Family restaurant, the little cambodia, which i know, where i heavy, mowing people down, moving on to a cafe. I dont know if initially, but groups. It up into one moving to bataclan and to the moving to additional restaurants. At the same time or slightly before, there were the explosions, turned out suicide bombings, at the soccer stadium where the french and german soccer teams were playing. That is a big aim here. You can liken it to a big Football Game in the u. S. President hollande was there. I understand the German Foreign minister was there. It appears the intention of the suicide bombers was to get inside and costs cost much they werentwhich were the able to do because they were not allowed in. It was to make parisians feel they would not be safe anywhere and an attack on the vibrant street life and public pleasures of this city that is famous for that. Amy you yourself have a cousin who was killed in another attack in india . Yes, i do. Cousin and her husband were killed on the 2008 attack in mumbai. They were waiting for a table at a restaurant to have dinner and they and many other people in the dining room were gunned down by machine gun fire, much as some of the people having dinner and having a drink on friday night were gunned down here. Obviously, that stirred up painful memories for me. In i want to go to a quote the New York Times coverage of what took place, france now entering the third day of mourning after 129 people were killed, 99 critically hurt. To a quote go back at the beginning of this quote. This was in the New York Times. A reporter quotes the lebanese or elli ferriss saying when my people died, no country bothered to light up its landmarks in the colors of their flag. In my people died, they did not send the world into morning stop their death was but an relevant flack on the International New cycle, something has happened in those parts of the world. Can you respond to this . Sadly, he is absolutely right. And i credit the New York Times with having highlighted that. Even now there are buildings around the world that are lit up with the colors of the french flag post up facebook is offered people to put the colors of the french flag on their profile pictures. I was on the india new should yesterday and it was pointed out to me personally that a train station in mumbai, which was the site of one of the terrorist attacks in 2008 was sporting the french colors. What can i say . We still live in a postcolonial him him. World. I think it is a tragedy that the kinds of attacks that have happen with such unbearable frequency in the middle east and other parts of the world has become banal lies, become something that people think is just sort of normal and that somehow the suffering unleashed their is not of the same order as could be unleashed in a city like paris or 9 11 in new york. At the same time, paris is an emblematic kind of city. It is a city that is incredibly important for the entire western world. Americans have a very romantic image of paris. That kind of image is shatter ed with an image like this, as it was in january. It is not surprising, if regrettable, the western media response in a properly inappropriately. Amy i want to bring in Vijay Prashad professor of , International Studies at Trinity College and columnist for the indian magazine frontline. He is the author of several books, including arab spring, Libyan Winter and the poorer nations a possible history of the global south. It is great to have you with us, Vijay Prashad, is very sad day. Can you respond to what took place in paris . This is obviously not the first attack in paris. This is the second this year. The scale of this attack was much greater. There is no question this is an abomination for any city. But it comes, of course, after a series of attacks by isis. The election in turkey where about 128 people were killed in an election rally in baghdad. The very weekend of the paris attack, there was an attack at a funeral of a fighter who had been fighting against isis. And then, of course, as you have just been talking in beirut, where there were two major suicide bombings and one of the largest attacks in the city of beirut since the 1970s. This is, of course, a very important issue for the world, how to deal with isis. Of course, greece has to lead, but i think we have to be very sober and how we react to the provocations of isis and not, in fact, play into their hands. About theou talk significance when you say of not playing into their hands, what you mean . Well, it is interesting. Isis for a long time had no real challenge to its state and to its kind of military power will stop the United States has been bombing in frequently since august 2015 and getting all kinds of targets which im not sure had much strategic value. Civilians have been killed. This is exactly what exacerbates frustration and anger in parts of the world. Perhaps draws more recruits for isis. There has been no actual well worked out strategy and how to deal with isis. Just to give you a little example, when isis seized palmyra, the United States and other powers, other regional powers, it refused to provide Close Air Support to the syrian troops that were amassed around palmyra for fear if they got involved in providing Close Air Support, they would be charged with backing the assad government, or indeed, when the turkish government, who has a very different understanding of terrorism, strikes at kurdish camps where these kurds have it at the front line of the war against isis, there is any coherence and the response to isis at the same time as merely going and bombing raqqa as the french have done is really not going to put any pressure on them. In fact, the opposite. It might indeed draw more recruits to them. It might enable them to champion their own audacity. Amy talk about the significance of the french attacking raqqa. All through the weekend after the french attacks were launched , commentators and the Mainstream Media were saying, if they knew this was the headquarters of isis, if it is so obvious that is where the operations are conducted, why is this the time their striking, only now . This is a curiosity. Earlier this year, isis had painted one of its buildings all black. In the United States bombed the building. Of course, they painted the building almost to say, look, here we are, but there is nobody in the building. There is a game being played between isis and the airstrikes where they are almost asking the United States to bomb them and then they turn around and say, look, they are attacking us, but they cant get to us. Unfortunately, raqqa is still a city with hundreds of thousands of people, and these are all civilians. This current set of airstrikes has struck the electricity grid. It has hit a museum and clinics. It is not only hitting the socalled headquarters of isis. So this name that is being played between isis, the various western air forces, and the media is, you know, quite troubling that you can hit a building, the media will collect the headquarters, but then in a few weeks, we will realize that this is not really that quarters, this is some building that isis had used two weeks ago and as a consequence of the strikes, civilians have been killed. There is been so little Strategic Thinking about how to tackle isis. Some of this has to do with the fact that western governments are compromised by their very close alliance with both turkey and saudi arabia. And this has prevented them from having a robust Strategic Policy regarding isis. Amy i want to ask you about the meeting that president obama had. Ith Vladimir Putin in turkey it is the famous image right now of them hold up with just their translated translators in a corner. Can you talk about what this u. S. Russian relationship means . What are they to seeking from each others countries . This is a very important 35 minutes. The g20 summit in turkey where the turks previously said they wanted to put syria at the top of the agenda. The paris attacks did bring syria to the top of the agenda. But most of the meeting was about trade and investment and other issues. But these 35 minutes that putin and obama spent together privately are very significant because what the russians are saying after the meeting is that there was broad agreement between obama and clinton about the strategy putin for the strategy on syria, but they differed on tactics. What they mean is that it was not clarified. What we can take a few guesses. I mean, they both have come to an understanding that isis is rinciplecipal for p fold and perhaps the removal of the assad regime as a precondition for anything else is no longer the issue. In other words, the russians have said they will create some for politicals transition. It seems the americans are on board with that idea and that these two countries now will have to work with their regional partners for a strategy and a tactical understanding of how to deal with isis. But the problem is, this is easier said than done. The United States them as i said, is compromised by his relationship with saudi arabia and with turkey, neither of whom are on board with either of these issues one, that the assad removal question should be set aside and secondly, that isis is the principal fool and not say, for instance, with the turks who think the kurds are equal or for the saudis who think assad is perhaps worse than isis. So unless the United States can deliver the saudis and the turks, the 35 minute meeting may not prove to be as significant as it seems right now. Amy i want to go to the president ial debate, the democratic president ial debate saturday night. Yes, it was held. The president ial candidates in the Democratic Party met for their second debate, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and senator Bernie Sanders sparred over the u. S. Supper handling the claimed Islamic State this is the debate moderator John Dickerson of cbs. Talks secretary clinton, the was isisis about underestimated . I will act, the president referred to them as the jv and you and you 2014 said, i cannot a predicted the extent to which isis could be affected in seizing cities in iraq. Prescriptions for the future, but how do we know if there any good if you missed it in the past . What happened when we abided by the agreement that george w. Bush made with the iraqis to leave by 2011 is that an iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend iraq. The primeely, minister set about decimating it. And then with the revolution against a solid and i did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with alassad because i thought there would be extremist vacuum. Illing the back roo so, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to whats happened in the region, but i dont think the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I put that on assad and iraqis and the region itself. I think she said something the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. In fact, i would argue that the disastrous invasion of iraq, something that i strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al qaeda and to isis. Let me ask you, a followup on that, senator sanders, when you say the disastrous vote on iraq, lets just be care about what you are saying. You are saying secretary clinton, who was then senator clinton, voted for the iraq war. Are you making a direct link before between her vote for an whats happening now for isis . Bucks i dont think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of iraq led to the massive level of instability were seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreignpolicy blunders in the history of united dates. I think if were ever really going to tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and relies that it has antecedents to what happened in iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. Senator sanders, you criticized then senator clintons vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as secretary of state . I think we have a disagreement. Is that noteement only did i vote against the war in iraq, if you look at history, john, you will find that regime change whether it was in the early 1950s in iran, whether it was toppling salvador alinda a chile, whether it was overflowing overthrowing government of guatemala way back then, these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I with they have a little more conservative than the secretary. And im not a great fan of regime change. Amy that is the saturday night democratic president ial debate that took place in iowa. It was between bernie, hillaryclinton come also martin omalley. Democratic president ial candidate. Vijay prashad, your response to what clinton and sanders were saying . Well, to start with, i mean, i completely agree with Bernie Sanders that regime change as a policy, as a sanctified policy by the american establishment is a great mistake. I was happy to hear him draw the in guatemala in 1954 all the way out to iraq in 2003. Lets take the case of ayn rand, which he did mention, where there was a regime change in 1953 against the government which had repercussions that continue to today. I think sanders is correct. I was puzzled by hillaryclintons use of the word mistake with her vote in iraq and the overthrowing of the state in iraq in 2003. This was an illegal action as far as the United Nations was concerned. The effect of that illegal action has been so great, to characterize it as a mistake seems, i think, rather precious to me. It is far more than a mistake. And until u. S. Foreign policy planners begin to seriously consider their culpability in producing the kind of social forces that you rocked to attack , beirut, inkara paris, i dont think there will be a real shift of policymaking. So i think this is an historical opportunity with the russians and the americans starting to discuss what to do with isis or to reconsider the question of regime change, to reconsider the question of evangelical foreignpolicy that seems to have brought far more grief to the world than peace and security for people. , were goingashad to take a break and come back to you and go to paris to speak with a muslim leader in paris as this broadcast is taking place, there is a muslim rally taking place in paris. Vijay prashad is professor of International Studies at Trinity College and columnist for the indian magazine frontline. We will be back in a minute. [music break] amy premier nocturne, by daniel varsano. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Reports of islamophobia have already emerged on the paris attacks and fears of attacks on muslims in paris have risen. Back in january after Al Qaeda Linked gunmen attacked the magazine Charlie Hebdo, there were nearly as many antimuslim incidents in the two weeks following as in all the previous year. More than 200 20 antimuslim acts were recorded in the First Quarter of 2015, a sixfold increase over the same time the previous year. The incidents included violent assaults and destruction a muslim places of worship. This is a muslim resident talking about the paris attacks. Religious terminology cannot be used to describe these individuals. I would call them terrorists and only terrorists. Not jihadists nor islamist, because they are terrorists. I was 100 meters from the first explosion. The bomb would not have differentiated between a muslim and a buddhist. So they are terrorists. In my thoughts are with the families. Amy for more we are joined in paris by Yasser Louati is spokesperson and head of the International Relations desk for the collective against islamophobia in france. Welcome to democracy now thank you for leaving the rally to come speak to us as you stand in front of the theater that was the site of the greatest carnage. Can you talk about your response to what happened . What are the calls at the rally you were just at . Was a spontaneous initiative, but Muslim Minority in france. We have been working on this for the past two days and now we managed to bring everybody from all across the greater paris area. And also outside the city. We came here to share our grief, our pain, and our outrage. As the person before me said, these terrorists make noticed tension between muslims and nonmuslims. An organization in fighting islamophobia, we received accounts of muslim families foreign to pieces because the relatives were killed at the concert hall were all around it. Definitely, it is unity. The worst we could do is to show a division amongst french people. Can you talk about whether there has been escalated violence or attacks on muslims right now in paris . Yes, definitely. Stillunately, were receiving reports of the first attack, within 30 minutes a rightwing columnist starts putting the blame on the Muslim Community. This is the utmost sign of indecency, blaming muslims and asking them to take to the streets and show solidarity when muslims themselves are the first targets of these terrorist organizations abroad and now here in france. Of course, throughout the night, we see the callis reports of Death Threats being sent to the Muslim Community. By 5 00 in the morning, we had liberally call for some of to open the office because the first mosques were attacked and also received reports of muslim shops being vandalized. At the same time, received lots of lots of messages of support from nonmuslims telling us were in this together. You dont have to justify yourself, you dont have to feel guilty reaven say, not in my name. It was not you, it was them. But unfortunately, we still had some criminal groups, for example, who targeted a young man 24 hours ago and literally lynched him. They were beating him and making him pay, so they say, for what happened. We had muslim families hiding a shops because they were being chased. But at the same time, we still have support on the other hand. We are scared. We are grieving. Many of us believe we dont have grief are dead even though we say it is the wars of our government to make our dead here. Amy i think this is a key point, Yasser Louati, that youre raising, that muslims by far outnumber any other group when it comes to being targeted by isis. Isis has killed more members the members of any other rigi religion. They hit beirut before paris. Before that, there were killing muslims by the thousands in syria and iraq. How can they call themselves socalled islamist when theyre targeting muslims . It is not even religion, it is an ideology based on hatred and a political agenda to impose their vision of the world. At the same time here, muslims are saying, you are not one of us. We have nothing to do with you. And we cant say, not in my name because you are not us and were not you. What can i say . On islamicuncil relations the council on americanislamic relations held a press conference in washington, d. C. , saturday condemning the attacks. This is cairs executive director nihad awad. We are revolted by the attack on civilian populations. Isisur response to should be swift, should be methodical, and should be principled. Our focus should be on the victims of these attacks. In fighting isis, we should remind ourselves to stick to our principles and not listen to [indiscernible] we hear talks about closing the borders to refugees. And lets remember, these refugees have been running away and fling the attack of isis and the killing machine of bashar alassad. Director athe cair a News Conference in washington, d. C. On saturday. Weres again with Yasser Louati , spokesperson and head of the International Relations desk for the collective against islamophobia in france. He is in front of the theater that is the site of the main attack on friday night by isis. Yasser louati, he mentioned refugees. It seems on of the things coming out of this is an extreme crackdown on refugees. Can you talk about this . Mean, as he said right before us, those refugees are fleeing the exact same people who did this year in paris. They cant be blamed for fleeing the bombs that are being sent by these terrorist groups and at the same time, the various government to contribute it to destabilizing their various countries. I can speak for myself for a son of paris, the refugees i kept seeing every day by the highway or rather they disappeared. God knows where they are, because theyre scared to death. Pointing fingers at them, when first front did not france did not welcome many of them like other european countries. On the other hand, how can we blame them for what happened . What is their guilt . What is their crime . They came here seeking refuge just to leave. Let them leave. This is our call to the government, we cannot put the blame on the weakest ones amongst us. Amy how are the antiterror laws leading up to this weekend affecting the Muslim Community . Unfortunately, we have the feeling that muslims have been used as scapegoats to justify a crackdown on individual freedoms. I may forever believer in individual reuse and freedoms and the right for privacy and the right to live without government surveillance, but these measures have in past in the wake of the january attacks. The problem is that every single terrorist identified were apprehended was already on a watchlist. As we speak right now, the government is revealing names that were already on a Government Watch list. Ofwe dont need anymore these laws, we need more cooperation with the government so Information Services and the police can do their jobs. So right now the french people are paying a high tribute through a scapegoat named the Muslim Community. And so far, we havent seen any positive result, just as we havent seen any positive result from the wars we have been waging for the past 15 years abroad. Amy what do you think needs to be the response right now . Willois hollande said he wait a pitiless war. Immediate response was french airstrikes on raqqa were hundreds of thousands of civilians live, also they say, the headquarters of the Islamic State. Quote from the foreign minister who said, you dont win a war on terror through conventional armies, doesnt work. It doesnt pay off. Italy further contributes to murders groups. Look what is going on inmali and yemen and now in syria, the collapse of iraq. All of those places became theaters for the rise of these groups. The solution is political. That is a problem. Amy Vijay Prashad, on the issue of what is the alternative . What if war were not an option . The first thing i would like the french to do is to reconsider the 10 million arms deal with the saudis, which is making it very difficult for them to maneuver actual sober policy with the saudi funding and ideological support to both isis and isistype figures. Until that happens, im afraid it is just basically amy thank you for being with us, Vijay Prashad, professor of International Studies at Trinity College and our guest in paris right now, standing in front of the theater that was the side of the carnage, Yasser Louati. I also want to let people know Juan Gonzalez will be interviewing. Thanks for joining us. 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