Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20160826

But turkey says s its also concerned abouout syrian kurdidh militias at the e border. These mililitias are backed by e United States. Wewell look at the conflict wih professor and columnist Vijay Prashad, author of the new book, the death of the nation and the future of the arab revolution. We will also speak with him about the u. S. President ial election. Understand both trump and clinton are going to be very, very harmful for the rest of the planet. I mean, if this is supposed to be the superpower that governs and manages the world, and of the leader of the superpower is going to be as crazy as trump or with someone is dangerous on record a as Hillary Clinton, i m afraid people in the rest of the planet have very little to look forward to. Amy and celebrated british actress, thompson has just returned from a trip to the arctic aboard the greenpeace ship the arctic sunrise. I suppopose the inuit here ae the front line, but actually, we are here to defend thehem and ourselves. Becaususe of the arctic m meltse know if f we dont keep the temperature by y 1. 5 degrgrees, were i in big, big trouble. Amy Emma Thompson joins us to talk aboutut visiting the canadn town of clyde river, which has been l leading efforts agagainse oil inindustry blasting ththe ac in its search for oil and gas. Two years ago, Emma Thompson joined another greenpeace expedition to protest drilling in the arctic and to research the impact Climate Change has already been having on the region. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Turkish Military has sent additional tanks into northern syria. Ththe u. S. Militarary is backing turkeys ground offensive, which began earlier this week. Turkish Officials Say there are now at least 20 turkish tanks inside syria, and that more could be deployed in the coming days. The u. S. Backed turkish offensive is aimed at taking control of isisheld towns along the border. On wednesday, turkish tanks and u. S. Air support helped the Free Syrian Army oust isis from jarablus. Turkey also seeks to force kurdish militias to retreat from the border, even though these milititias are backed by the United States. This comes as turkish state media is reporting an explosion at a Police Station in turkey near the border with syria has killed at least 11 people and wounded 70. There has beenen no claim of responsibility, but the turkrkih prime mininister has blamed the atattack on the kukurdistan wows party, known a as the pkk. Fighting has been n escalating between tuturkish securi f force anand the pkk k since a ceasefie collapsed overer a year ago. Eaearlier this year, uniteted nations accused Turkish Security forces of carrying out Human Rights Violations against civilians in the majority kurdish southeast. In one instance, the u. N. Says as many as 100 people were burned to death while attempting to take shelter during a Turkish Military offensive in the city of cizre. The u. N. Also says there have been reports of turkish snipers intentionally shooting at civilianans, including children. Vice President Biden just returned from a t trip in turke. Secretary of state john kerry is in geneva today, where hess meeting with the Russian Foreign minister about a possible Cooperation Agreement in the ongoing fight against isis in syria. This comes as the syrian observatory for human righghts says at least four civilians have died in multiple barrel bomb attacks in aleppo. Amnesty International Says the Assad Government frequently drops barrel bombs in civilian neighborhoods. We will speak with Vijay Prashad about turkey, syria, and the u. S. Elections after headlines. In italy, the death toll from wednesdays 6. 2magnitude earthquake inn c centraltaly contininues to rise. E. At least 250 people have now been confirmed dead as rescue crews continue to search through the rurubble for a additional bobodies. In news from the campaign trail, here in the u. S. Donald trump is , continuing to flip flop on his immigration policy, sparking controversy from both his allies and opponents. Trump has made the mass deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants one of the cornerstone proposals of his campaign. But now with his Newest Campaign manager kellyanne conway, he appears to be backing awayay frm the mass deporortation plan, although he still says hes opposed to amnesty and any path toward legalization. This is donald trump speaking to cnns anderson cooper. Mr. Trump i do not think it is a softening. Ive had people say it is a heartening. Trucks and 11 Million People who not mr. Trump you can just say whom youre gone. On to sayd trump went theres no path to legalization unless they leave the country. This follows trumps town hall hosted by sean hannity wednesday night in which trump said he would be willing to work with some undocumented people if they pay back taxes. Undocumented immigrants already do pay taxes. During the town hall, trump at times appeared not to know what he thought and instead turned to the audience to conduct a poll. Mr. Trump you have somebody who is terrific, who has been here 20 years, a long time. A long Court Proceeding come along everything, ok . Can we go through a process or do you think they have to get out . Tell me. You tell me. How many think they should go through a process that maybe give them a chance . Clap. How many think they should go . Do it again. Amy sean hannity has acknowledged advising the trump campaign, saying, i never claimed to be a journalist. Hillary clinton has attacked donald trump, saying his campaign has empowered the far right, what nationalist altright movement and that its making hatate groups mainstream. This is Hillary Clinton speaking in reno, nevada. Mrs. Clinton he is built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He is taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical fringe t take over the republicn party. His disregard for the values that make our country great is profoundly dangerous. Amy this comes as Hillary Clinton has released a new campaign ad linking trump to the ku klux klan and other white supremacist groups. This is a clip of the campaign ad, which begins with the imperial wizard of the rebebel brigade knights of the ku klux klan s speaking. The r reason a lot of klan members like donald d trump is because a loofof what hehe lieveves we belilieve in. B best forp w would be the job b for president. I am a farmrmer and w white nationalalist. Support dodonald trump. A moratorium on islamic immigrioion. That is very of killing a a lot ofof oinary white people. Running against donald trump at this popot is realllly treasn to your heritage. Amy thats the voice of david duke, the former grand wizard of the kkk, and before that, editor of a White Nationalist merritt ingazine, featured clintons new campaign that. Frances highest Administrative Court will decide whether to overturn a local ban on fullbody swimsuits known as burkinis, amid ongoing controversy over an incident in which Armed French Police confronted a woman on the beach over her fullbody dress. Photos of the incident show two Armed Police Officers approaching the woman as she lay sleeping, and then standing over her as she removed her longsleeve shirt. The police then gave her a ticket, which said that she wasnt wearing an outfit respecting good morals and secularism. More than two dozen french towns have banned the burkini, saying the swimsuit violates french secular laws. On thursday, dozens of women protested the burkini ban at a rally outside the French Embassy in london. This is one of the protesters. It is never right to tell a woman what she can wear or to take her close off. That is not for a man to say. I think at a time of increased islamophobia in the u. K. And france, it is even more horrible image to see because it just shows the kind of things that muslim women face. Amy secretary of state john kerry met with the Saudi Foreign minister thursday during a visit to saudi arabia, where the two discussed the ongoing u. S. Backed saudiled Bombing Campaign in yemen. This comes as the u. N. High commissioner for human rights zeid raad al huhussein has cald for an independent investigation into the Bombing Campaign, saying civilians are suffering unbearably. In a statement he wrote such a manifestly, protractedly unjust situation must no longer be tolerated by the international community. In august, the u. S. Backed Saudi Coalition has bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing 19 people, and bombed two schools in northern yemen, killing at least 14 children. In argentina, the former head of the army during argentinas dirty wars has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison. 89yearold Luciano Benjamin menendez was found guilty of presiding over hundreds of disappearances and kidnappings, as well as multiple cases of murder and torture at a secret military base in cordoba between 1975 and 1979. The imprisoned exgeneral is already serving multiple life sentences for other human rights abuses. The Brazilian Senate has begun the impeachment trial against president dilma rousseff, who was suspended earlier this year in what many are calling a coup. Her impeachment stems from accusations she tampered with government accounts to hide a budget deficit. The Brazilian Group transparency brazil says 60 of brazilian lawmakers are currently under criminal investigation, or have already been convicted of crimes ranging from corruption to election fraud. Rousseff is slated to testify on monday. Meanwhile, Brazilian Police have charged American Olympic swimmer and Gold Medalist ryan lochte with falsely reporting a crime. Lochte and his three olympic teammates claimed they were robbed at gunpoint by men posing as Police Officers during the Olympic Games in rio. But brazilian Authorities Say the olympic swimmers actually vandalized a gas station and then invented a story about having been the victims of a robbery. Lochte has already lost four corporate sponsorships. And editor, publisher, and writer Warren Hinckle has died. He was the editor of the magazine ramparts, which he turned into a leading voice for the left. 1960s the san franciscobased magazine won a polk award for a 1966 article that revealed a Michigan State University Group operating in vietnam was in fact a cia front group. It also published eldridge cleavers prison letters and che guevaras diaries. Hinckle was also a major figure in the emergence of gonzo journalism. This is hinckle speaking about editing hunter s. Thompsons famous article about his trip to the kentucky derby. It did not make much sense at all. Just kind of bundle it all of and took a walk up the street around the corner to ask. It wasnt a crowded night. I sat in a booth and spent a cocouple o of hours reading this thing. It was episodic. Likike, oh, dear, it was sort of like trying to assemble a very big complex crossword puzzle without having the picture on the box. Amy Warren Hinckle died on thursday at the age of 77 from complications of pneumonia. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. An explosion at a Police Station in turkey near the border with syria has killed at least 11 people and wounded 70. Staterun media is r reportingng that kurdishsh militantsts were responsible fofor the atta, bt there hahas been no claim m of reresponsibility. This comes as s the Turkish Military has s sent additiononal tanks into northern syria, intensifying its ground offensive in the ongoing conflict. The u. S. Military is backing turkeys incursion, which began earlier this week k with an aerl bombing campaiaign. Turkey says the offensive is against isisheld areas along the border. But turkey says its also coconcerned about sysyrian kurdh militiasas at the border. Those militias are backed by the United States. On wednesday, turkish president Tayyip Erdogan announced turkishbacked Syrian Rebels reclaimed the syrian town of jarablus from the islamic c sta. As of this moment, Free Syrian Army and residents of jarablus have taken back jarabus. According to the information we have received, daeaesh had to leave jarablus. Amy turkeys offensive is dubbed Euphrates Shield and its the countrys first Major Military operation since a failed coup shook turkey in july. On wednesday, turkish president Tayyip Erdogan met with u. S. Vice President Joe Biden who said the united ststates suppors turkeys efforts to control its borders. We believe very strongly that the Turkish Border must be controlled by turkey. That there should be no occupation of the border by any than whatsoever other syria that must be whole and united, but not carved in little pieces. Amy meanwhile, the britishbased syrian observatory for human rights says videos posted to a social media website on thursday depict carnage in the Bab Al Nayrab neighborhood of aleppo, where two barrel bombs were reportedly dropped, killing at least five people. The group also reported additional strikes across aleppo and its suburbs, saying the dead were mostly women and children. Juan the strikes came as the United Nations announced russia has agreed to a 48hour humanitarian truce in aleppo to permit aid deliveries, pending security guarantees arare met by partrties on the ground. The united n natio has b been pushing for a weekly 48hour hiatus in fighting in aleppo to assist the citys approximately two Million People who have been susuffering as s syrias s 5yed conflict continues to take a massive humanitarian toll. A separate United Nations team has concluded the Assad Government and isis militants carried out repeated chemical weapons attacks in syria in 2014 and 2015. The report accuses assad of twice using chlorine gas. It also accuses isis of using mustard gas. Amy all of this comes as u. S. Secretary of state john kerry and his russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov are meeting today in geneva to discuss details of a coopereration agemement on fightingng Islamic State in syr. For more, we are joined by an acclaimed scholar who hahas followed the region closely for years, Vijay Prashad. He is a professor of International Studies at Trinity College and columnist for the indian magazine frontline. His new book is called, the death of the nation and the future of the arab revolution. Professor prashads previous books include, arab spring, Libyan Winter and the poorer nations a possible history of the global south. Vijay prashad, welcome to democracy now it is great to have you in studio. So lets start with what is happening right now in turkey or vice President Joe Biden just was. The situation in turkey isis very dire. On july 15, there was the failed coup. But the matters and turkey have unraveveled long befefore this failed coup. The crackdown on reporters has been going on for at leastst a year and a half, if not longer. The internal politics of turkey has been in disarray. One of the interesting things about the government, previously, it started a Peace Process with the Kurdish Workers Party, the pkk, which the United States a and turkey sees as a terrorist outfit. It started a protracted Peace Process called the mraly process. This war in syria has essentially unraveled that Peace Process and the Turkish Military has gone back on the full offensive against the kurds in southeastern turkey as well as you saw this week the turkish army has crossed the border into syria to stop the advance of syrian kurds from creating what ae syrian kurds call statement of syrian kurds, which is run on the Turkish Border. The reason the operation is called Euphrates Shield is the euphrates runs in that region from north to south. And what the turkish government would like to see is the Syrian Democratic forces, which is a large kurdish component, to move back east of the euphrates. In other words, which raw from jarablus withdraw from jarablus, and therefore, prevent the creation of this kurdish statelet. On the surface, they say it is about isis, but really, this s about the protraracted war the turkish government has begun again against the kurds. Juan you mention the failed coup. New york times reported today that erodgan wanted to go into syria earlier, but the military was resisting. It was only as a result of his being able topurge and remove so many top military officers that now he has been able to affect this incursion. This is likely the case. But it has also been a situation, the system of the first turkish entry into syria. The turks have entered previously. The Turkish Military had. There is a celebrated shrine, memorial, to one of the founders of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Military had entered the secure that monument earlier. Turks kept their border open and it allowed supupplies and people to cross the border into various groups, whwhether it is turkishbacked proxy groups, saudi groups, qatari groups, and in fact, the Islamic State. They used for years the turkish order. I think the sheer instability of the war in syria has returned the conflict into turkey. The cia after the successful coup in iran in 1953 called blowback. This is in essence blowback against turkey. They had previously entered syria with the military. Now i think with the gains made by the kurds, this is as much a political entry as anything. The principal reasoson i would argue ththat in third jarablus s to stop the creation of amy we are talking to Vijay Prashad. We will continue this conversation after the break. Vijay prashad is a professor of International Studies at Trinity College and columnist for the indian magazine frontline. His new book is called, the death of the nation and the future of the arab revolution. We will talk about turkey, syria, libya, and also the u. S. Elections before we speak with Emma Thompson, the famed actress who is back in canada after going to the arctic. Stay with us. [music break] amy denizlerin dalgasiyim by selda bagcan. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. We are speaking with Vijay Prashad professor of , International Studies at Trinity College and author of a new book called, the death of the nation and the future of the arab revolution. I want to turn to a novelist who was just arrested. I want to talk about press freedom in turkey. It is reported tuturkish author has written about her treatment in prison since her arrest earlier this month after the government closed down the newspaper where she worked. She now faces a pending trial on terrorism charges and says she has been denied medication sufficient water for five days and is diabetic. She is one of many journalists and writers who have been arrested on charges of terrorism in turkey. About 10,000 people have been arrested since the coup or the attempted coup come a though erodgan arrested power back. Professor Vijay Prashad, what about this . She is one of the tens of thousands of people who have been arrested under the socalled suspicion that she was doing propaganda for the Kurdish Workers Party, the pkk. Here is a celebrated novovelista journalist for newspaper whose entire staff pretty much, the Editorial Staff has been arrested. Newspapers have been facing a great challenge inside turkey and broadcasters. If anybody has question the fact the turkish government has been allowing fighters to cross the border, they have been arrested. This has been happening for the last several years. That is why i say the failed coup of july 15 has just provided the government with the opportunity to go very deep into its list of those whom it sees as the center and pick them up. They have been going after for years. Anyone who charges the narrative of the war in sysyria, they consider a threat and they accuse them of being linked to the keep pkk. One of the simplest ways of delegitimizing somebody is to say their propapagandist for the pkk. That is precisely what they said to her. They also held her in solitary confinement. She has asked to go back i into general population. It is a humanitarian thing on the surface of it, and also this is summit with medical problems and they havee denied use of medication and a proper diet. But she is only one. As you noted, there are thousands of journalists who have been picked up. Sadly, a number of them are , independentalists journalists from the southwestern region of turkey who have been picked up. Juan you mention the Kurdish Workers Party. Clearlrly, turkey is a far more developed country the most of the other middle east countries in along with egypt, probably has the largest workingclass per se. Ties in turkeyy among the rest of the population . The Kurdish Workers Party starts as a principal he kurdish separatist force, force. Turkey is an interesting country. The largest kurdish population in the city is not in ththe southeast, but in istanbul. About 10 years ago or so, the kurdish workrkers party began to move from the position of secession is him to the position of more rights inside turkey. There has been a series of attempt to unite with the turkish left. Various small leftist parties to create a number ill a party both fight for rights of all kinds of people, gays and , inside, women, workers turkey. The most recent party of this kind was the hdp. It had in both elections in 2015, there were two parliamentary elections, did well enough to block mr. Erodgan s attempt to create a president ial form of government. In a sense, this domestic pressure from the hdp has also upturned the applecart as far as mr. Erodgans domestic concerns are concerned. Amy biden was just there. Biden wrote a piece a turkish paper and foreignpolicy has said that turkey has admitted that they have not given evidence that this man was behind the tinted coup. Explain overall the significance, for people who have never heard of him, it is not just about the pkk in turkey. The pkk provides the opportunity for the turkish government to go after a large number of journalists. Many of these journalists they have picked up our people of the left. Military, judiciary, and those sectors blamed on people with en movementto the gul or members of the gulen movement. When erodgan came to power in early 2000, 1 of the great fears of this kind of Islamist Movement was that they would suffer a coup by the military. The military, largely republican would go and overthrow them. So from the very beginning, the party of mr. Erodgan has been very careful not to antagonize the military. And through the early years, mr. Gulens movement and erodgan both collaborated in stuffing their people into the military and into the judiciary. In essence, this is now a family fight. The very people that they stuffed into the military and into the judiciary have of course now turned on mr. Erodgan. These peopleging from positions of authority. It is not untrue that the gulenists are inside the military and judiciary, but they could essentially be facilitating the islamization of these institutions. Movement, alen bizarre example of what is happening in education in the u. S. , runs the Largest Charter School Network in the United States. They have Charter Schools across the country, specially texas. And they are bringing in turkish educators to coming to the u. S. And work in the schools. Iv study that at all . I have not, but i read about it. The interesting feature is this Charter School movement, this push toward having faithbased schools in the u. S. Is so closely linked to the agenda not only in turkey, but pakistan another various places, and you see the downside of this, the promotion of a fear credit mindset, the promotion of a lack of appreciation of the diversity of populations, of minorities of science, things like that. So the United States im glad you raised this because the u. S. Is not outside this process. The United States is very much in this process, not only by promoting this overseas, but also promoting it from texas to new york. It is not only taxes. We like to think of texas as a sort of fashion of the american taliban, but the american ization is happening everywhere. Amy john kerry went to saudi arabia. Talk about saudi arabia and what is happening today and the u. S. Role in saudi arabia. Thiss is the momost important meeting and d it is important tt mr. Kerry were to saudi arabia before meeting lavrov in geneva. The reason i say this is, the russians the iranians and the americans have now come to the understanding that the process in syria cannot starart with the demand that mr. Assad has to go. Why i say this is turkey has in the last couple of weeks come to the same position. So the current Prime Minister of turkey has quite clearly said that they no longer require mr. Assad to leave as a precondition for the Peace Process, but he can stay as the Prime Minister for a traransitional period. The only powower in the r regio, socalled subjugating powers of the regegion, that is not accepd this view is saudi arabia. And to some extent, its allies. Saudi arabia is fighting ordinary brutal war in yemen. It is obstinate in that war. It is made no gains, despite the fact it has been bombing yemen for over a year. In the United States government has continued to resupply saudi arabia through this period. Amy the largest weapons sale in u. S. History. Onwhich mr. Obama justified economic grounds, which i thought was the most vulgar thing. A statement,d in his spokesperson said, that this is the largest weapons sale which benefits most of the states in the United States because they will have bits and pieces of manufacturing. The point i want to make is for mr. Kerry did be in saudi arabia is important because one of f te features that they need to be pushing is that saudi arabia needs to now adopt the view that 30s to be a long transitional process in syria. They cannot demand the mr. Assad is a precondition. Everyone else has accepted this except saudi arabia. Juan i want to turn to another country in the middle east, libya. Clearly, the u. S. Backed movement into libya, the regime chchange, the execution of qadhi has left in essence a failed state. Im wondering if you could talk about what has happened there and also the impact on all of north africa as a result of the situation in libya right now . The story in libya is not dissimilar to the story in iraq with Saddam Hussein or with syria, which we have just been talking about. The problem is these are all divided societies politically divided, to some extent, the neck in question of tribe should play a role, but they are politically divided societies. To resume that there is one bad guy who everybody hates is the most simplistic misundersrstaing of the mdldle east. The United Statess through nato conducted a regime change operation inside libya just as they did in iraq. In both instances when the strong man was captured, when Saddam Hussein was could that capture, when gaddafi was captured, with a set to the captors is revealing. They said we are willing to negotiate. United states was not interested in negotiating. You remember when gaddafi was essentially lynched on the streets, or clinton heard the news and laughed and said, we came, we saw, we killed we conquered. This kind of attitude toward countries like syria, libya, iraq matt mead to underestimate whatever support these people had. You underestimate the divided nature of these societies. The regime change in libya not only has continued with the destabilization of libya, but destabilized otherers. It hasas created problems in muh of northern africa. Amy and what did the u. S. Elections mean for what is taking place now . Look, you can see from your news report at the beginning that in domestic terms, there is a great difference between donald trump and hillaryry clinton. Donald trump is not only thing absorbed by the White Nationalists, but he appears to be a White Nationalist. But seen from the rest of the world, the dififference between the two is minimal. Here you have donald trump who is in many ways the erratic, god knows what he will do once he becomes president. Amy you think god knows what he will do . I think god knows what he will do. If the Republican Party was at such a place with ted cruz who said he would like to bomb syria to see the desert essentially be irradiated, if the Republican Party can see somebody like that godormal, as rational, then help us if the republicans are in charge of things. But lets take the case of Hillary Clinton. Here is somebody who actually pushed obama to go into the libyan operation post of obama was reticent to enter the operation in libya. The french are very eager. Hillary clinton led the charge against libya. This shows, to my mind, a profound dangerous tendency to thento war overseas, damn consequences. Therefore, if youre looking at this from outside the United States, there is a real reason to be terrified. Whoever becomes president , as Medea Benjamin put it to me in an interview, they will be a hawk and the white house. Amy you have an epilogue in your book yemen and palestine. Yes. If you consider there has been to situations where the bombing andbeen ruthless palestine, theres an occupation and it has been on for decades. But in the last 15 years, israel has, in a punctuated faction, bombed gaza. It has received diplomatic b backing by the west. It is not received the criticism it deserves by the socalled international committee. Yemen, since march 2015, has been ruthlessly bombed. The poorest arab country has been destroyed by the richest arab country. And nobody has been able to properly criticize the saudis because they havent essentially backed by the United States, rearmed by them, etc. The reason i put them together is there is International Sensibility to support the palestinian cause. Every time there is a bombing in gaza, there areemonstratitions, there e is heartfelt, i think,k, condemnation. Bubut with this bobombing in ye, theres virtual silence. The very people at are out on the streets demanding that israel stop palming gaza need to be out on the streets demanding that saudi arabia stop this murderous war against yemen. Juan how do you see the failure of the arab spring to consolidate any kind of Progressive Left movement in any of the countries we have been talking about . Why has it been so difficult . Firstly, the question of it arab spring is a misnomer. This is really a spring in some arab countries. It is interesting that most of the countries that were Arab Nationalist regime, relatively secular regimes, experienced the depth of the arab spring, not the monarchies. There was no real air of spring and jordan or morocco or saudi arabia and bahrain, one of the smallest monarchies, it was crushed. This arab spring was largely the spring of the exhaustion of arab nationalism. In that sense, we need to understand this was less and arab spring and more of the opening of an arab civil war. This civil war has been going on since the 1950s between Arab Nationalist governments and the monarchies, and the weakness of their own weakness, their own use of brutal means against the people, their own economic collapse has weakened them to such a point that when the uprisings began, the monarchies took advantage of it and entered into, in a sense, i would say, to destroy the capacity of ordinary people to build their own society. It is less and arab spring, more and arab civil war the monarchies seem to have one. Amy i want to make sure we touch on this, you wrote recently about kashmir saying deadly violence erupts in one of the most dangerous hotspots, Vijay Prashad. Amy, if we were going to be politicall scientists, lets ask what the ratio of secured he force to population Security Force the population. In kashmir, for every civilian, for every seven civilians, there is a Security Force there is an army officer or army personnel. That is seven to one. Seven civilians, one army person. If this is not an occupation, what else is it . The league needs to come to terms with the fact that you cannot have any politics when you have such enormous military presence inside kashmir. Theres no point talking about the details of this, amy, and tell this is on the table and , every thingcussed as follows. Amy and for what people should understand youre not following kashmir at all . Kashmir is also a divided society. The rally where the deepest resentment against thehe Indian Government is experienced, were the main demonstration seven happening, but also the area of a complicated area where there is much less political resentment against the Indian Government. Kashmir itself is a divided it is a divided state. There is a divided politics there. The Indian Government needs to have a proper full dialogue with the various parties toward an understanding of what the future should be. Should t the future bebe some kd of condomininium created betetwn india and pakistan of kashmir . Should the future be there are more rights for people . Should it be the removal of the indian army in this norm is present . This days to be a political process. There is that easy formula. Amy Vijay Prashad, thank you for being with us professor of , International Studies at Trinity College and columnist for the indian magazine frontline. His new book the death of the , nation and the future of the arab revolution. When we come back, the famed actress, thompson has just come back from a visit to the arctic where she has been before. Why . Stay with us. [music break] amy and we walk by taina asili. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we turn now to the Academy Award winning actress emma thompspson. I forgave you. What can you not be honest for once in our life and set your life, juan yes, that was Emma Thompson in remains of the day. And thisis is emma thompmpson ie film wit, when she played anan english professor who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I i have cancer witith pernis side e effects. No, the treatment h has pernicis siside effects. M metastatice four ovarian canancer. Ththere is no stage five. Oh, and have to be very tough. It appears to be a mass, as the saying goes, life and death. I know all about life and death. I am, after all, a professor of 17thcentury poetry. Y. And i know foror a fact i amam. Professor, ng demanding professor, a compromising. Amy while Emma Thompson is one of the most celebrated british actresses,s, she is also a longtime activist. She has just returned from a trip to the arctic aboard the greenpeace ship the arctic sunrise. I suppose the inunuit here ae the front line, but actually, we are here t to defend them and ourselves because ithe arctic forced. Hehen we a are all we know if we dont keep the temperature at 1. 5 degrees, we in big, big trouble. Juan earlier this month, greenpeace arctic sunrise sailed to the town of clyde river in the canadian province of nunavut. Ththe town has been leading efforts against the oil industry blasting the atitic in its search for oil and g gas. Two years s ago, thompson joinid another greenpeace expedition to protest drilling in n the arctic and to research the e impact Climate Change has already been having on ththe region. Amy well, Emma Thompson joins us now from toronto, canada. Emma thompson, welcome to democracy now why were you just in the arctic . Thanks, amy, it is a great honor to be on democracy now thank you for inviting me. I was invited by the inuit with greenpeace, because i have been working with examine thee and human landscape and what the effects of Climate Change were having on the culture there and life there, but also to help to stand shoulder to shoulder in theieir battle against seismic blasting, which is a disastrous course of action not only for the community, for the global committee. Juan what exactly is the seismic blasting and what is its purpose . Im glad you asked. I knew it was bad, but i did not know quite how bad it was until the most extraordinary marine biologist who specializes in the effective seismic blasting upon Marine Mammals give a lecture on it. It involves the pushing out of extremely high pressured shots of air. It is noise. Sound. The sound has to travel over thousands of kilometers, hit whatever they can find, and come back to the ship stuff it is prospecting, really, to see where they can drill for oil and gas. Marine mammals b basically seeee through their ears. The effective seismic blasting, because of the noise it makes, it is equivalent to half a ton of dynamite going off. It is like an underground volcano. It happens every 10 seconds for months on end without cease. You can imagine the effect on these Large Mammals who use their ears to see, to communicate, to organize it is how they live. It is a disastrous the ultimate irony is the region is melting because of oil and gas being overused. The oil and gas companies, instead of saying we have an ecodisaster, lets stop, theyre clapping their hands, prospecting for more stuff that melted it in the first instance. It is a kind of cataclysmic carousel of greed and instruction. Amy Emma Thompson, why did you choose to go with greenpeace on the arctic sunrise . Mine,l, a great friend of joanna kerr, so when i traveled with a lot on activist journeys, she became the executive director of greenpeace canada and said ,em, you know how we keep trying to make the connectition between Climate Change and human rights, and it is very difficult lots of charities and ngos or in sililo. It c can no longerer carry on le ththat. Wewe have to m make the connects between everything, conflicict, womemens rirights, human ghts, change everything is connected. In a a sense, i suppose grgreene seems to me toto be the organizazation making those m mt successfully at t e m minute and theyey havethis created a relationonip with a community ththat had prereviousy wounded d badly in the past, the campaign agastst the seal hunt, commerercial feel hunting had dedevastatingg impact on the lie of inuit up in thehe north. ,here are no rude words greenpeace is one of them. That is the only one they have, theyey tell us. They issued a formal apology. This was a spiritual act, really. She issued it not knowing whether it would reach anyone, whether anyone would hear it. An extraordinary man who i was like enough to meet and speak and with read this apology he is been personally deeply affected by this campaign. His parents had suffered greatly. He hated greenpeace. Hated greenpeace. He saw this apology and decided that, in the process of struggling with the seismic battle threat and thought, these people might be able to help. You want to the elders and said, i would like to reach out. He did. They had a conversation. He rang them andnd they had a conversation, and started to work on the campaign that owes lucky enough to be a part of recently. I think that one of the most striking things about this journey was jerry saying to us all, this apology and my reaching out in this coming together has yield something healed something inside me, healed the anger. We were intimately connected. If you wanted someone, while someone, theres always an intimate connection, weather continues to be destructive depends on how you deal with the wound afafter it has been made. Some ofwant to turn to the residents of clyde river. This video features the towns former mayor Jerry Natanine and hihis daughter clara. Blast the oceanan with seismc cannons. It is a distraction mission. Itit can affect the seaa mammal. Juan that was jerry and his daughter clara. I wanted to ask youou, haveve yu gotttten any sense as to whether the new government in canada is more receptive to these issues than the prior government . Well, they ought to be. Prime and is to trudeau just signed recently the human declaration to the rights of indigenous people. That is very good. This country having held back on that for some years. That is excellent. He was also present at the paris agreement. He and obama issued an excellent statement on the a arctic. It seems to me this is a confluence of events. Now we have a spotlight on the arctic and trudeau has fantastic opportunitity to put his words into a action. Because this case will set a prececedence foror the right of indigenous peoples. It is not just about food security, it is about food sovereigignty. What is happppening in the arctc with t the seismicic blasting ge is, what is being threatened is her nationhood, not just the fofood that they eat. Not justst the climate. Itit is the actual soverereignt. They were not prproperly consululted. Ththat is the e issue uponon whh this casase rests. To me,e, looking at it as an outsider and someone passionately interested, trudeau is now in a position to do what governments for many decades have refused to do, act on the, change agreement he made, act on the declaration of rights tradition is peoples, and set a precedence that has long, long been overdue. Amy Emma Thompson, you went to the arctic before in 2014. Now you want with your teenaged daughter. Have you seen changes just in these last few years . When my daughter came with me to the arctic, when we went where we were looking at the landscape itself, the graveyard thereciers that sits up surrounded by this made scientists who have been watching them disappear for the last 20 years, it was a very differenent kind of journey. I am coming to a different part of the arctic. I am seeing the same effects on the landscape we were looking at these extraordinary peaks and ross encapsulations and mountains. But they are bare. This is granite. It is not in the light of day for 15,000 years. In our companions, our inuit companions are saying, when we were little and used to come out on the ice, the ice would be overhanging. I was seeing in the landscape the same signs of the destruction of t the arctic and theayed again, as we know, ice on the polls is what helps to keep it is absolutely essential if we want to keep the temperature of our world from rising to dangerous levels. There is no question about the fact that governments s around e world absolutely have to put a stop to any notion of drilling for oil and gas in the arctic. That is absolutely out of the question. We need to make those treaties right now. We need toto protect it t right. Amy i want you to weigh in on u. S. Politics because one of your countrymen just came here you may not know this because youre the arctic. Donald trump has called Climate Change a hoax. On wednesday, british politician nigel farage joined trump at a Campaign Rally in mississippi. He is one of the leaders of britains campaign to leave the European Union known as brexit. Trump has praised brexit say that it is people have taken back their country. Endorse t trump, but he did slam m hillary clint. If i was an american citizen, i would not vote for hilillary clintoton if you paiaid me. You can go o out. You can beat the pollsters. You can beat the commentators. You can beat washington. And you will do it by doing what we did to brexit in britain. Amy that is nigel farage, a leader of the brexit movement. Emma thompson, now that you have heard what he had to say, your comments of his foray into u. S. Election politics . Well, there are no words, rereally. He is ae nationalist, a White Nationalist. That is what dononald trump is. So it is very distressing. Amy what do you mean by White Nationalist . When you say what nationalist, what do you mean . Lessfeel in some ways, the said about donald trump, the better. I do see this as a terrifying situation. Actually, mr. Per shot prashad was a wonderful. He said from the outside, looking in. Obviously, if i were an american citizen, i would vote for clinton. One of the reasons for that is she understands the reality of Climate Change. It is extraordinary that any person w with anything between their two years couldld deny Climate Change at this point. That is an act of such extraordinary denial, 90 of te world signed just coming out and saying, you know what . Even the ivy cc, which is gentley sort of a commentator on the set, we are in really big trouble now and we really have to act. Power, he get into will have an awful lot to deal with on that front. It is terrifying from every point of view. I did agree with mr. Prasha amy Emma Thompson, we have to yayaxaxaxaxa