Democracy Now!

President Trump is continuing an all-out attack on San Francisco's homeless population and political leaders. On Wednesday, the Trump administration filed an environmental notice of violation against San Francisco, falsely claiming that the city's homelessness crisis has caused water pollution. City officials have repeatedly rejected Trump's unfounded claims that homelessness is connected to water quality. California is home to 12% of the country's population but half of the country's unsheltered homeless people. President Trump has been pushing for a crackdown on the crisis for weeks and threatened to destroy homeless encampments, increase police enforcement and even jail homeless people. For more on the issues surrounding the affordable housing crisis and homelessness, we speak with Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, and Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project.

House Democrats Prepare White House Subpoena in Impeachment Probe, Trump Rages Against Impeachment Probe with Profanity and Insults, Bernie Sanders Has Surgery to Clear Blocked Artery, Deaths and Injuries Mount as Iraqi Police and Soldiers Fire on Protesters, EU Officials Wary as British PM Boris Johnson Unveils Brexit Plan , Hong Kong Teen Shot During Protests Charged with Assaulting Officer, Record-Breaking Hurricane Lorenzo Lashes Azores, Heads for Ireland, London Climate Protesters Spray British Treasury with Fake Blood, Cameroonian Asylum Seeker Dies in For-Profit Immigration Jail, Plácido Domingo Quits L.A. Opera Amid Sexual Misconduct Claims, R. Kelly Denied Bail in Federal Sex Crimes Case, Dallas Ex-Cop Sentenced to 10 Years for Murdering Neighbor, 10 Arrested in Anti-Drone Protest at Nevada's Creech Air Force Base

In Haiti, massive anti-government protests calling for the resignation of U.S.-backed President Jovenel Moïse continue to escalate. The worsening economic crisis, a shortage of fuel and food, and corruption allegations against Moïse have sent protesters to the streets on and off for over a year. Hundreds demonstrated in the capital Port-au-Prince Monday, and another protest is scheduled for today. Much of Port-au-Prince has been on lockdown for the past two weeks, and at least four people have been killed in recent days after Haitian police opened fire on protesters, using live ammunition and tear gas. From Miami, we speak to Jacqueline Charles, Haiti and Caribbean correspondent at the Miami Herald and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

China held its largest military parades ever in Beijing this week to mark 70 years of Communist rule. Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, police escalated violence Tuesday by firing live ammunition at demonstrators for the first time in the months-long protests. In a widely viewed video posted online, a riot police officer is seen firing his gun into the chest of 18-year-old protester Tsang Chi-kin. The teenager is reportedly in stable condition. Police also fired tear gas and water cannons, while protesters were seen throwing Molotov cocktails. Ninety-six protesters were arrested on Tuesday on rioting charges.
 For more on the Hong Kong protests, we speak with Kevin Lin, China Program officer at the International Labor Rights Forum. He was born and raised in Beijing, and has spent years researching the labor movement and civil society in China. His recent piece for Jacobin is headlined "Four Points on the Hong Kong Protests." He is also the author of "How Should the U.S. Left Think About China?" in the journal New Politics.

A white off-duty police officer who shot and killed a 26-year-old black man in his own home in Dallas in 2018 was convicted of murder on Tuesday. The officer, Amber Guyger, entered Botham Jean's apartment, mistaking it for her own, and shot and killed him. Jean's apartment was located one floor below Guyger's in the building. She claimed during trial to have believed Jean was an intruder. Guyger is the first Dallas police officer to be convicted of murder since the 1970s, according to The Dallas Morning News. For more on the case, we speak with Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the family of Botham Jean. He says the verdict is a potentially "precedent-setting case" that signals white police officers cannot kill unarmed black and brown people without consequence.

Report: Trump Pushed for Shooting Migrants and Placing Alligators & Snakes Along Border, Trump Claims Impeachment Inquiry Is "Coup" as Pompeo Blocks Officials from Testifying, Sen. Grassley Breaks from Trump to Support Protection of Whistleblower, In "Victory for Black People in America," Dallas Officer Convicted of Murdering Black Man Inside His Own Home, Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Georgia Abortion Law, U.S.-N. Korea Talks to Resume as Pyongyang Carries Out New Missile Test, Hong Kong Protesters Stage Sit-in Outside School of Student Shot by Police, Pretrial Hearings Begin in Netanyahu Corruption Case, Peru Faces Political Crisis After President Dissolves Congress, 1,000 Migrants Have Died Crossing Mediterranean for Sixth Year in a Row, Mississippi City Claims Undocumented Man Shot Dead by Police Has No Constitutional Rights, Federal Court Largely Upholds FCC Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules, In Leaked Audio, Zuckerberg Slams Warren Proposal to Break Up Facebook, Trump & RNC Raise Record $125 Million in Third Quarter, 40,000 Child Care Providers in California Gain Right to Unionize, Federal Judge Rules in Harvard's Favor in Affirmative Action Case, Washington Post Columnist Jamal Khashoggi Remembered One Year After Assassination in Saudi Consulate

Newark, New Jersey, city officials recently announced thousands of water filters handed out to residents have significantly reduced lead in drinking water to safe levels. Lead contamination has plagued the city for years, spiking even higher in 2019. Over the summer, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit against Newark, accusing it of violating federal safe drinking water laws. The crisis came to a head last month following revelations that water filters distributed to residents may not have been effective. Meanwhile, New Jersey officials have signed off on a $120 million bond with Essex County to fast-track the replacement of thousands of contaminated pipes in the city in less than three years. Tomorrow, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka will hold a State of the Water Town Hall meeting. Mayor Baraka joins us at the Democracy Now! studio.

House Democrats subpoenaed President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani Monday, seeking documents related to his work in Ukraine. Last week, Guliani admitted on television that he had urged the Ukrainian government to investigate Trump's political rival and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. This comes as House Democrats continue to build their case for impeaching the president, following a whistleblower complaint focused on a phone call in which Trump asked the Ukranian president to do him a "favor" investigating the actions of Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to threaten lawmakers who are pushing impeachment, and publicly admitted he is trying to find out the identity of the anonymous whistleblower, in possible violation of whistleblower protection laws. We host a debate on impeachment with John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People, one of the organizations demanding Trump's impeachment, and Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, award-winning author and activist.

House Democrats Subpoena Giuliani over Ukraine Work, Report: Trump Pressured Australia, Italy & U.K. to Help with Political Probes, Trump Renews Threats Against Schiff and Intelligence Whistleblower, Hong Kong Protests Escalate as Beijing Marks 70th Anniversary of People's Republic of China, Four Die in Ongoing Anti-Government Protests in Haiti, Somali Militants Attack U.S. Drone Base & Italian Military Convoy, Nigerian Journalist Omoyele Sowore Pleads Not Guilty, Remains Locked Up, U.S. Blocks Cuban Health Minister from Attending Regional WHO Meeting in D.C., GOP Congressmember Chris Collins Resigns over Insider Trader Scandal, Bernie Sanders Raises $25 Million in Third Quarter, Most So Far by Any 2020 Democrat, Lawyers Call for Missouri Governor to Halt Execution, Warning It May Be "Especially Gruesome", Seattle Climate Activists Shut Down Chase Banks over Fossil Fuel Funding, 37 Animal Rights Activists Arrested at Whole Foods Occupation in SF, California Governor Signs Bill to Allow College Athletes to Sign Endorsement Deals, Elaine Massacre: New Memorial Unveiled on Centennial of Racial Mass Killing

We conclude our interview with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has just published his memoir titled "Permanent Record." In 2013, after quitting his job at the NSA, Snowden attempted to fly from Hong Kong to Latin America in order to avoid being extradited to the United States. But the U.S. revoked his passport when he stopped through Russia, effectively stranding him there. Snowden has lived as an exile in Moscow ever since. He tells us his story.

Edward Snowden talks about his decision to leak documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras rather than WikiLeaks, and the issues with the U.S. government's response to whistleblower disclosures. His recently published memoir, "Permanent Record," tells the story of his decision to expose the system of mass surveillance. "I think it's so obvious that no harm to national security has resulted from this process of disclosure. And yet, the same criticisms, the same allegations are made to me as have been every other whistleblower," Snowden says. "What we need to understand here is not my model of publication is right and WikiLeaks' model is wrong, but rather to see you have two very different levels of caution, of risk mitigation in these publication models."

As a whistleblower complaint against President Trump rocks Washington, Democrats begin an impeachment inquiry and Trump threatens "big consequences" for the person who came forward, we continue our conversation with one of the world's most famous whistleblowers: Edward Snowden, now in exile in Russia. Six years ago, he shocked the world when he leaked a trove of secret documents about how the United States had built a massive surveillance apparatus to collect every single phone call, text message and email, and pry into the private lives of every person on Earth. He has just published a memoir titled "Permanent Record." In Part 2 of our interview, he talks about how the government initially attempted to say that he was just an outside contractor and not a key figure, but he describes the central role contractors play in the intelligence community.

Facing Threats from Trump, Anonymous Whistleblower to Testify on Capitol Hill, Trump Warns Impeachment Could Lead to Civil War, Calls Critics "Savages", Pompeo Subpoenaed over Ukraine; Trump Envoy for Ukraine Resigns, More Than 2 Million Take Part in Global Climate Strike, Nearly 70 Arrested at New Hampshire Coal Plant Protest, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration Effort to Indefinitely Detain Migrant Children, Low Turnout Reported on Election Day in Afghanistan, Egyptian Dissident Alaa Abd El-Fattah Arrested Amid Growing Crackdown, Houthis Claim to Have Killed 500 Saudi Soldiers in August Attack, El País: Spanish Firm Spied for CIA on Assange Inside Ecuadorian Embassy, UAW Strike at General Motors Enters Third Week, Joseph Wilson, Ambassador Who Disputed Bush's Iraq WMD Claim, Dies at 69

Demonstrations continued in Egypt Friday, with thousands taking to the streets to demand the resignation of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi over accusations of corruption. Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested over the past week amid protests in Cairo and other cities. The demonstrations were triggered by social media posts by a former army contractor accusing Sisi and other officials of misusing public money. Anti-government protests are rare in Egypt as they've been effectively banned since Sisi came to power following the 2013 overthrow of former President Mohamed Morsi and launched a widespread crackdown on dissent. Earlier this week, President Trump praised Sisi as the two leaders met during the U.N. General Assembly here in New York. Trump also recently referred to Sisi as "my favorite dictator." For more, we're joined by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy Now! correspondent and a reporter with the independent, Cairo-based media outlet Mada Masr.

Democrats are coalescing behind an effort to impeach President Trump over his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he pressed the Ukrainian leader to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Meanwhile, Republicans have latched onto the Biden-Ukraine story as a means of smearing the former vice president as corrupt, in an attempt to damage one of Trump's political rivals. For more on the story, we speak with James Risen, senior national security correspondent for The Intercept, who first wrote about the Bidens and Ukraine in 2015, when he was a reporter for The New York Times. He says the "right-wing spin machine" has since twisted his reporting, misrepresenting his findings. In a new article for The Intercept, Risen writes, "It's strange to see my journalism twisted, perverted, and turned into lies and poisonous propaganda by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and their enablers."

Democrats are ramping up efforts to impeach President Trump for pressing the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Nearly 90% of House Democrats now support impeachment. On Thursday, a declassified version of a complaint by an anonymous whistleblower was released, detailing his concerns about Trump's July phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky. In the complaint, the unnamed whistleblower — who has been identified as a CIA official — accused the president of "using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election." The complaint also revealed details about how the White House attempted to "lock down" all records of Trump's phone conversation with Zelensky by moving a transcript of the call to a standalone computer system reserved for codeword-level intelligence information. The whistleblower wrote in his complaint, "According to White House officials I spoke with, this was 'not the first time' under this Administration that a Presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive — rather than national security sensitive — information." For more on the unfolding scandal, we speak with James Risen, senior national security correspondent for The Intercept.

Whistleblower Warned White House Tried to "Lock Down" Ukraine Call Details, Acting DNI Maguire Says Whistleblower "Acted in Good Faith", Trump Suggests Whistleblower Should Get Death Sentence for Treason, Global Youth-Led Strikes Demand Action on Climate Crisis, Study Finds Climate Crisis May Threaten 60% of World's Wheat Crop by 2100, States Challenge Trump's Rollback of Endangered Species Act, Senate Advances Confirmation of Ex-Monsanto Executive to Lead Wildlife Agency, EPA Chief Blames California's Homeless Population for Poor Water Quality, Protesters Defy Security Crackdown in Egypt, Demanding Ouster of President Sisi, Palestinian President Condemns Israeli PM Plans to Annex West Bank Lands, Trump Administration to Slash U.S. Refugee Admissions Again, to 18,000, 500,000 Children to Lose Free School Meals Under Trump's Food Stamp Rollback, Chicago Teachers Overwhelmingly Authorize Strike on October 7, Senate Confirms Corporate Attorney Eugene Scalia as Labor Secretary, Indonesian Police Open Fire on West Papuan Protesters, Killing 32, Relatives of the Disappeared Demand Justice 5 Years After Ayotzinapa Mass Kidnapping

Six years ago, Edward Snowden leaked a trove of secret documents about how the United States had built a massive surveillance apparatus to spy on Americans and people across the globe. Snowden was then charged in the U.S. for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. As he attempted to flee to Latin America, Snowden became stranded in Russia after the U.S. revoked his passport. He has lived in Moscow ever since. Snowden just published his memoir, "Permanent Record," in which he writes about what led him to risk his life to expose the U.S. government's system of mass surveillance. From Moscow, he speaks to Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman and Juan González about his life before and after becoming an NSA whistleblower.

Responding to news of a whistleblower's complaint at the center of an impeachment inquiry filed against President Trump this week, famed whistleblower Edward Snowden speaks about his own decision to leak classified documents in 2013. The House Intelligence Committee has released the declassified whistleblower complaint, which details a July phone call between President Trump and the Ukrainian president. The White House is trying "to make the conversation not about the allegations," Snowden told Democracy Now! "They want to talk about the whistleblower rather than the government's own wrongdoing."

As a whistleblower complaint filed against President Trump rocks Washington and threatens Trump's presidency, one of the world's most famous whistleblowers, Edward Snowden, joins us from Moscow, Russia. Earlier this month, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Snowden alleging that his newly released memoir, "Permanent Record," violates the nondisclosure agreements he signed with the federal government when he was a National Security Agency employee. The Justice Department also argued that they are entitled to all of Snowden's book profits. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman and Juan González speak with Snowden about the lawsuit.

Transcript Shows Trump Pressured Ukrainian Leader to Probe Joe Biden and Son, President Trump on Ukraine Phone Call: "Impeachment for That?", Majority of House Lawmakers Back Impeachment Inquiry Against Trump, Iranian President Rules Out Talks with U.S. While Sanctions Remain, Saudi-Led Coalition Airstrikes Kill 16 Civilians in Yemen, Israel's President Asks Benjamin Netanyahu to Form New Government, 2 Million Wild Animals Perish as Fires Rage in Bolivia, Climate Crisis Drives Mont Blanc Glacier Toward Collapse, 7 Arrested as San Francisco Climate Protesters Block Wells Fargo Entrance, Doctors Glue Themselves to London Building Amid New Extinction Rebellion Protests, Mexican State of Oaxaca Decriminalizes Abortion, Australia's New South Wales Ends Century-Old Abortion Ban, U.S. Agreement with Honduras Severely Restricts Asylum Seekers' Rights, Chicago Park District Workers, Teachers and School Staff Make Strike Plans, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Unveils Legislative Plan for "A Just Society"

The U.K. Parliament has reconvened after the country's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had unlawfully suspended Parliament in order to push through Brexit with or without a deal. Johnson made the unprecedented move late last month, asking the queen to prorogue Parliament in order to limit debate on leaving the European Union, which the U.K. is scheduled to do by October 31. Calls for Johnson's resignation are mounting since the news broke, with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calling for a general election and demanding Johnson apologize to the queen and to the country. For more on the political crisis in Britain, we speak with legendary British singer and songwriter Billy Bragg. "Really, what's behind Brexit is ordinary working people feeling they no longer have agency over their lives. … The European Union have become a focus for anger that really should be directed at the Westminster government that Boris Johnson leads," Bragg says. His new book is "The Three Dimensions of Freedom."

On Tuesday, President Trump made his third address to the United Nations General Assembly amid simmering tensions in the Middle East over recent attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which the United States blames on Iran. Tehran denies the allegations. Trump also lashed out at China and Venezuela. We speak with Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and chief editor of LeftWord Books. His latest article for Salon is headlined "World leaders gather at the UN in the face of war, climate catastrophe & global worker exploitation."

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump following allegations from an intelligence community whistleblower that Trump sought help from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to investigate Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and his son Hunter. On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate unanimously passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the Trump administration to release the whistleblower complaint to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. We get response and look at next steps with Congressmember Al Green, Democrat from Texas, who in 2017 was the first congressmember to call for President Trump's impeachment from the floor of the House of Representatives. We also speak with John Nichols, political writer for The Nation and author of the book, "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism."

Pelosi Launches Impeachment Inquiry Against President Trump, IPCC: World Must Cut Greenhouse Emissions or Face Catastrophic Sea Level Rise, Bolsonaro Faces Condemnation For Defending Deforestation of Amazon in U.N. Speech, Trump Denounces Iran, Venezuela & Calls for Countries to Embrace Nationalism at U.N., Pakistani PM Demands World to Address Crisis in Kashmir, U.K. Parliament Reconvenes After Court Declares Boris Johnson's Parliament Suspension Illegal, Egyptian Authorities Arrest At Least 900 Following Anti-Government Protests, Spain to Exhume Body of Former Dictator Francisco Franco from State Mausoleum, Nigerian Journalist Omoyele Sowore Makes Bail Amid Treason Charges for Rallying Peaceful Protests, German Prosecutors Indict Volkswagen Execs over Diesel Emissions Scandal, Bernie Sanders Proposes Billionaire Wealth Tax That Could Raise Trillions in Revenue, General Motors Strike Enters 10th Day In Longest National GM Strike in 50 Years, Judge Rules American Citizen Can't Challenge His Placement on U.S. "Kill List", Massachusetts Governor Declares Public Health Emergency, Orders 4-Month Ban on Vaping Products, Greta Thunberg & Aminatou Haidar Win Right Livelihood Awards, Known as "Alternative Nobel Prize"

Celebrated writer Ta-Nehisi Coates's first novel, "The Water Dancer," was released today. Centering on a man named Hiram Walker, who was born into slavery in 19th century Virginia, the novel is a "crowd-pleasing exercise in breakneck and often occult storytelling," a review in The New York Times stated. Over the past decade Ta-Nehisi Coates has become one of the nation's most celebrated writers. In 2014, he wrote a piece titled "The Case for Reparations," which rejuvenated the push for the government to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves. His 2015 book, "Between the World and Me," a National Book Award winner, was written as a letter to his adolescent son. In our New York studio, we speak with Coates about "The Water Dancer" and his attempt in his first novel to "get at American myth" that exists around race and reparations.

A number of indigenous leaders from Brazil traveled to New York to protest Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's push to open the Amazon rainforest for agribusiness, logging and mining. Democracy Now!'s Nermeen Shaikh spoke to Chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapó tribe on Monday outside the U.N. Climate Action Summit about the situation in the Amazon, including the recent outbreak of devastating fires. After the interview, Chief Raoni attempted to enter the U.N. summit, but despite support from dozens of activists, he was barred from entering. He is a nominee for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.

Youth climate activists from around the world also attended the U.N. Climate Action Summit Monday, where they spoke at UNICEF about a landmark new climate complaint they filed with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Hailing from countries including Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the Marshall Islands and Tunisia, the young representatives spoke about why they feel compelled to act on the climate crisis. Among the youth climate activists were Alexandria Villaseñor of New York and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Scores of world leaders gathered in New York on Monday for the U.N. Climate Action Summit, but the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters announced few new measures to address the climate crisis. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence briefly attended the summit but left after just 14 minutes. At the beginning of the summit, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered an impassioned address to world leaders, explicitly naming their inaction on the climate crisis. "People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing," Greta said. "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"

Greta Thunberg and Youth Activists Take On World Leaders at U.N. Climate Action Summit, Trump Admin Tells U.N. to Drop Term "Reproductive Health and Rights", Trump Ordered Hold on Ukrainian Aid Before Call with President Zelensky About Bidens, U.K. Supreme Court: Boris Johnson's Suspension of Parliament Is Unlawful, U.K., France & Germany Say Iran Responsible for Saudi Oil Attacks as Trump Addresses UNGA, Afghanistan: At Least 40 Civilians Killed by U.S.-Afghan Attack, Haiti: Senator Shoots AP Photographer in Face During Anti-Gov't Protests, Video of Blindfolded Prisoners in Xinjiang Adds to Fears of Mass Human Rights Abuses Against Uyghurs, Netanyahu and Gantz in Talks over Possible Power-Sharing Deal, DOJ: U.S. Soldier Shared Bomb-Making Instructions, Discussed Bombing News Network, Investigators: FAA Misled Lawmakers on Boeing 737 MAX Safety Inspections

Following Friday's youth-led climate strike — the largest-ever global protest focused on climate — we speak with Bill McKibben, longtime journalist and co-founder of 350.org. McKibben's latest piece for The New Yorker is titled "Money Is the Oxygen on Which the Fire of Global Warming Burns," and his cover piece for Time magazine is headlined "Hello from the Year 2050. We Avoided the Worst of Climate Change — But Everything Is Different." McKibben's 1989 book, "The End of Nature," was the first book for a general audience about climate change.

Sixteen-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg spoke at Friday's climate strike in New York, where an estimated 300,000 people took to the streets. Thunberg inspired the global spread of weekly climate strikes when she started skipping school to protest outside of the Swedish parliament last year. "We will not just stand aside and watch," Thunberg told a crowd of thousands in her speech at Manhattan's Battery Park. "We are united behind the science, and we will do everything in our power to stop this crisis from getting worse."

Friday's climate strike in New York City concluded with remarks from indigenous leaders, activists and organizers. Artemisa Xakriabá, a 19-year-old indigenous climate activist of the Xakriabá people, spoke about the increasing intensity of environmental destruction across Brazil and the interconnectedness of the fight for climate justice. "We fight for our Mother Earth because the fight for Mother Earth is the mother of all other fights," Xakriabá said. "We are fighting for your lives. We are fighting for our lives. We are fighting for our sacred territory. But we are being persecuted, threatened, murdered, only for protecting our own territories. We cannot accept one more drop of indigenous blood spilled."

As many as a quarter-million people marched on the streets of New York City Friday for a youth-led climate strike inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Globally, as many as 4 million people took to the streets in hundreds of countries. Democracy Now! was in the streets of New York on Friday speaking with climate strikers from the United States and around the world.

As many as 4 million people around the world took to the streets Friday in the largest day of action focused on the climate crisis. Students across the globe led climate strikes in hundreds of countries, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The demonstration kicked off in Foley Square, where tens of thousands of people gathered before the march. Varshini Prakash, co-founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, and climate activist Vic Barrett were among the handful of activists who addressed the climate strikers in Foley Square.

4 Million Take to the Streets for Global Climate Strike, Trump Admin Ignored CBP Report Linking Climate Change and Increased Migration, Honduran Woman and 21-Month-Old Son Die While Attempting to Reach U.S., New Deal Would Force Asylum Seekers to Return to El Salvador Despite Obvious Dangers, Calls for Impeachment Grow as Trump Acknowledges Ukraine Phone Call About Bidens, U.S. to Send Troops to Saudi Arabia, Impose Iran Sanctions, as Rouhani Heads to UNGA with Peace Plan, Arab Parties in Israel Back Benny Gantz in Bid to End Netanyahu's Rule, Egyptians Take to Street in Rare Protest Against President Sisi, Gov't Corruption, Trump Praises Indian PM Modi at Massive Texas Rally as Human Rights Abuses Continue in Kashmir, Florida School Officer with History of Child Abuse Arrests 6-Year-Old, Emmy Awarded to 1st Openly Gay Black Actor in Lead Role, as Trans Activists Shine Light on SCOTUS Case

Climate youth activist Nasratullah Elham of Afghanistan was invited to participate in the first-ever U.N. Youth Climate Summit, but the United States rejected his visa. He breaks the sound barrier to join us from Phuket, Thailand, where he is a 12th grade student, and says his activism is based on the crisis's impact on his home country. "The poor people there are very badly affected in a situation [where] they do not really have much carbon emissions," he says.

Among those joining today's Global Climate Strike will be Kelsey Juliana, lead plaintiff in Juliana v. United States, the landmark youth climate lawsuit against the U.S. government. She joins us for a roundtable discussion, along with Jerome Foster II, White House Climate Strike organizer, founder and executive director of OneMillionOfUs.

Today is the Global Climate Strike, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. As people took to the streets in Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia, we host a roundtable discussion with youth activists organizing marches in the United States — in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis — ahead of next week's U.N. Climate Action Summit. We are joined by Xiye Bastida, a 17-year-old climate justice activist originally from Mexico who is an organizer with Fridays for Future New York and a student at Beacon High School in New York; Katie Eder, a 19-year-old climate justice activist who founded the Future Coalition, where she is currently the executive director; Juwaria Jama, a 15-year-old and first-generation Somali from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who is with U.S. Youth Climate Strikes and is the co-state lead for the Minnesota Youth Climate Strike; and Isra Hirsi, a high school junior and executive director of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike, daughter of Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar.

Students Across the World Walk Out of Classes in Global Climate Strike, Two Die in Texas as Storm Dumps 40 Inches of Rain on Houston Area, Red Cross: 2 Million Need Humanitarian Aid Every Week Due to Climate Crisis, Bird Population in U.S. & Canada Dropped by Nearly 3 Billion Since 1970, Benny Gantz Declares Victory, Rejects Overture from Netanyahu, Trudeau Apologizes Again as New Blackface Photos Emerge, Funeral Held in Afghanistan After U.S. Drone Strike Killed 30 Civilians, Mostly Farmers, Kashmiris Sue Modi in U.S. Court as Trump Prepares to Appear with Indian PM at Texas Rally, Report: Whistleblower Complaint Against Trump Focused on Phone Call with Ukrainian President, Colt to Stop Manufacturing Sporting Rifles, Including AR-15, Self-Described "Antifa Hunter" Arrested for Threatening Black Lives Matter Activist in Charlottesville, Amnesty & HRW Urge Rejection of Torture Backer to Top State Dept. Human Rights Post, Betsy DeVos Threatens to Cut Funding to UNC & Duke for Middle East Studies Program, U.S. Expels Two Cuban Diplomats; Cuban Fuel Shortage Continues, Former Tunisian Dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Dies, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio Drops Out of 2020 Race

In Gambia, an ongoing public truth and reconciliation commission is investigating the atrocities of former President Yahya Jammeh, who ruled the West African country of 2 million people for 22 years before his regime ended in 2016. In widely shared public testimony that has been live-streamed to tens of thousands of people, survivors and members of Jammeh's death squad who killed migrants, journalists and civilians during the president's reign are telling their stories for the world to hear. One such survivor is Fatou "Toufah" Jallow, who says the former president raped her in 2015. We speak with Jallow, a Gambian feminist and anti-rapist activist, and Reed Brody, counsel and spokesperson for Human Rights Watch who is currently leading the prosecution of Jammeh.

More than a million students are expected to walk out of class on Friday in a Global Climate Strike, with more than 800 climate strikes scheduled in the United States alone. Strikes are also being organized in another 150 countries around the world. In our New York studio, we speak to Amnesty International's Secretary General Kumi Naidoo, who has urged school districts across the globe to allow students to walk out of school on Friday without facing punishment. In a letter, Naidoo, who is also the former executive director of Greenpeace, writes, "Children should not be punished for speaking out about the great injustices of our age. In fact, when it has fallen on young people to show the leadership that many adults who hold great positions of power have failed to, it is not young people's behavior we should be questioning. It is ours."

U.S. Secretary of State Blames Iran for "Act of War" Against Saudi Oil Facility, WaPo: Whistleblower Reported "Troubling" Promise from Trump to Foreign Leader, Trump Names Robert O'Brien as Fourth National Security Adviser, U.S.-Backed Forces Kill 30 Afghan Civilians; Taliban Truck Bomb Kills 20, Thousands Fall Ill as Indonesian Fires Spread Toxic Haze, Thousands Lose Power as Hurricane Humberto Lashes Bermuda, Youth Activist Greta Thunberg to U.S. Lawmakers: Listen to Climate Scientists, University of California to Divest from Fossil Fuel Companies, Israeli Election Challenger Gantz Rejects Call to Join Netanyahu Unity Government, Former Executives Acquitted over Roles in Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Democratic Donor Ed Buck Arrested, Charged with Running a Drug House, Canadian PM Trudeau Apologizes for Appearing in Brownface in 2001 Photo

As UAW workers stand on picket lines across the country, teachers prepare to strike in Chicago, and thousands of healthcare workers with Kaiser Permanente plan to strike in October, we speak with longtime labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, author of the new book "Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor." Among other issues, Greenhouse discusses how labor and climate activists are teaming up to push for a Green New Deal.

As members of the United Auto Workers head into their third day of a nationwide strike, General Motors has cut off health insurance for the nearly 50,000 people on picket lines across the country demanding better working conditions and fair pay. The workers say GM continues to deny employees' demands for better conditions and compensation despite leading the company to record profits following bankruptcy and a federal bailout. It's the first company-wide strike against GM in 12 years. UAW had sought to have GM cover striking workers' health insurance through the end of the month. In New York City, we speak with Steven Greenhouse, veteran labor reporter formerly with The New York Times. His latest book is titled "Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor." His recent op-ed in The New York Times is headlined "The Autoworkers Strike Is Bigger Than G.M."

Israel is facing political turmoil as Tuesday's election remains too close to call. With 92% of the vote counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and ex-military chief Benny Gantz's Blue and White party appear to be nearly tied. Both leading candidates aiming to be prime minister had run on platforms vowing to take harsh measures targeting Palestinians. Netanyahu promised to annex nearly a third of the occupied West Bank, in violation of international law, if he won re-election. Earlier this year, Gantz bragged about bombing Gaza back to the "Stone Ages." On Tuesday night, Gantz said he had fulfilled his mission by preventing Netanyahu's outright re-election, while Netanyahu did not claim victory or concede defeat in a speech to supporters. From Jerusalem, we speak with Palestinian attorney Diana Buttu about the significance of the snap election. "It's not clear who will be the ultimate victor," Buttu says. "I can tell you who will be the ultimate loser, and that's the Palestinian people."

Israeli PM Netanyahu Fails to Win Majority in Deadlocked Election, Climate Researchers Warn of Potential 7 Degree Temperature Rise by 2100, Greta Thunberg Tells U.S. Senators to Work Harder on Climate Crisis, Tropical Depression to Dump 18 Inches of Rain on Parts of Texas Gulf Coast, Trump Admin Seeks to Revoke California's Auto Emissions Standards, "I Have No Obligation to Be Honest to the Media," Testifies Trump's Ex-Campaign Manager, Trump Tells Campaign Rally in New Mexico, "We Love Our Hispanics", U.S. Senate Votes to Sanction China over Violations of Uyghurs' Human Rights , 75 Countries Using Artificial Intelligence for Mass Surveillance, Trump Admin Sues Edward Snowden over Release of Memoir, Pompeo Travels to Saudi Arabia to Discuss Drone Attacks with Crown Prince, Trans Woman Murdered in Kansas City, 19th Such Killing This Year, General Motors Cuts Health Insurance for 50,000 Striking Workers, Whole Foods Cuts Healthcare Benefits to Nearly 2,000 Workers, Uber and Lyft Drivers Protest Low Pay and Poor Working Conditions in NYC, Veteran NPR and ABC Journalist Cokie Roberts Dies at 75

Renowned climate activist and author Naomi Klein addresses the rise of ecofascism, the marrying of environmentalism and white power, which she says manifested in the Christchurch, New Zealand, white supremacist terrorist attack, where the shooter identified himself as an ecofascist. In her latest book, "On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal," Klein writes, "My fear is that, unless something significant changes in how our societies rise to the ecological crisis, we are going to see this kind of white power eco-fascism emerge with much greater frequency, as a ferocious rationalization for refusing to live up to our collective climate responsibilities."

Renowned activist, author and professor Naomi Klein discusses the importance of youth voices, including 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, in communicating the urgency of the climate justice movement. Klein's new book, "On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal," addresses the necessity of structural change to combat rising global temperatures and climate injustices. Klein praises Greta for her "moral clarity" as one of many youth voices that "burst through the bureaucratic language with which we shield ourselves from the reality of the stakes, the extraordinary stakes, of our moment in history."

Amid mounting climate disasters across the planet, from the fires ravaging the Amazon to Hurricane Dorian's destructive path through the Bahamas, we speak with renowned journalist, author and activist Naomi Klein. In her new book, "On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal," Klein looks unsparingly at the rise of ecofascism, as Western countries fortify their borders and white supremacy surges around the world in response to the climate crisis. But she also lays out another path forward in which mankind meets the challenge of global warming with radical and systemic transformation. "We do know that if we are going to lower our emissions in time, it is going to take transformations of how we live in cities, how we move ourselves around, how we grow our food, where we get our energy from," Klein says. "Essentially, what the Green New Deal is saying: If we're going to do all that, why wouldn't we tackle all of these systemic economic and social crises at the same time? Because we live in a time of multiple, overlapping crises."