Pennsylvania alleging Donald Trumps campaign and the Republican Party are conspiring to threaten and intimidate voters on election day in violation of the Voting Rights act and the 1871 ku klux klan act. We will speak to carol anderson, author white rage the unspoken truth of our racial divide. Plus, we look at morocco where thousands have taken to the streets after a fish seller was crushed to death in a garbage truck trying to retrieve fish confiscated by police. And we will go to iceland where the pirate party made big gains in Sundays National elections. Change the system so they become more functional and more humane towards the people that need to live by them. And make a we will speak with Birgitta Jonsdottir, who cofounded the pirate party of iceland. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In election news, controversy continues to swirl over fbi director james comeys announcement to congressional leaders that the agency is investigating more emails as part of its probe into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server. The emails were discovered as part of a probe into Congress Member anthony weiner, the estranged husband of top clinton aide huma abedin, who is under investigation after he sent illicit sext messages to an underaged girl. On monday, the fbi says it began to load the emails into a Computer Program for analysis, although its still not clear whether the investigation will be finished by election day, exactly a week away. The Clinton Campaign is attacking fbi director james comey, accusing him of a double standard after claims surfaced monday that comey argued earlier this month against naming russia as meddling in the u. S. Election and investigating a potential connection between russia and the Truck CampaignTrump Campaign because he thought it was too close to election day. Also on monday, a spokesperson with the office of special counsel indicated comey himself may be under investigation for potentially violating the hatch act, which prohibits employees of the executive branch from engaging in political activity. Comey was first appointed to be deputy u. S. Attorney general of president george w. Bush in 2003, then was appointed to be fbi by president obama. To see mondays interview with Michael Isikoff go to our , website, democracynow. Org. A New York Times investigation based on newly obtained documents has revealed donald trump avoided paying tens of millions of dollars in federal income taxes in the late 1990s by using a tax maneuver that was later outlawed by congress, and was even at the time so legally questionable that his own , lawyers cautioned him against using it. The maneuver included simply refusing to report hundreds of millions of dollars of canceled bt, which the irs consers to be taxable income. Steven rosenthal of the Tax Policy Center said whatever loophole existed was not exploited here, but stretched beyond any recognition. Donald trump has continued to refuse to release his tax returns. Democratic Party StrategistDonna Brazile has resigned from cnn after emails released by wikileaks showed brazile shared some questions for a cnnhosted democratic primary debate in flint, michigan, with Hillary Clintons campaign ahead of the debate between clinton and vermont senator Bernie Sanders in the march primaries. Brazile was a paid commentator for cnn. One of the emails brazile wrote to Clinton Campaign chairman john podesta had the subject line one of the questions directed to hrc tomorrow is from a woman with a rash, and read her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will hillary do as president to help the people of flint. North carolina senator richard burr is under fire after audio surfaced of him joking about a picture of Hillary Clinton on the cover of a gun magazine and saying he was shocked it didnt have a bullseye on it. Listen carefully. Nothing would make me feel any better than i want in to the shop yesterday, there was a copy of on the counter. It is a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it. I was shocked it did not have a bullseye on it will stop [laughter] amy that is North Carolina senator richard burr, who supports donald trump. Drop trump has been accused of inciting violence after he suggested the Second Amendment people could assassinate Hillary Clinton while speaking at a Campaign Rally in august in North Carolina. The guardian is reporting a u. S. Airstrike in iraq has killed eight civilians, including three children, after the familys home outside mosul was struck twice. The United States has confirmed it carried out airstrikes in that region on october 22, but it has not confirmed it killed civilians. This comes amid the u. S. Backed offensive aimed at retaking the city of mosul from isis. The u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, samantha power, has spoken out against the u. S. Backed Saudiled Coalition airstrikes in yemen during a u. N. Security council meeting, saying there is absolutely no military solution to this conflict. This comes after at least 60 people were killed and scores on when Saudiled Coalition saturday warplanes bombed a security complex near the red sea. Despite powers condemnation, the u. S. Continues to supply saudi arabia with intelligence, airborne fuel tankers and advanced weaponry in the ongoing war in yemen. This is the u. N. Special envoy of the secretary general for yemen. We all need to ask, how long will yemenis remain hostage . What are the parties waiting for , to sign a political agreement . Have they not understood there are no winners in wars . Amy in turkey, police raided the Istanbul Office of the prominent cumhuriyet newspaper, detaining at least 12 journalists and administrators on terrorism charges. The newspaper also reports its editor and one of its columnists were detained after their homes were raided by turkish police. The cumhuriyet won the 2016 right livelihood award. That is widely considered the alternative nobel. The situation in turkey continues to get extremely serious. This comes amid an ongoing crackdown in turkey following the failed military coup in july. On saturday, the turkish government fired an additional 10,000 Civil Servants and ordered 15 news outlets to shut down. In china, at least 13 miners have died after an explosion at an underground coal mine in southwest china monday night. At least 20 more miners are currently missing. This is the deputy mayor of the chongqing municipality, where the explosion occurred. Rescuers found some collapsed tunnels and poisonous and harmful gas in some areas, exceeding standards. After verification, we have found 13 trapd people tt have no signs of life and are still searching for other trapped people. In alabama, at least one worker has died and five have been hospitalized after a section of the Colonial Pipeline exploded in shelby monday. This comes after the same pipeline leaked nearly 340,000 gallons of gasoline in Central Alabama in september, forcing the line to shut down for 12 days and leading six governors to declare states of emergency as gas prices rose throughout the region. The Colonial Pipeline carries 1. 3 Million Barrels of gasoline a day down to refineries in texas and louisiana, accounting for a full 40 of the regions gasoline. In more pipelinerelated news, this in north dakota, the department of Emergency Services has requested an additional 4 million from the state in order to continue the Police Crackdown against the resistance to the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. The Emergency Services department has already received and spent 6 million to police the resistance movement, led by the Standing Rock sioux tribe and members of over 200 other nations and tribes from across the americas. This comes as a United NationsAdvisory Group is investigating possible human rights abuses by Law Enforcement against native American Water protectors. Australias Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull has sparked outrage over his proposal to impose a lifetime ban on all Asylum Seekers who attempt to reach australia by boat. He has vowed to introduce the legislation into parliament next week. In lebanon, parliament has elected a new president , former Army Commander michel aoun. Lebanon has been without a president for 2. 5 years. In his inaugural speech, michel aoun announced hed send some of the 1. 5 llion syan refugees living in lebanon back to wartorn syria. The Free Alabama Movement is reporting that incarcerated organizer Kinetik Justice is being denied water by prison officials at the kilby correctional facility. Justice was transferred to kilby from holman, where he helped launch a nationwide work strike. He has been on Hunger Strike since october 21 to protest his transfer. He now says prison officials have turned off the water in his cell. Pastor kenneth glasgow, the outside spokesperson for the Free Alabama Movement, said they are trying to kill him. This is Kinetik Justice speaking about the prison strike on democracy now in september. A work strike. Ally, around 12 clock 12 30 at night, they send for the kitchen workers, those who will prepare the breakfast meal. When those people do not report to work, they initiate a prison left down lockdown. Leadership is really required because you have to try to keep a balance. [indiscernible] violence try to insert , saying we have a riot or sometime amy and in sports news, tonight is game 6 of the world series in cleveland between the chicago cubs and the cleveland indians. Native american groups are seeking to have clevelands team drop its moniker, indians and its mascot chief wahoo, which many consider a grotesque and racist caricature. This comes as in ohio, a High School Cheerleading squad is under fire for unveiling a racist banner at a Football Game friday night. The message by the greenfieldmcclain cheerleaders targeted rival hillsboro high school, whose mascot is the indians. The banner read hey indians, get ready for a trail of tears part 2. The trail of tears refers to the forced relocation of native americans beginning in the 1830s. Thousands died as they were forced from their homes into oklahoma. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The Democratic Party has filed lawsuits in four battleground states ohio, arizona, nevada, and pennsylvania alleging Donald Trumps campaign and the Republican Party are conspiring to threaten, intimidate, and thereby prevent minority voters in urban neighborhoods from voting. The lawsuits cite the Voting Rights act and the 1871 ku klux klan act. In its filing, the ohio Democratic Party right trump has sought to advance his campaigns goal of Voter Suppression by using the loudest microphone in the nation to implore his supporters to engage in unlawful intimidation. The suits also name trump adviser roger stone and his super pac stop the steal. Trump has repeatedly urged his supporters to monitor polling booths on election day. Mr. Trump you have to go out. You have got to go out and you have got to get your friends, and you have to get everybody you know, and you got to watch your polling booths. I hear too many stories about pennsylvania come a certain areas. I hear too many bad stories, and we cannot lose an election because of you know what i am talking about. So go and vote and then go check out areas because a lot of bad things happen. We dont want to lose for that reason. We dont want to lose, but we especially we do not want to lose for that reason. So go over and watch, and watch carefully. Amy in related news, the North Carolina naacp filed a federal lawsuit monday seeking an immediate injunction to stop the state in various county boards of elections from a legally canceling the registrations of thousands of voters. The naacp says africanamerican voters are being targeted in a coordinated effort to support the black vote in North Carolina. Meanwhile, a prominent White Nationalist is sponsoring robo calls in the state of utah to urge voters to back trump over the thirdparty candidate Evan Mcmullen. Some polls show Evan Mcmullen, who is norman, could be trump and utah. They feature William Johnson of the leader of the White NationalistAmerican Freedom party. My name is William Johnson. I am a farmer and White Nationalist. I make this call against Evan Mcmullen and in support of donald trump. Open bordern is an supporter. Ps two mommies. His mother is a lesbian. Evan is ok with that. Evan supports the Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. He is over 40 years old and is not married and does not even have a girlfriend. I believe he is a closet homosexual. Do not vote for Evan Mcmullen. Vote for donald trump. Amy with the election just seven days away, we are joined now by carol anderson, professor of African American studies at emory university. She is author of the new book, white rage the unspoken truth of our racial divide. There is a lot to talk about in this election, professor anderson. Lets begin with this suit being brought by the state democratic theys in key states saying truck organization, that the Trump Campaign is violating the klan act. Explain. And it is very simple. As i laid out in white rage part of when they gain access to the Citizenship Rights, you see a wave of policies emanate out of congress, out of the white those gains,k back those advancements. We saw that after the civil war with reconstruction. Now, move this forward. Part of what were seeing now is the backlash to obamas election. We saw a wave of Voter Suppression laws come up. When you look at these key battleground states and the things they are doing, they are vintage. They go back to the era of jim crow and after the civil war when the point was, how do we intimidate these newly freed people who now have their Citizenship Rights . How do we strip them of those rights . One, massive voter intimidation. Being at the polls with rifles. It has been a series of laws coming on from literacy test and grandfather clauses and poll taxes all of those things for disenfranchisement. We moved to the Voting Rights act of 1965. Then we get to Shelby County v holder the Supreme Court gutted it. This is what we see is the result. Amy i want to go back to the civil war reenactment. You mention the war. Slaves are freed, and what happens . What happens is they dont get free. Immediately hit with a thing called the black coat. The black codes required the newly freed people design labor contracts with plantation owners and mine owners and lumber mill owners. If they refused to sign the labor contract, then they could be arrested. Then have their labor sold. They would be put on the auction block. Their labor then sold to the highest bidder. They would not be able to leave. Ntil that fine was paid off it also said they could not carry weapons to be able to hunt or they could not fish, so they could not even feed themselves. They had to work. And they could not leave that plantation owner or mine owner for a year. If they left for better wages, better working conditions, they could be arrested, charged with vagrancy, and their labor auctioned off. Amy what about voting . They couldwas not vote. The is why you have to have 15th amendment coming in in about 1870, providing the right to vote because that thing of moving from property to citizen ,as so important abhorrent so repulsive to white southerners, that they did everything in their power to strip African Americans of their Citizenship Rights. Amy your book is called, white rage the unspoken truth of our racial divide. Talk about the white rage that you are witnessing today. That rage covers itself. I dont actually mean the klan and the cross burning, because that is simple. In this society, we know how to identify that. This is the much mores huddle, the much more destructive type of racial violence. It emanate out of congress, out of the Supreme Court, out of state legislatures, and it is designed to infect undercut black aspirations and advancement. So we see that, for instance, when trump at the president ial debate, and they said, how would you handle issues of racial healing and the racial divide . That sumive got words and refuses to say, that is law and order is good and that is stop and frisk. That is a dog whistle. Those are policies that in fact undermine Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights act of 65 that led to mass disenfranchisement so that you have almost 8 of the black population unable to vote. Amy lets go to donald trump in North Carolina instructing security guards to remove black man from the crowd, describing him as a thu mr. Trump we have a protester by the way, were you paid 1500 to be a thug . Where is the . Was he paid . You can get him out. T him ou out. Amy while donald trump described the man as a protester, it turned out he was actually a trump supporter. 63yearold cj kerry said he went to the rally to give trump a letter. Professor anderson . And for all of trumps outreach to the black committed to, there was no outreach. The point was his racism was so palpable that it was turning off white educated voters, so he tried to smooth that adage. But in fact, the racism that is undermining undergirding his campaign is there so he rs is labeled a sub. This was a businessman who was a trump supporter. That gives you the policy perspective that trump will enact if he becomes president. Amy what were you must surprised by as you researched white rage . I was surprised at how white rageand supple was. How inconsistently used the language of democracy, the language of freedom, the language of protecting the integrity of the ballot box as a means to undermine and undercut. So we get not only the Shelby County v holder which got of the Voting Rights act, but in the brown decision where the Supreme Court has said separate that evil cannot be the law of the land, and watching these people who say they are inherently about democracy, in fact, undermining that democracy by violating court orders, consistently over and over again. Kind of like what were seeing right w as the Fourth Circuit has told North Carolina, your Voter Suppression laws cant and and they keep doing it. Amy i want to ask about other developments this week. Jury selection began on monday and two high profile murder trials, White Police Officers who killed unarmed black man. In ohio, the former university of Cincinnati Police officer ray tenzing shot and killed 43yearold sam dubose last year after stopping him for not having a front license plate. And then there is the case in north charleston, south carolina, officer Michael Slater facing a murder charge after a bystander filmed him shooting 50yearold walters got in the back as he ran away. In that case, walter scott was stopped by the Police Officer as he was driving into the autozone shop right nearby for i think it was a broken tail light. He was stopped for the taillight up being shot by the Police Officer. The Justice Department inveigation into the choking death of an armed africanamerican eric garner by Daniel Pantaleo is in disarray. The New York Times reported last week the new yorkbased fbi agents of federal prosecutors are no longer assigned to the investigation. They did not feel the officer should be charged. It leaves prosecutors with the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division in charge, making a far more likely officers will face criminal charges. Part of what were seeing right here is the policy of stop and frisk, which came after the advances of the civil rights movement. Stop and frisk is based on the broken windows area policing. It says, what we have to do if we stop these minor crimes, then we can stop the big ones form happening. From happening. In fact, you get the criminalization of blackness. In new york city, for instance, although blacks and latinos made up 50 of the population, they accounted for 84 of those stopped. Although twice as many weapons were found on a handful of white that were stopped as opposed to blacks and latinos. Is this was really about Law Enforcement, you would see greater policing of the white population. This is about Something Else. What were seeing in the case of the broken tail light in terms of the expired tags, that is that hyper policing that is going on because of stop and frisk and it leads to the death of black people. Amy you have linked a problem with policing today to education. You say we would not face anything like this today if what . If brown had really been implemented. Part of what we know is what a solid, quality education is in terms of employment and health, in terms of Voting Rights all of those things are linked to education. But brown, after brown, the state fought back so intensely, even to the point where they shut down Public School system for five years. It is like you were in school and the fifth grade in your school doesnt open until you are in the 10th grade . The states fought back so hard that were ending up with large numbers of africanamericans who do not have the quality education, that they have a constitutional right to. So now were asking the police force to then deal with those issues emanating out of poverty, emanating out of the lack of quality education. Uss what how the president bill Clintons Administration when it comes to issues of white rage, black disempowerment, black empowerment, and then Hillary Clinton . For bill clinton, part of what i see is he went the route of the southern strategy. The blackso play to as criminals. This is where you see and blacks as welfare chiefs. This is where you see his workforce legislation. This is where you see the kind of hyper policing with super predators and all of that. And this led again, it felt into the mass incarceration of the black population. What bill clinton would do is he tried to play culturally black. That was coming a, the saxophone on arsenio, but the way his policies worked were in fact very antiblack. With hillary, what i see is that she was there with him in the 1990s. Amy lets go to that moment in 1996 when she was first lady, when she described some africanamerican youth a super predators. Mrs. Clinton they are often the kind of kids called super predats. No conscnce, november the. We can talk about why they ended up that way, the first we have to bring them to heel. Amy in flint, michigan, earlier this year, clinton was asked about her comments again. Secretary clinton, in 1996 him you used the term super predators to describe some young kids. Some feel it was racial code. Was it, and were you yarn wrong to use that term . I was speaking about drug cartels and criminal activity that was very concerning to folks across the country. I think is a poor choice of words. I never used it before and have not used it since. I would not use it again. Amy so that was a Hillary Clinton during the primaries when she was debating Bernie Sanders. Your comments, professor anderson . My comments are when i see was int is like hillary that moment in 1996 right along with bill, and now that she realizes the demographics and the Democratic Party have changed in the Democratic Party have changed, that coding does not work as well, does not play as well. You see her stepping back. I think part of what im also seeing, frankly, has been the pushing on that from the black lives matter activists who are helping her in the bernie folks who are helping her begin to see what Structural Racism actually does in the society. Ict, when she mentions think was in one of the president ial debates that we have to deal with Structural Racism, that was a major move forward. And that requires consistent dealure be put on her to with what that really means policywise. So it cant just be a slogan that gets dropped during the president ial campaign. Amy carol anderson, thank you very much for being with us. Carol anderson is professor of African American studies at emory university. Her new book is called white , rage the unspoken truth of our racial divide. When we come back from break, we go to iceland to speak with a poet and activist Birgitta Jonsdottir, cofounder of the pirate party that made major gains in iceland. That is the Anarchist Party of iceland. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In iceland, the pirate party made big gains in Sundays National elections, raising the prospect it will form a Coalition Government with other leftwing parties. The pirates won 10 seats in icelands 63member parliament, up from three in the last election. Pirate party leader Birgitta Jonsdottir hailed the result. Talked about what to expect, you know, maybe get somewhere if we couldo 15 and get 15, we would have tripled our last election. So we are just thrilled. Amy the pirate party hopes to pass the worlds first crowdsourced constitution. Its core platform calls for direct democracy, freedom of expression, civil rights, net neutrality, and transparency. The pirates saw their popularity surge in april after icelands Prime Minister resigned following revelations he and his wife used an offshore company to conceal millions of dollars worth of investments. Women also won big in this weekends elections, taking 30 seats in icelands parliament more than any other party. With female candidates winning nearly half of the seats, iceland now reportedly has the most equal parliament in the World Without a quota system. On sunday, icelands current Prime Minister sigurdur ingi johannsson of the Progressive Party officially resigned a formality as the government did not get a majority. He announced his departure on National Television after his centerright party lost more than half of its seats in parliament. Well, for more, we go now to reykjavik, iceland, where were joined by Birgitta Jonsdottir, member of the Icelandic Parliament and cofounder of the countrys pirate party. Poet activist, web developer, former wikileaks activist chairperson of the international , modern media institution. Birgitta jonsdottir, welcome to democracy now thank you for having me on, amy. In iceland, we have some serious crisis. With the fifthlargest financial crisis in the history of humankind since 2008. It was a rude awakening for most icelanders. Everything they have sort of put their trust in has failed them. Ever since then, i have been part of trying to get different types of people to Work Together on a collective goal. One of the goals that the people were calling for in all of the big protests in the wake of the crisis is that we would get to make our own constitution collectively. We have currently a constitution that is a 72yearold draft that was given to us by the danish king when we gained our independence in 1944. On this platform, the pirate party was built on a platform of ,ransparency, accountability right in cyberspace being sort of like robin hood when it comes to taking the power from the powerful and giving it to the people. In many ways, many people find it strange that we call ourselves the pirate party, but if you look at robin hood, he might have been a part as well. If you look at those definitions. Amy so explain what has happened now. Ome polls had you winning you would have been the next Prime Minister. Explain what happened. You still made big aims gains. In 2012. Formed we got 5. 1 in 2013. We tripled our following in three years. Parrotf the oldschool knew we could never get much more than around 15 . It wouldve been great if we could have gotten 20 . But we feel extremely thankful that 15 of icelanders feel confident about being pirates, being agents of change in society. So what sort of happened in the Election Campaign was that we got the machine against us. We had very little money. We had to be creative. We ran our Campaign Just on our issues instead of attacking our opponents, like you see very much in the president ial campaign in your country. We did not want to go to that level. We just got the machine. The machine of the established party is very powerful and they have people everywhere. So the fact that we still managed to get so much support despite all of the attacks and underming, was great. We also decided to do a huge risk to weeks before elections. We held a press conference where we announced that we wanted to invite four parties to have discussions with us before elections so that the voters could have a clear choice. In iceland, you have always Coalition Parties running governors after the election. Usually, the parties go into the elections without announcing who theyre going to work with after the elections. So everybody that voted for us to the left greens, the social democrats, to be absolutely sure after these negotiations that they were not voting for the panama government. The conservative party and the progressives. But that was risky. It has never been done before. We also wanted to tell our voters if we had to compromise about anything. So there was this one thing the other parties did not agree on. We suggested to have a shortterm in order to implement the constitution as quickly as possible. We just told our voters, there is no compromise. Take us or leave us. Despitegot nearly 15 taking chances for healthier democracy. Amy what exactly happens now . How do you form the government . These are Interesting Times because we have an opportunity to be sort of a kingmaker in these negotiations. Like, better first Parliamentary Group meeting two days ago where we decided that in order to facilitate the possibility of a much broader scope of a governance because there are seven parties now that were elected. That has never happened before. And we really feel it is important we offer Something Else other than the corrupt parties were forced to have elections earlier and it is obvious we cannot tackle corruption, which was one of our main agendas before this election with these parties. Thee offered to support. Overnment with three parties also, another thing that i feel very happy about is that before the elections when it looked like i could be a Prime Minister, i could actually say if i were ever to be in that position of power, that i could take the idea of power and bring it into the parliament and seek to be the speaker of the house instead of the Prime Minister. This worldents in are so weak, theyre governed and rolled by the executive branch. That is a big problem with how we run our societies. Amy lastly, thousands of female employees across iceland walked out of work places at exactly 2 38 p. M. To protest against earning less than men. One headline read, women in iceland protest countries 14 pay gap by leaving work 14 early. Yes, so this was icelanders have been doing quite innovative things in order to get womens equality in action. Massive there was a womens strike in iceland that completely changed the way things progressed after that. Women actually walked out of work and it was a massive strike exactly at the same time as they were not paid equally to the men. Then there was an interesting experiment. Party, womens only party, in many ways their inspired by what they did to facilitate change. So they created this party. They got elected and they gained ground in second elections. Well, them, we have much more inequality in the parliament. Much more women than before. Anynow without any force or quotas, we have almost 50 50 men and women in the party. In my own party, we do not have quota on were, you know, the seats, list that run for but still we managed to have totally 50 50. Because there is this awareness that, of course, you should select both men and women when youre choosing who to run for the party. Amy the pirate party has offered Edward Snowden political asylum in iceland or once iceland to offer that . I actually wrote a letter, an open letter when he sought asylum in iceland and urged him not to do it. I have urged him to apply for citizenship because you have much more you have much stronger protections against extradition if you are a citizen rather than asylum seeker. Thepirate party this was first bill the pirates could in in 2013, to offer him citizenship. If he asks for citizenship, we will definitely put the bill hold because it is a pirate party policy. I just want to go over one thing one thing, stress we want president obama to do one thing right, and that is to pardon chelsea manning, the courageous whistleblower who has been serving in prison for many years and still has around 30 truthto go for bringing over war crimes conducted not only in the name in the United States, but with partner states that were participating through nato. Very important for iceland to know what is being done in our name and should be important for everybody else in the world, specifically in the United States. Amy finally, your view, having just gone through your elections , of our elections in the United States, a donald trump and Hillary Clinton . Oh, my god. We have a saying when it comes to the election. You have somehow managed to create a system that it is impossible for ordinary people to run. Thankfully, for example, the pirate party in iceland, only has normal people that just was to be part of cocreating their society. I occasionally look at my ortter stream and trump clinton and i lose my faith in humanity because of the level of this campaign. It is terrible there is no possibility for a multitude of to, you know, be the most powerful person in the world. Certainly, everybody that i know feels uncomfortable for either. The choices are really bad. So maybe, you know, the American People could do something historical and collect everybody not happy with trump or clinton to vote for a third choice. Amy i see the turnout in iceland was nearly 80 . 79. 2 will step as we wrap up, what words of advice do you have to the u. S. Population, where we barely get over half the population in this country voting . Well, first of all, simplify the process. It is so complicated to run. And the right for prisoners to vote. We actually went to the big prison to talk to the prisoners to encourage them to vote. They have the right to vote in iceland. If you conduct some sort of criminal behavior, talking like smoking pot or something, then it is outrageous that the modern democracy strips away the fundamental right to vote. Simplify the system. I think that is the demand the west people should have before the next election cycle. Please, have the cycle shorter. This is like killing everybody, this long campaign. Not only in the United States, but elsewhere. Just to get endless news about some personality flaws for people instead of actually getting to know the policy these candidates are running with is so strange to us. It is like sort of a reality show. I just want to say, one last thing, were not really an Anarchist Party because anarchism in many lies is about black blocks or whatever, were more about citizens engagement. Facilitate ways for the public to take responsibility in society and to help facilitate and draw from the masses what is needed to do in order to power ties how we run our society. Amy Birgitta Jonsdottir, thank you for being with us. On the issue of smoking pot, we will be looking at Ballot Initiatives this week, at this point Something Like 5 of americans can smoke pot without facing criminal charges. If ballots have their way in a number of states, it will go up to 25 of the u. S. Population will be able to use pot without facing criminal charges. Birgitta jonsdottir, thank you so much for being with us member , of the Icelandic Parliament and cofounder of the countrys pirate party. Also poet, activist, web developer, and a former wikileaks activist. Birgitta jonsdottir is the chairperson of the International Modern media institution. When we come back, thousands of moroccans took to the streets this weekend. We will find out why. Stay with us. [music break] a this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to morocco, where thousands of people have been protesting across the country after a fish seller was crushed to death in a garbage truck trying to retrieve fish confiscated by police. Video circulating online appears to show Mouhcine Fikri jumping into the back of the truck to rescue his swordfish before being crushed to death by its compactor. Foray have been turned on instructions of authorities. Activists have accused Police Officers of ordering garbage men to crush fikri. His death in the northern town of alhoceima has elicited widespread anger on social media. The weekends rallies were called by activists from the february 20 movement, which organized demonstrations during the arab spring of 2011. Fikris death drew parallels to that of tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi in 2010, whose set himself on fire which sparked the arab spring uprisings. Moroccos king mohamed has ordered officials to visit fikris family. The ministries of interior and justice have pledged to conduct an investigation. Prosecutors say 11 people have already been arrested. To talk more about whats happening in morocco, were joined now by miriyam aouragh, a dutch moroccan anthropologist and democracy activist currently based in britain. Shes a lecturer at the university of westminster in london and she is currently writing a book currently on the february 20 movement in morocco. Welcome to democracy now explain what you understand happened. I think what we see is partly a continuation of the explosion of anger and protest in 2011, but at the same time, sort of a manifestation of Police Repression on the one hand and a very complex reality of sort of privatization and harsh control of the fishery. This is a problem, particularly for coastal towns where a lot of people are dependent on fishing and have been selling fish independently for long time. It is part of the social fabric, basically, of these cities and towns. And being confronted now with a sort of harsh policy that prevents them to do that. With the sort of two or three different dynamics happening at the same time, call for democracy, Police Repression, at the same time what is often missed out in the analysis, very important political economy that has to deal with moroccos extreme neoliberal transformation ongoing at present. The in the north of country, the town has a history of unrest, of resistance. Can you explain . A lot of people who study or note a bit about morocco no the reef him in the Northern Area is also the birthplace of one of the most important anticolonial fighters in the early 1920s. Morocco was occupied, colonized by france and spain and france was the colonizer in the north. It was particularly harsh colonization in the north. There is this history of colonial violence. Interestingly, during independence, which wasnt really an independence like algeria or other countries, but agreed transition where the colonizers with the colonizers. The north wanted to continue their struggle for real independent and that happened in 1958, 1959. And that was crushed by the then new kingdom. It is fresh in the memory. What is not often mentioned is the 1980s for a 1981, 1984, a major uprising. They were initiated and led by school students, Young School Students and spread throughout the north of the country. Those memories are also fresh for certain generation of politically involved citizens. Obviously, all of that culminated in 2011. There has been a very strict censorship of political history of morocco until the early 2000s. A lot of people did not know about these histories of anticolonial resistance. All of that came back into the present in 2011. I think we should see the current uprisings in the country since last week as a sort of experiences these come back and the lessons drawn from 2011 are being manifested. Amy what was very very 20 . The february 20 movement was the sort of moroccan framing of the uprising in 2011. Interestingly, alhoceima has undergone at that time a very gruesome experience with demonstrators killed and burned februarying the 20 protest. Those cases were never resolved were investigated. So there is a certain Unfinished Business feeling of Unfinished Business also in alhoceima and the rest of the country with regards to be bent that happened around the 20 february movement in 2011 and 2012. Amy talk about what is happening next week. In democracy now is headed to morocco to cover the 22nd cop. I am looking at posters that were held in the protests this week in and it says, come to cop 22, we will crush you referring to what happened to fikri. Is anerestingly, there interesting International Development with regard to moroccos attempt to become part of the international community. Morocco has invested enormously in its pr. A few years ago, reports were state exposing moroccan employing or consulting pr divisors that are affiliated with a pet or other organizations experience that profiling acceptable political reality of political terms that are seen as democratic. The invitation a big organizations, ngos to morocco to organize the conferences is one of the ways the moroccan state is trying to improve stature internationally. Inhink this conference morocco is a continuation of that policy. We have seen that with the human rights conference as well two years ago, which a lot of protesters were angry about because at the same time that these conferences were organized about human rights, human rights in morocco were crushed. Levelk there is 11 the of cynicism. The hash tags and manners are not exposing that. Limate change, democracy at the same time, not offering any of those rights to its own citizens. What were hoping is to make use of that momentum. Is that momentum is going to mean there will be more press and, hopefully, people from democracy now as well covering the events of the conference, it will help shed light on the democratic or lack of democracy in the country. Amy we just have 30 seconds. How is what happened in morocco different from egypt and tunisia . It is different innocence the experience of dust in a sense, it is behind us. Exodus has now come to learn the ways the state is manipulating the protest and now infiltrators have already been sent into the different protest to christ across the country and we have learned from that and are trying to prevent them from doing the same as they did in 2011. Amy thank you very much miriyam , aouragh is an anthropologist and democracy activist currently andd in britain lecturer at the university of london currently , writing a book currently on the february 20 movement in morocco. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who apprecia Ruben Martinez los angeles, from the early 20th century all the way until today, is a city defined by immigrants arriving here in wave after wave. Were a city of immigrants. Its all coming in a human migration, a human journey, ultimately. Thats how food gets around the world. We carry it with us in our stomachs and our bodies and in our culture. Those kinds of journeys, those kinds of migrations, are very los angelino. So, stuff starts to shift culturally in all kinds of different ways. People start learning the language. But its not just the immigrants that ar