Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20140918

Outcome, but that involves changing most everything about our Economic System. The good news, that system is not working for a whole lot of people. This changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. Expected to000 are take heart in the peoples climate march on sunday, we will spend the hour with author and activist naomi klein. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Moment of bipartisan unity, house lawmakers have voted to authorize the arming and training of Syrian Rebels fighting the Islamic State. The senate is expected to pass a legislation today. The Obama Administration has lobbied heavily for the measure as part of its ramped up offensive against the Islamic State which has claimed swaths of both iraq and syria. The vote came as president obama sought to provide reassurance the offensive will not involve Ground Troops in iraq. Be clear. To the American Forces that have been played to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. Support iraqi forces on the ground as they fight for their own country against these terrorists. As your commanderinchief, i will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in iraq. Obamas comments came one day after general martin dempsey, of the joint chiefs of staff, acknowledged Ground Troops may be needed in iraq in the future. The Islamic State has released a video that appears to warn the United States of the violent fate awaiting u. S. Troops if they deployed to iraq. It was released they tuesday after dempseys comments. Secretary of state john kerry appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing wednesday to defend the administrations plan against the Islamic State. Screen,peared on john kerry was flanked by p signs held by the group code pink. After referencing his own history as a peace activist against the vietnam war, john kerry addressed the Group Directly saying they should support attacking Islamic State, also known as isil. I also do something about code pink. It was started by a woman and ,omen who were opposed to war but who also thought the governments job was to take care of people and give them health care and education and good jobs. And if that is what you believe in, and i believe it is, then you ought to care about fighting isil. Because isil is killing and raping and mutilating women. The deaths of several children as part of a measles Exhibition Program in syria is now being attended to mistake, not to the tainting of vaccines, as previously thought. A parliamentary probe shows medics accidentally administered an anesthetic that has similar packaging to the measles vaccine. While the earlier death toll was higher, it is now believed 15 children between the ages of six and 18 months have died. The Pakistani Military says it has launched airstrikes in North Waziristan coming killing 40 suspectedntified as militants. The strikes come as part of a major offensive launched in june, which coincided with the resumption of u. S. Drone strikes in the region. The pakistani capital of the from a bot, meanwhile, prime investor sharif is facing continuing calls for his resignation from protesters led by former cricket star imran khan, who is accused him of reading masters election. In nigeria, gunmen suspected of belonging to the militant Group Boko Haram attacked a teacher training college, killing 15 people. It is at least the second major tragedy in nigeria in less than a week, after a church onsthouse collapsed in lagos friday, killing at least 70 people. Australian Authorities Say they have thwarted a plot by supporters of the Islamic State to behead a random person in sydney. Hundreds of Law Enforcement officers conducted the largest raids in australias history, detaining 15 people. The suspects were called action by an australian high up in the ranks of Islamic State. In scotland, voting is underway in a historic referendum to decide whether the country becomes independent or remains part of the united kingdom. Earlys are expected friday morning. For our debate on Scottish Independence from wednesdays broadcast with reddish musician billy bragg and historian sam wetherell, you can go to democracynow. Org. In colombia, senator and former president uribe faced questioning by lawmakers over his ties to rightwing paramilitaries. Uribe served as president from 2002 to 2010 and was considered among the strongest u. S. Allies in latin america. At one point during wednesdays debate, he stormed out of the chamber, but later returned. Senator ivan cepeda outlined the case against uribe. Has taken all types of decisions that in one way or the linkedhave favor people to the paramilitary antitrafficking. He has handed over licenses for planes, hangers, and those linked to drug trafficking. He is legalized Security Companies linked to or run by paramilitary. He has defended a referendum that at the time sought to eliminate extraditions for the drug cartel in trafficking organizations. Talks texas has executed a woman for the starvation death of a nineyearold boy in 2004. Lisa ann coleman is ali the 15th woman to be executed since the reinstatement of the debt algae in 1976. Compared to nearly 1400 men. Six of those 15 female executions have been carried out in texas. He was Agriculture Department has approved the use of genetically modified corn and soybean seeds that are resistant to the weed killer 2,4d. The herbicide made by dow chemical has been linked to a range of health risks, including cancer and parkinsons disease. It was an ingredient in the herbicide them were agent orange. Industrial farmers have been pressing for an alternative. The epa would still need to approve the newest version. If it does, these of herbicide could increase as much as 600 in the next several years. A top Obama Administration official in the interior department is leaving her post to head a major environmental organization. Will take over as president of the Natural Resources defense council, replacing frances beinecke. Stalled after was republicans objected to her past work with foundations that Fund Environmental causes. Amazon. Com founder and Washington Post owner jeff bezos has announced a new partnership with boeing and lockheed martin, two of the largest weapons contractors in the world. His private Space Company blue origin will partner with united launch alliance, a joint venture of the two weapons makers, to create rocket engines which will be used to launch military satellites. Bezos bought the Washington Post and a number of other publications last year for 250 million, less than 1 of his wealth, which at the time was estimated at 28 billion. Florida State University quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston has been suspended for half a game for standing on a table and yelling obscene remark about women. Froms first suspension the football team. He was allowed to continue playing after being accused of rape in 2012. New york times investigation of the case found the Tallahassee Police officer who handled the Sexual Assault case had done private Security Work for the seminole boosters, which is the primary financial sports at florida state. Winston was later suspended from the Baseball Team for three games when he allegedly stole 32 worth of crab legs. A recent report by the office of missouri democratic senator Claire Mccaskill found more than one in five schools give College Athletic departments oversight of Sexual Violence cases involving student athletes. At the professional level, another National Foot ali player is facing allegations of domestic violence. Arizona cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was arrested for assault wednesday for two incidents at his home in july. According to tv station fox 10 in phoenix, arizona, the victim contacted Police Last Week after receiving threatening Text Messages from dwyer. She told police dwyer had thrown a shoe at their 18monthold son and thrown a cell phone from the second floor of their home as she tried to call for help. Among the charges is aggravated assault causing a fracture. The cardinals said they have immediately deactivated dwyer from all team activities. Another player accused of domestic violence, greg hardy, has been added to a list which bars him from practices and games. The adrian peterson, Minnesota Vikings player facing child abuse charges, hardy will continue to receive his multimoney dollars salary while on the list. Another nfl player has come to the defense of peterson, who is accused of beating his fouryearold son with a tree branch. Detroit in new york, winds running back reggie bush said he would also discipline his daughter harshly. Her. Discipline every person is different. I definitely will use my best judgment to discipline her depending on the situation come on what happens. Try,initely will obviously, not be bruises or anything like that on her, but i definitely would discipline her harshly depending on what the situation is. The issue of abuse is not restricted to the nfl. A new study finds one in five men in the United States has committed an act of domestic violence. The report published in the journal of the market board of Family Medicine found nearly 20 of men admitted to pushing, grabbing, shoving, throwing something, slapping or hitting, kicking, biting, beating up, choking, burning, or scalding or threatening a partner with a knife or gun. In oklahoma, a third Law Enforcement officer has been accused of sexually assaulting women while on duty. Tulsa county Deputy Gerald ,uckols was arrested tuesday accused of assaulting two women while responding to a 911 hangup call. It is believed he may have assaulted at least five other victims. His arrest was one day after obama state trooper eric roberts was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting three women while on duty. Last month, on the city police wascer did not holtzclaw accused of sexually assaulting eight women, all of them africanamerican. An activist with the rolling 3. 85ee have bought up billion in student debt and abolished it. The Group Purchases debt at this, prices by raising money through donations. The latest move lifts debt from everest000 students at college, whose parent, the, corinthian colleges, is now being sued by the federal government for predatory lending. 3. 85ection, that is million. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Scientists from nasa have confirmed that last month was the warmest august on record globally. Includinge world, central europe, northern africa, parts of south america, and the western portions of north america, so much higher than normal temperatures. According to the National Climatic data center of august was the 354th consecutive month with a global average to venture above the 20th century average. The news comes as flooding in india and pakistan has killed more than 400 people and displaced nearly a million. The flooding is the worst to hit the kashmir region in half a century. Severe drought in Central America has left nearly 3 Million People struggling to feed themselves. California is suffering its worst drought in over century. Meanwhile, new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council has found more than 22 Million People were displaced from their homes by extreme weather last year more than three times the number of people displaced by war. In the philippines alone, over formally people were displaced by typhoon haiyan. On tuesday, World Leaders will gather here in new york for a oneday you and Climate Summit secretarygeneralrno ban kimoon. Climate activists have planned a series of events leading up to the summit. On sunday, more than 100,000 are expected to take part in the peoples climate march here in new york. More than 2000 People Climate events are planned worldwide in 150 countries. On monday, climate activists are planning to stage a mass sit in in the financial district in new york. Today, we spent on exclusive hour with the acclaimed journalist and author, naomi klein. She is just out with her latest book, this changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. It is her first book since her 2007 best seller, the shock doctrine the rise of disaster capitalism. Before that, she wrote no logo. Naomi klein, congratulations on the book. What changes everything . Climate change changes everything. A changes everything for the reason juan just outline. It is already upon us. We are on a road towards warming of four to six degrees celsius. We reached. 7 or. 8 degrees celsius and we are aarti singh these effects. Once you get to warming of that level, the models start to break down. Dont knowentists what to expect. It changes everything about our physical world. If we simply do what were doing and continue down this road. The argument i am making in the book is, we do have the opportunity to get off that road. But in order to do so, we have to change pretty much everything or some really fundamental things about our Economic System. The good news is that the things we need to change, many of them are broken anyway. We need to make vast investments in the public sphere, which would create millions of good jobs. We need to invest in health care, and education come in the sciences. In so doing, we will tackle one of the most intractable problems we face, which is gross wealth inequality. It any othert way. The argument im making is quite a hopeful one. If we do respond to Climate Change, with the decisiveness the scientist are telling us, if we respond in line of science, we have a chance to remake our economy, the global economy, for the better. This is not the cant of change that comes from below. Does above. It is commanded by mass movements from below. Trucks one of the central thesis of your books is the inability so far of our society to be able to deal with Climate Change. It goes to the heart of the systems will stop you say one point we have not done the things that are necessary to lower emissions because those things fundamentally conflict with the regulated capitalism, the reigning ideology for the entire period struggling to find a way out of the crisis. The book starts from the premise that the things we have done to try to address this crisis have failed. This is not a controversial position. It cant the when we look at the numbers. And the numbers dont lie. Government started negotiating toward Emission Reduction in 1990, when the official negotiations started. And since that time, emissions have gone up by 61 globally. We ares not just that not solving the problem, it a lot worse. Thisncrete terms, we see every day. We see the contradictory messages of those alarming reports coming from scientists on the one hand and on the other hand, political leaders doubling down on the dirtiest fossil fuels. We are turning up this continent to get at shale gas, tar sands, mountains, just going for it on the most turned his level. How do people even hold these contradictions in their mind . There have been all these theories before about why we have failed. Your often hear theories related to human nature. The political system is blamed. Politicians think shortterm and this is a longterm crisis. Im putting forward a different theory. Ok, all of these other things play a part of the biggest problem is that this crisis landed on our laps at the worst possible historical moment. James hansen testified before congress in 1988. He said he could not decisively make the link between Carbon Emissions and warming. That was the moment when we lost all plausible deniability. Scientists knew before hand, but this was the moment where it became the mainstream issue. The editors of time had to choose the man of the year, they chose planet earth and put planet earth on the cover. What i do in the book is asked, what else is happening in 1988 . The free trade gilbert in canada and u. S. Was signed, distort moment in advance of corporate globalization. The next your the berlin wall collapsed. Declaring history over. I told the story in the shock doctrine how the market fundamentalism swept the world. This was the moment when they declared victory and there was no alternative, as Margaret Thatcher used to say. The problem we have is that the essence of a collective problem. We can only solve it with real regulation, making polluters pay, telling them they cannot did this out of the ground. We need to come together collectively to respond to this crisis and invest in the public sphere. It hits us at the precise moment when all of these things become nonstarters. You cant regulate, embrace economics. Re i make the argument we cannot solve this crisis without a profound ideological shift. Were going to take a break and come back to this discussion. Naomi klein is with us for the hour. Her latest book is, this changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. Stay with us. [music break] if your listing on the radio, check it out at democracynow. Org. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. When democracy now was at the 2011 u. N. , change conference in durban, amy spoke with marc morano, publisher of the climate depot, website run by the climate denier group, committee for constructive tomorrow. She asked about president obamas record on Climate Change. Nickname is george w obama. They have kept the exact same crucibles and negotiating stance as president george bush did for eight years. Obama has carried on that legacy. As skeptics, we took our hats to president obama. Obama has been a great friend of Global Warming at these conferences. He has problems for us because he is going to the epa rogatory process, which is a grave threat, but in terms of this, president obama could not have turned out better when it came to his lack of interest in a Congressional Climate bill and his lack of interest in the United Nations kyoto protocol. A Job Well Done for president obama. That was marc morano of climate depot. [music break] your book, you talk about a number of these groups. You open with them in a chapter called the right is right. Lets be clear, theyre not right about the science. Theyre wrong about the science. Rightthink what the understands, and it is important to understand the Climate Change denier movement in the united oftes is entirely a product the right wing think tank infrastructure. Foundation,heritage American Enterprise institute. The Heartland Institute, which people mostly only know in terms of the fact it host these annual conferences of Climate Change skeptics or deniers. It is important to note Heartland Institute is first and foremost a free market thing cutting think tank. Just like the other ones i listed, it exists to push the deregulation, privatization, cuts to , backed withending enormous corporate funding. That is a very profitable ideology. When i interviewed the head of the Heartland Institute job asked for this project, he was quite open that it wasnt that he found a program with the science problem with the science first. He said when he looked at the science and listened to what scientists were saying about how much we needed to cut our emissions, he realized Climate Change could be if it were true, it would justify huge amounts of government regulation, which he politically opposes. So he said, so then we looked at the site and found these problems. The issue is, they understand if the science is true, the whole ideological project falls apart because as i said, you cannot respond to a crisis this week that involves transforming the foundation of our economy. Our economy was built on fossil fuels and still fueled by fossil fuels. The hear this from a lot of liberal environment groups that we can change completely painlessly, just change your. Ight bulbs, tax and relax this is what they understand well. That in fact, it requires transformative change. A see it as the end of the world. It is not the end of the world, but the end of their ideological project. That is unthinkable from marc moranos perspective. Rather than thinking about that, they deny the science. When i say the right is right, i think they have a better grasp on the political implications of the science, what it means to how we need to change our economy, and what the role of the public sphere is and the role of collective action is. They understand it better than some of those sort of big flicks interest green groups that are constantly trying to sell Climate Action as something entirely reconcilable with a booming capitalistic economy. Green always him about growth, great for business. Yeah, there will be markets in green energy and so on, but other businesses are going to have to contract in ways that require that strong intervention. How do they then deal with nations like germany where there has been significant Government Intervention as result a citizen protests and now germany is close to 25 Renewable Energy come as a model where in the related capitalism, it is possible to make substantial change . It is interesting. About a fair amount germany in the book. When you look at which countries have adopted Climate Action of a significant kind, theres a strong correlation between countries that have a social democratic tradition, that have not fully embraced deregulated capitalism and are willing to intervene in these ways and protect the public sphere, and that green transition. You see that in the scandinavian countries. You have norway, which has become a petro state. But you also have some amazing examples like denmark. And then with germany, even though germany prescribes neoliberal austerity programs on countries like greece and someone, germany has never been a full neoliberal state. This is the legacy of the second world war. So Angela Merkel under pressure from germany probably has the strongest Environmental Movement in the world, in particular, a very strong antinuclear movement. They demanded this. Under pressure, the introduced this Incredible Energy transformation that has shown as if we have the right policies in place, and never Bold National terror program that has encouraged decentralized energy, we can change quickly. The number you said is correct, 25 of germanys energy now comes from Renewable Energy, particularly wind and solar. Catch. The this is for you see the clash of ideologies even in a country like germany that is willing to put these incentives in place. Germanys emissions have gone up last year and there before. That is remarkable. How could that be in the midst of this transition . Well, it is going up because merkel has been unwilling to break the cardinal rule. Unwilling to say no to the fossil fuel companies. The coal lobby has been permitted to continue to dig up the dirtiest of the coal and to export that energy, even though the demand for it is going down and germany. This is why it isnt just about saying yes it is about saying yes to the energy we want and putting the right policies and incentives put in place. We also have to say no to the kinds of energies we dont want. You look at obama, who for three years has been spinning his wills over the keystone xl pipeline, just cant bring himself to just say no to this project that has some a liabilities and isnt necessary to fuel the u. S. Economy. It just seems like the word no cannot escape his mouth. We have politicians that are products really of this derogatory age. As he talks about Global Warming, under obama, as you know in your book, there has been an explosion and Oil Production here in the United States and the enormous amount that now of real faith carry all across the country. At tremendous risk, yes. We sometimes talk about business as usual or doing nothing. It is worse than that. Were doing the wrong things, doubling down in the midst of a fossil fueled frenzy. This is president obama in 2012 when he appeared in oklahoma to announce support for transcanada to build the southern leg of its Keystone Oil Pipeline from oklahoma to texas. Over the last three years, i have directed my administration n up lanes of acres millions of acres for gas and will explanation across 23 different states. Were opening up more than 75 of our potential will resources offshore. We have quadrupled the number of operating rigs to record high. We have added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the earth and then some. So we are drilling all over the place. Right now. That is not the challenge. That is not the problem. Placet, the problem and a like cushing, were actually producing so much oil and gas in places like north dakota and colorado, that we dont have enough Pipeline Capacity to transport all of it to where it needs to go. Talks that was president obama 2012 in oklahoma announcing support for transcanada. Naomi, your canadian journalist and activist. Your first arrest was outside president obamas house, the white house, protesting the keystone xl. Talk about what he is saying. This interesting. I was arrested with more than a dozen other people. It was a huge act of civil disobedience. It is interesting because we need huge Infrastructure Investments and we are making the wrong ones. If we are going to double down on fracking in a way that obama advocated, they want to build these huge export terminals. These projects are billion dollar projects, right . This is money not going into the Renewable Energy infrastructure that we need to roll out, wind and solar. We have researched out of Stanford University that says, 100 noble energy is within our grasp. Renewable energy is within our grasp. It starts to compete. It takes away the market. We are at this moment where were seeing the tremendous potential of these technologies. Theres sort of a temptation among free marketeers in this country to just say, look, the price of solar is going down so we can leave this to the market. The problem is, these fossil fuel companies are so rich. They dont just have money to burn, that basically bought the whole political system so they have the ability to undercut the rollout and all kinds of ways. Imposing taxesc on Renewable Energy. There fighting this at every turn, decentralized Renewable Energy, in particular, it is a different economic model than fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are inherently centralized. You need a lot of infrastructure to get them out and a trance for it, as obama was explaining that to transport it, as obama was explaining. The wind and sun and ways are free. Blessed can become an energy provider. Models the company german. You can feed into the grid and become an Energy Producers as well as provide your own energy. What the victim also feel companies understand, this means millions of people become competitors with them. Some people talk about also feel says the 1 or even less. Renewable energy, if done in a really decentralized way, can the energy of the 99 . That is exciting. That is an example of how responding to this crisis, we can feel it our two biggest crises for two of them at the same time. This is a reason why germany has been so successful is that anduse it is decentralized this is a piece of often dont care about is that there had been 900 Energy Cooperatives created, hundreds of cities and decided to take back control over the energy is from private operators that have privatized and and i think that is so that they not only have Renewable Energy, but a key the proceeds from that. They caps on other than having to go into the pocket of shareholders. They use it to fund their services. The money stays close to home. Youre fighting austerity and equality and clyde change at the same time. This is a triple when we tackle this crisis. You see it in the food system, too. It is good for the economy, it is just a different kind of economy. The old economy is so profitable for a few that theyre trying to block it at every turn. This is why it is not hopeful when the u. N. And ban kimoon announced upgraded his they have the fortune 500 ceos coming to the u. N. Summit to solve Climate Change for us. This is not the model theyre going to be interested in. I want to ask about the whole issue of how corporations are coopt or essence, take over the environment movement. You deal a lot with the big greens as opposed to the peoples environment movement. Specifically, this whole issue of offsets and of some of the major organizations like Wildlife Conservation society and others actually being to promote helping exportation under the guise of environmental enlightenment. Ok, so in the 1970s and 1980s well, up until 1980, really, when the super son act was introduced, the model was for leader pays. Polluting. Doing the there is what the penalties and you will pay for the cleanup. That was the working principle. That was the thinking behind many of the big governmental and 1970s. 1960s what happened in the 1980s, ideology. A shift in polluter a shift from pays to polluter plays. From that set across the table from walmart and mcdonalds and and bp. V. P. And shell and we will convince them that acting to protect the environment helps the bottom line, is good for business. I get into it in the book, trying to understand how this could happen. It was a really bad idea. You can point to walmart, for instance. It is true that walmart saves money by introducing Energy Efficiency and they will do just about anything to save money. We know that about walmart. A we also know walmart will expand as rapidly as it possibly can. At the same time its Energy Intensity has gone down because it has introduced efficiency measures with the help of groups , its emissions are still soaring because it is expanding so rapidly. The net effect is still significantly negative, yet they get held up by many of these green groups as sustainability leader. You break news like you for example, talk about what the Nature Conservancy is doing drilling. Is theNature Conservancy largest green group in the world. They operate in dozens of countries. I was interested in them because , juan was mentioning offsets, because of this partnership when in the 1980s attention turned to solving the Climate Crisis at the end of the 1980s and in the 1990s, the question that was asked was, how to resolve this crisis in a way that is win win . When win meant in a way good for business and for the environment. That was the starting assumption. It is good for business to be allowed to continue emitting if you offset those emissions somewhere in the world. Sometimes that there is called the low hanging fruit theory, meaning, lets do the easy stuff first. The problem with this areas, essentially, these groups are saying it is hard to take on coal and bp in the big companies. And it is easy to buy land from Indigenous People who are not politically powerful, on the other side of the world, and make them promises about how it is going to make them rich. There is been scandal after scandal and the Carbon Offset industry where people, essentially, feel their land is being grabbed. Once you decide a forest is one to be a Carbon Offset, then summit he needs to guard those trees, people lose access to their land there all caps of problems. The biggest problem, because i do think there can be a progressive way of compensating some of the poorest people in the world for doing what they are already doing, which is protecting the land. I think theres a way of doing that. The problem is, it should not be happening so a coal company here can continue burning coal and giving kids asthma and some of the poorest areas in this country. The problem is the interplay between allowing the emitters to continue doing what theyre doing and using that using offsets as a rationale. The Nature Conservancy has improbably the worlds biggest advocate of the offset model has probably been the worlds biggest advocate of the offset model. I was preparing for an interview with one of the top officials, who ended up canceling last minute, but in the course of this research, came across a story from 2003 in the Washington Post about how theyre all kinds of dodgy things happening at the Nature Conservancy with land deals. One thing the paper discovered was that on a piece of land in texas, the Nature Conservancy had acquired, had been donated exxonmobil, to save one of the most endangered species. They decided to drill for gas on that land themselves. There was a big scandal about this and the Nature Conservancy announced they would not be doing this anymore. You would think number middle group an Environmental Group would not have to say they wont go for gas on a piece of land that is supposedly preserved for one of the most endangered species, but they had to make that a policy. Unlesst, and less we have to respect and ongoing contract. Across thisr came document online which was a paper that was presented at a petroleum conference, and engineering conference, that was 70 from the where Nature Conservancy was talking about how they had a well in texas and they were claiming this was the most environmentally sensitive oil well. It became clear as we dug into it, that there were still drilling for oil. In fact, had drilled a new well. Of the mostwas one shocking revelations in the book, to discover the largest green group in the world itself is operating or has contracted out well and gas drilling. And it has disappeared from the area . Speciesf the endangered , the birds, are gone from that area. Group thatea that a is supposedly fighting Climate Change could itself be trolling for oil and gas, started off mostly with gas and now mostly oil coming out of the well, they say they are locked in in the contract requires they do that. I guess question i am asking is, have they really fought as hard as they possibly could to get out of the contract . More importantly, what does this tell us about how close parts of the Environmental Movement have become to the oil and gas industry . This is really changing and now we have a new wave of environmental activists that are from theirivestment schools, churches, cities. A whole new wave of environment listen that i think is partially responding to these cozy relationships with a big green groups from the polluters with the polluters. We will talk about what is happening inside the u. N. On tuesday and outside this week and the with what is expected to be a largest climate march in history, when we come back. We are talking to the journalist and activist naomi klein. Her new book is out this week called, this changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. Stay with us. [music break] of climate activists building a 300 foot banner for the wall street action coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Our guest for the hour is naomi klein, author of the shock doctrine the rise of disaster capitalism. Book hat with the new it seems like you get a seven year itch. This changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. Followup on what we are talking about before the break, this new generation of activists who are challenging the old big green establishment groups. You write in the book, resistance to high risk extreme extraction is building a global grassroots and Broadbased Network come the likes of which the Environmental Movement has rarely seen. Ou give it a name, blockadia is a term first coined by activists and fighting the keystone xl pipeline in texas, a piece of paper that obama was probably standing in front of because they do go ahead and build that and people try to stop it with their bodies. A. Ey called the blockadi i argue this is a transnational space where regular people are stepping in, where our leaders are failing. Theyre trying to stop this era of extreme extraction with their bodies were in the court, particularly Indigenous People from a First Nations people, using the traditional plan rights, their treaties, their aboriginal title to take on massive corporations and to take on the canadian government, u. S. Government. We need some really significant victories. Not inen gets called my backyard. Theres a slogan, not here or anywhere. Spirit of it. It is strong a line. You often here that slogan whether people are fighting pipelines or fracking or coal export terminals up and down the pacific northwest. There have been real victories. Whole countries have passed fracking moratoriums, like france. He of the province of quebec, new york state where people are trying to defend the fracking nor tore him moratorium. People are identifying the choke points. Gets approved in montana to open up a huge new coal mine, but because demand for coal is dropping in the u. S. , this coal is to be exported so you have to build a railway, huge export terminal. At every point in this process, there are huge oppositions. I write about a mine in montana. It may very well not get built, not because there were able to block the mining permit, but i guess theyre blocking the construction of the railway and to export it is very hard get the call out because all along the pacific northwest, yet such strong opposition. This is the flipside of this carbon boom, this fossil fuel frenzy tom a that these companies have become so ravenous to get every last drop of fossil fuels out of the ground. Theyre going to places and having to go to places where they dont have as much political power as the places theyre used operating. You go to the pacific northwest, not texas. These are places where theres a very, very strong and militant and terminal tradition. Where the earth was first born, resurgentogging, indigenous rights movements. You mention the fight to preserve the fourth in greece has become a National Cause in greece . This is something we filmed for the documentary that my partner will be coming out with in a few months with a documentary that in many ways is a companion to the book. We did it in a parallel process. Im excited about the documentary because in a way, that a book cant, does in a way that a book cant, it shows the vibrancy of these Resistance Movements and people are speaking with her own powerful voices. One of the most inspiring movements that we were lucky enough to document with this movement against a massive open pit gold mine in northern greece , and it has become a Huge National symbol. It is more than a Resistance Movement against fossil fuels. I think it is Resistance Movement against the whole logic of the idea that we need to create sacrifice zones in order to have a healthy economy. The shift is toward a regenerative economy that takes care of the land in which no people and no place needs to be sacrificed in the name of progress. Powerfultraordinarily to see that. Greece is a country being hit hardest by austerity. And the name of economic crisis, we hear about how pensions are being cut, salaries are being cut. This also the Natural Environment that is being thrown under the bus in greece in the name of economic progress. In the face of that, people are redefining what progress means. Parts lets talk about first on sunday, then on monday. Being billed as the largest, march in history. Talk about what is happening here in new york and also around the world. Im really excited about the march on sunday and im sure some of the core local organizers could speak better about it than me, but ive been lucky i am on the board of 350 and that is the Environment Organization 350. Org. Of the groups behind the march. There are hundreds of groups. The most exciting part to me as i think this is going to be the most diverse environmental demonstration may be ever seen in north america. I think this idea of climate activism, like only select ngos do you have seen this at the summits. It is really not going to be like that. I think it is significant this is happening and post Hurricane Sandy in new york because the connection between the need, the impaired of the fight inequality , racial injustice, to fight, change, the connection between these projects and these values were so clear in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy because you saw how different the experience of the storm was if you are wealthy and had private responses, or if you are relying on the state or public housing, it was an entirely different experience. I think for a lot of people in the city, these are not abstract issues. They live it. They know it. There is going to be a different kind of Climate Movement on the streets. It is going to be a lot of people who are not looking down at the globe froms days. Have a part in the book, the imagery of the Environmental Movement being the astronauts i. Iew of the earth it is a beautiful blue planet, but he gets really fuzzy from way up there. It is gods eye view of the world. This is a move went that it is down movement that is down in the dirt. Inre going to see blockadia force. Were going to see the antifracking movement, antipipeline move meant, people fighting mountaintop removal, coal mining, people with refineries in the backyard. Theyre going to be indias participating. What is different is it is just one to feel a lot more immediate. In line with the breadth of the movement as it is going, in my column in the daily i reported yesterday on the labor unions organizing people to come out. The hospital is bringing several thousand members. I asked, why are you getting involved at this age . They said, we have members who are facing rising fee levels in their country. We have thousands of filipino nurses that are part of our union. Theve had to deal with typhoon in the home country. This is something that strikes directly at our members and their understanding of what is happening in the world. I think it is even more than that, which is that it is if were serious about getting off also fuels and having more delivered economy where we can deliberate economy where we can track is responsible for storing emissions, we need to also expand as parts of our economy that are lower emissions. That includes health care and education. These are sectors that are in crisis, where we need these massive investments. Climate change, if we are going to respond to a sears the because it is a Health Crisis and also because this is a real win win or we can invest in services that make peoples lives better and also low carbon, i think that is why Health Care Workers get this. But so do transit workers unions. Obviously, theres tension with the Labor Movement and we have a long way to go, but that will be big heart of the march. On monday, the direct action called flood wall street, one of the actions organizers, david solman. Talks i think the next up is realizing. Youll industries is the tip of the iceberg of the Economic System that is hardwired to produce Climate Change, be bad for democracy and but for community. So were going to take the next up the day after the march and take it to wall street and say, we actually need to replace the salt Economic System of corporate capitalism. We have the pieces to replace it. We have the knowhow and the alternatives. We just need to build a big Cloud Movement that has the capacity to actually shift to make the changes needed to address Climate Change. We are going to be on wall the people and a lot of us will sit down and refused to move, even if that means risking arrest. We invite your buddy to join us if you care of the future, about the climate, care about democracy. That is monday after the big march on sunday. That is wall street. Youre going to be speaking there. Yes, when people start gathering at battery park i will be speaking. Sunday is a big familyfriendly march and everybody, i think, will feel safe participating in that. I think theesire big message of sundays marches, urgency. There is going to be a sounding of the climate alarm. Precisely because of what were talking about earlier, because of this impossible cognitive dissidents we are living. On the one hand, were being told this is an emergency and on the other hand, double down on the cause of the emergency. Because we dont have climate leaders gathering at the u. N. , but failures gathering at the climate u. N. Harper,s two, stephen such a climate criminal, hes decided to skip the whole thing. He is just showing up for the dinner afterwards. Theres going to be the sense of urgencys expressed and i think people will take it one step further on monday with flood wall street. And as david said, take it to the people who are really responsible for blocking progress and make those connections. And a lot of the people involved in organizing flood wall street, i first met them in the context of occupy wall street. They understand this is an Economic System that is sacrificing people in the name of profit. They already knew that. What Climate Change tells us, the same logic of profit and growth, above all else, is sacrificing the very life systems we all depend on. And that is an obvious connection to make. ,t supercharges our movement the existential urgency. This isnt about a brandnew movement, but all of our movements coming together. You for klein, thank being with us. We will broadcast part two of this interview on democracynow. Org. Her latest book, this changes everything capitalism vs. The climate. Democracy now will be covering the climate march on sunday. Patootlydo dam pooh i wanna be loved by you just you and nobody else but you it was straight, sevenyear contracts and you were owned, body and soul. I give you heart, soul, blood and guts, as much as i can do, the best that i can do it. And thats a lot. If they had the choice, would you be more famous