Democracy Now!

Opposition parties are disputing the results of Saturday’s presidential election in Nigeria, where the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the winner to be Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress party. The former governor of Lagos played a key role in helping outgoing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari win two terms in office and campaigned using the slogan “It’s my turn.” Tinubu received about 36% of the vote, and turnout was under 30%. Several of Tinubu’s challengers have disputed the results, alleging fraud, while election observers and voters have cited delays, closures and violence at voting sites. For more on how the election could play out in Africa’s most populous nation, we speak with Aderonke Ige in Lagos. She is a human rights activist and lawyer who works with Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, or CAPPA.

New York City has reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with peaceful protesters who were violently “boxed in” or “kettled” by NYPD officers during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in response to the police murder of George Floyd in 2020. As part of the settlement, over 300 people who were trapped by police and assaulted with batons and pepper spray, then detained or arrested at a June 4, 2020, protest in the neighborhood of Mott Haven, will each receive $21,500 — believed to be the largest class-action settlement in a case of mass arrest. We are joined by three people who were at the Mott Haven protest: Samira and Amali Sierra, sisters who are two of the five listed plaintiffs, and Democracy Now! video news fellow Sonyi Lopez, whose footage of the protest was used in a Human Rights Watch report that condemned the NYPD’s actions as “serious violations of international human rights law.” In addition, we speak to Joshua Moskovitz, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs.

German Chancellor to Hold Confidential Talks with Biden Amid Tensions over Arming Ukraine, Blinken Presses Russia’s Lavrov to Return to New START Nuclear Treaty, Belarus Jails Dissidents Including Nobel Laureate Ales Bialiatski, Cambodian Opposition Leader Kem Sokha Found Guilty of Treason, Sentenced to 27 Years, Israeli Troops Fatally Shoot 15-Year-Old Palestinian, Emmanuel Macron Embarks on African Tour Amid Tensions over French Presence in Ex-Colonies, Walgreens Won’t Dispense Abortion Pills in States Where Abortion Is Still Legal After GOP Threats, Eli Lilly Lowers Price of Insulin After Intense Public Pressure, East Palestine Residents Confront Norfolk Southern as EPA Orders Rail Co. to Test for Dioxins, House Ethics Committee Launches Probe into Rep. George Santos’s Litany of Lies, DOJ Says Trump Is Not Immune from Jan. 6 Lawsuits

On Sunday, Israeli settlers ransacked and torched Palestinian homes in Huwara, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, killing at least one Palestinian resident and injuring dozens of others. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of backing a pogrom in Huwara. Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that Huwara needs to be “wiped out” and that the state of Israel should do it. In response, 22 Israeli international law experts sent a letter to Israel’s attorney general demanding an immediate investigation against Smotrich for potential war crimes. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price also condemned Smotrich’s comments, though he framed the conflict as bilateral by referencing the need to condemn Palestinian “incitement to violence.” Meanwhile, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called on the U.S., as the Israeli government’s most powerful international ally, to take action to stop its violence. For more on this latest escalation of the Israeli occupation, we’re joined by Saddam Omar, a Huwara resident who witnessed the settler attacks, and Gideon Levy, an award-winning Israeli journalist and columnist for Haaretz.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was at the top of the agenda of a critical meeting of G20 foreign ministers this week in New Delhi. The issue has caused deep divisions within the G20, which includes 19 major economies and the European Union. U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, spoke briefly on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday, though there was no diplomatic breakthrough between the two countries. The G20 meeting comes a week after China released a 12-point peace plan and as calls grow for a negotiated end to the fighting. To talk more about possible peace talks, we are joined by two guests: Vladislav Zubok, a Russian professor of international history at the London School of Economics, and Wolfgang Sporrer, a conflict manager and adjunct professor at the Hertie School in Berlin, who was head of human rights for the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission in Kyiv from 2014 to 2020.

Top U.S. and Russian Diplomats Meet Briefly at G20 Talks as Ukraine War Rages On, Finland Advances Bid to Join NATO as Turkey Holds Up Sweden’s Bid, U.S. Approves $619 Million Sale of High-Tech Weapons to Taiwan, U.S. Air Force Relieves Six Officers over Safety Lapses at North Dakota Nuclear Base, Israeli Protesters Opposed to Judicial Overhaul Met with Police Violence, “Repugnant”: U.S. Condemns Israeli Minister’s Call to “Erase” Palestinian Town of Huwara, U.S. Spy Agencies Reject Claims That “Havana Syndrome” Was Caused by Foreign Power, Protests Erupt in Greece After Train Crash That Killed at Least 46 People , NYC to Pay Millions to Victims of Police Abuse During 2020 “Kettling” of BLM Protesters, Hunger-Striking Immigrant Detainees in CA Vow to Continue Protest Demanding Humane Conditions, Nationwide Actions Call for an End to ICE, DHS and CBP After 2 Decades of Terrorizing Communities, NLRB Judge Orders Starbucks to Rehire Workers, Reopen Stores Closed in Retaliation for Unionization, Chicago Activists Boosted by Overwhelming Electoral Support for Affordable Housing Plans, Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers Whistleblower & Longtime Activist, Announces Terminal Cancer Diagnosis

In Alabama, hundreds of striking miners are set to return to work Thursday after nearly two years spent on picket lines in the so-called right-to-work state. This was the longest strike in Alabama history. Its end comes after the Warrior Met Coal company successfully used replacement workers to keep its mines running, reporting large profits to shareholders due to the skyrocketing price of coal. At the same time, the company told miners they would only retain their jobs if they agreed to a 20% pay cut and to relinquish various benefits relating to weekend pay and healthcare. We go to Birmingham, Alabama, for an update from independent labor journalist Kim Kelly, who has covered the Warrior Met strike since it began and says many of the workers felt abandoned.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in two challenges to the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, which could give tens of millions of federal borrowers up to $20,000 of relief. During arguments, several conservative justices expressed skepticism over the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, while liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the Republican states who brought one of the lawsuits. We’re joined by Eleni Schirmer, who organizes with the Debt Collective and is a writer and postdoctoral fellow at Concordia University’s Social Justice Centre in Montreal. Her new piece in The New Yorker is headlined “How the Government Cancelled Betty Ann’s Debts.”

At least 67 people, including children, died in a shipwreck Sunday off the coast of southern Italy, and rescue workers fear the death toll could climb above 100 as they recover more bodies from the sea. It is believed to be the deadliest migrant shipwreck of its kind in almost a decade. Almost 26,000 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014, but many governments have responded by criminalizing rescue efforts by humanitarian groups. Just days before this latest shipwreck off the coast of Italy, the Italian government of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni approved a new law making it harder for humanitarian aid rescue vessels to carry out their missions. For more, we speak with Caroline Willemen, a search and rescue leader with Médecins Sans Frontières, which has had one of its ships detained by Italian authorities as part of the new measures, blocking it from going to sea to save lives for at least 20 days.

Chicago-based Democracy Now! co-host Juan González gives an update on the Chicago mayoral race after incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot failed to advance to a runoff election. The two top candidates are now Paul Vallas, the former head of Chicago Public Schools, who has been endorsed by the local police union, and Brandon Johnson, an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union. González says the race pits progressives in the city against centrist and conservative forces and could be a bellwether of where the Democratic Party goes.

SCOTUS Hears Challenges to Government Student Relief Plan as Activists Rally, Senate Holds Equal Rights Amendment Hearing as U.S. Court Denies Attempt to Include in Constitution, Bola Tinubu of Ruling Party Wins Nigeria Election Amid Low Turnout, Rigging Charges, Hundreds of Iranian Schoolgirls Suffered Toxic Poisonings in Last Four Months, Biden Names Labor Advocate Julie Su to Lead Labor Dept.; Democrats Reintroduce PRO Act, Mississippi Enacts Transgender Healthcare Ban for Youth Amid Spate of Anti-Trans Laws in Red States, Tennessee Gov. Says He Will Sign Bill Criminalizing Drag as Old Photo of Him in Drag Circulates, 30 Million SNAP Recipients Get Their Food Benefits Slashed, Lori Lightfoot Loses Reelection for Chicago Mayor; Paul Vallas & Brandon Johnson Advance to Runoff

We speak with Celso Amorim, the foreign adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, about how Brazil could play a key role in peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. Lula recently met with President Biden, who has unsuccessfully pushed Brazil to send weapons to Ukraine. Lula says he told Biden, “I don’t want to join the war, I want to end the war.” “If you only talk how to defeat Russia, how to enfeeble or weaken Russia, that will not come to a positive conclusion,” says Amorim, who also previously served as Brazil’s foreign minister, as well as its defense minister. “You have to talk to everyone, including your adversaries.”

We speak with the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Hannah Dreier, who revealed in a major New York Times investigation the widespread exploitation of migrant children in some of the most dangerous jobs in the country. In response, the Biden administration on Monday announced it would carry out a broad crackdown on the use of migrant child labor in the United States, vowing stricter enforcement of labor standards and better support for migrant children. “These kids are just on their own in these situations, with very little resources and very few ways out,” says Dreier. We are also joined by Gregory Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, who says migrant children need better protection from unscrupulous employers and others who would seek to exploit them. “Children don’t have any knowledge or understanding of what their legal rights are,” says Chen.

China Blasts U.S. for Pushing “Endless” War in Ukraine as Janet Yellen Visits Kyiv, Turkey: 29 Buildings Collapse in New Earthquake as Overall Death Toll Tops 50,000, B’Tselem Accuses Israel Government of Backing Pogrom in West Bank Town of Huwara, Biden Vows to Crack Down on Migrant Child Workers in U.S. After NYT Exposé, Biden Admin to Require Recipients of CHIPS Subsidies to Offer Affordable Child Care, Supreme Court Hears Student Debt Relief Case, Rupert Murdoch Admits Fox Hosts Endorsed Election Lies to Boost Network Profits, “I Am Going to Die”: Tenn. Woman Dies of Stroke in Police Cruiser After She Was Denied Medical Care, Mexican Soldiers Shoot Dead FIve Unarmed Men in Nuevo Laredo Near Border, Ecuadorian Indigenous Leader Eduardo Mendúa Assassinated at His Home, Climate Activists in France & Norway Engage in Direct Action Protests Outside Gov’t Ministries, Northern Ireland: U.K. Reaches Deal with European Union on Post-Brexit Trade Rules, U.S. Marshals to Work with Yurok Tribe to Probe Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons, American Indian Movement’s Occupation of Wounded Knee Began 50 Years Ago

The Equal Rights Amendment, which would codify gender equality in the U.S. Constitution, has been introduced in every session of Congress since 1923. It was finally passed in 1972, and yet never ratified. This week, the ERA will get its first hearing in 40 years when, on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee meets to discuss a joint resolution to finally affirm the ERA. We speak to Zakiya Thomas and Linda Coberly of the ERA Coalition for more on the historic significance of this hearing and the century-long fight for constitutional protections against sex discrimination.

We speak with author Malcolm Harris about his new book, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, in which he writes how his hometown in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to many tech billionaires has helped to reshape the economy by exporting its brand of capitalism to the rest of the United States and around the world. “It’s important to see the internet and its history as this relation between capital and the government,” says Harris in a wide-ranging interview.

We look at two cases before the Supreme Court that could reshape the future of the internet. Both cases focus on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which backers say has helped foster free speech online by allowing companies to host content without direct legal liability for what users post. Critics say it has allowed tech platforms to avoid accountability for spreading harmful material. On Tuesday, the justices heard arguments in Gonzalez v. Google, brought by the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, who was killed in the 2015 Paris terror attack. Her family sued Google claiming the company had illegally promoted videos by the Islamic State, which carried out the Paris attack. On Wednesday, justices heard arguments in the case of Twitter v. Taamneh, brought by the family of Nawras Alassaf, who was killed along with 38 others in a 2017 terrorist attack on a nightclub in Turkey. We speak with Aaron Mackey, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who says Section 230 “powers the underlying architecture” of the internet.

Shipwreck Off Italian Coast Kills at Least 62 Refugees as Italy Cracks Down on Rescue Missions, Israeli Settlers Go on Anti-Palestinian Rampage in Huwara as Officials Agree to Deescalate Tensions, “We Have Survived”: Zelensky Marks 1 Year of Russian Invasion Amid Global Protests, New Sanctions, Protesters in Tunisia Condemn President Saied’s Racism Amid Ongoing Political Turmoil, El Salvador’s Pres. Nayib Bukele Touts “Megaprison” with Shocking Images of Shackled Detainees, Erin Brockovich Tells East Palestine Residents to Remain “Vigilant” Following Toxic Train Crash, Energy Dept. Believes with “Low Confidence” COVID-19 Started with Lab Leak, FDA Approves At-Home Combined COVID and Flu Test, NYT Exposes Labor Exploitation of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in U.S., Newspapers Drop Dilbert Comic After Creator’s Racist Comments, Uber and Lyft Drivers Strike in Ongoing Battle Against Wage Theft

Palestinians held a general strike in the West Bank Thursday after Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians and injured nearly 500 in a military raid in the city of Nablus. So far this year, Israel has killed at least 65 Palestinians, including 13 children, drawing concern and criticism from supranational actors including the U.N. and Amnesty International. We speak to Amira Hass, a correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Issa Amro, a prominent Palestinian human rights defender from Hebron in the West Bank. Amro was recently beaten by an Israeli soldier while being interviewed by the American author Lawrence Wright. “There is a huge anger among the Palestinians from what is happening these days from the Israeli racist and fascist government, who are inciting to kill more and more Palestinians,” says Amro of the protests.

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, continue to demand answers about how a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed February 3, releasing hazardous materials into the air, water and soil. The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on the accident, blaming a wheel bearing failure for the crash and saying the derailment was “100% preventable.” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has faced widespread criticism over his response to the disaster, visited the village on Thursday for the first time since the derailment, a day after former President Trump also visited East Palestine. For more, we speak with Emily Wright, development director of River Valley Organizing, who lives a few miles from the derailment site; Gregory Hynes, the national legislative director at SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers; and reporter Topher Sanders, whose latest ProPublica story details how Norfolk Southern officials are allowed to order train crews to ignore safety alerts.

U.N. Votes Overwhelmingly to Condemn Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Ahead of Anniversary, Putin Vows to Strengthen Russia’s Nuclear Arsenal, U.S., South Korea and Japan Hold Nuclear War Drill as North Korea Test-Fires Missiles, U.S. to Quadruple Troop Presence in Taiwan, Iran Acknowledges Enriching Uranium to Near Weapons-Grade Purity, Iranian Court Sentences German-Iranian Journalist to Death, U.S. Frees Two Guantánamo Prisoners Who Faced Torture and 20 Years of Arbitrary Detention, U.N. Resumes Talks on Treaty to Protect Ocean Biodiversity, Winter Storms Blanket Midwest and SoCal with Snow as Southern U.S. Sees Record Temperatures, Biden Taps Former Mastercard CEO and Wall Street Insider Ajay Banga to Lead World Bank, Texas Judge Could Block Access to Abortion Pill for Patients Nationwide, Pregnant Woman Argues Her Fetus Is Being Unlawfully Detained in Florida Jail, One Person Dies Every Two Minutes from Pregnancy or Childbirth Complications, Pandemic-Era Federal Food Assistance Benefits to End in March, Harvey Weinstein Sentenced to Another 16 Years for Rape in Los Angeles, Court Sentences R. Kelly to 20 Years for Child Sex Crimes, Warrior Met Coal Miners Offer to End Nearly 2-Year Strike

One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many African countries have tried to avoid strong denunciations or shows of support for either side in the conflict, walking a diplomatic tightrope even as the war has had a major impact on food and fuel prices across the continent. Kenyan writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola says that neutrality is influenced by memories of Africa as a conflict zone during the Cold War, as well as a desire to chart foreign policies independent of former colonial European powers.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow this week, where they reaffirmed the close relationship between the two countries. The high-profile visit comes just days before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For more on China’s relationship with Russia and its role in the Ukraine war, we speak with Ho-fung Hung, professor of political economy and sociology at Johns Hopkins University.

Friday marks one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over the past year, at least 8,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to the United Nations, but the true death toll is believed to be higher. The U.N. refugee agency said this week that more than 8 million refugees have fled the fighting in Ukraine. This week, U.S. President Joe Biden met with NATO leaders in Warsaw, while Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Western countries sending military aid to Ukraine bear responsibility for prolonging the death and destruction of the war. We begin today’s show looking at the war’s impact and future with Nina Krushcheva, a professor of international affairs at The New School and the great-granddaughter of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Hanna Perekhoda, a Ph.D. student in history at the University of Lausanne and member of the democratic socialist organization Sotsialnyi Rukh. Perekhoda is from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Israel Bombs Gaza Strip Amid Palestinian Rocket Fire, Following Deadly Raid in Nablus, Vladimir Putin Leads Pro-War Rally Ahead of First Anniversary of Ukraine Invasion, Biden Pledges to Defend “Every Inch of NATO” in Meeting with Bucharest Nine , Federal Judge Bars 9/11 Families from Seizing Frozen Afghan Central Bank Funds, Turkey Fines Broadcasters Critical of Government Response to Deadly Earthquakes, Nigerians Prepare to Vote in High-Stakes Presidential Election Amid Ongoing Violence, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Subpoenaed in Jan. 6 Criminal Probe, Minnesota Lawmakers Approve Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Residents, Voter Reenfranchisement, Florida Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, Including 9-Year-Old and a Journalist , Pete Buttigieg in East Palestine as Pennsylvania Weighs Criminal Charges over Norfolk Southern Crash, Indian Point Nuclear Plant Owner Plans to Dump Radioactive Waste Water into Hudson River

A New York court on Tuesday convicted Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former secretary of public security and a close ally of U.S. law enforcement for decades, of drug trafficking and money laundering, among other charges. Prosecutors said García Luna accepted millions in bribes from the very criminal groups he was meant to be fighting, including the infamous Sinaloa Cartel formerly led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. García Luna faces up to life in prison and is the most high-ranking Mexican official ever tried in the U.S. For more, we speak with award-winning journalists Peniley Ramírez and Maria Hinojosa, co-hosts of Futuro Media’s podcast USA v. García Luna. They say the case exposes how corrupt the so-called war on drugs has been on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. “The U.S. government, the DEA, the entire security apparatus failed here,” says Hinojosa.

On the 58th anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination, civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump announced a new lawsuit from Malcolm X’s surviving family seeking compensation from the NYPD, CIA and FBI for its role in concealing evidence in his murder case. This lawsuit comes more than a year after it was confirmed that federal and local agencies had a role in the wrongful conviction of Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Khalil Islam for the murder. Aziz and Islam’s convictions were overturned in 2021, and they were awarded a $36 million settlement for wrongful imprisonment by the state and city of New York. We air excerpts of Tuesday’s public comments from Crump and one of Malcolm X’s daughters, Ilyasah Shabazz, of their intent to file a wrongful death lawsuit over evidence concealed in the murder investigation, in part to seek answers on the extent of the government’s involvement in the civil rights leader’s death.

As Donald Trump and his inner circle potentially face indictments over their efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Fox News is also in legal hot water for amplifying the same unfounded claims about election fraud. Dominion Voting Systems, which makes voting machines, has sued the conservative cable news outlet for $1.6 billion in a defamation suit that has exposed how top hosts and executives knew they were spreading misinformation but continued to push the conspiracy theories on air. “Fox News, despite its corporate name, is not in fact a news organization,” says Chris Lehmann, D.C. bureau chief for The Nation. “What they are doing is promulgating lies for the sake of maintaining audience share and high profitability.”

The special grand jury in Georgia that is investigating attempts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election has recommended more than a dozen indictments, and the list could include Trump. Emily Kohrs, the foreperson of the grand jury, confirmed the indictments on Tuesday, though it’s still unclear if they will include crimes other than perjury. Prosecutors will ultimately decide what charges to bring in the coming days. For more, we speak with The Nation’s D.C. bureau chief, Chris Lehmann, who says convictions are still unlikely, given that “the legal system favors heavily entrenched power.”

Russian President Vladmir Putin’s announcement that Moscow would suspend its participation in the New START treaty threatens to end the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia. Putin made the pledge during his annual State of the Nation address on Tuesday, when he accused Western nations of provoking the conflict in Ukraine. The treaty limits the U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapon stockpiles and gives each country opportunities to inspect the other’s nuclear sites. Russia says it will continue to respect the caps established by the treaty, but that it will no longer allow inspections. For more on the treaty and the wider challenge of nuclear proliferation, we speak with Dr. Ira Helfand, a longtime advocate for nuclear disarmament, who says the need to end nuclear weapons “transcends” all other issues between the U.S. and Russia. “If we don’t get rid of nuclear weapons, they’re going to be used. And if they’re used, nothing else that we’re doing is going to make any difference,” says Helfand. He is the former president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, a member of the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, as well as the co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Israeli Forces Kill 10 Palestinians in Nablus Raid, U.N. Warns Israel Not to Attack Courts Amid Weeks of Mass Protests, Beijing and Moscow Pursue Talks as Biden Declares “Ukraine Will Never Be a Victory for Russia”, EPA Orders Norfolk Southern to Clean Up Contaminated Water and Soil from Ohio Derailment, Barbara Lee Announces U.S. Senate Bid as Race for Dianne Feinstein’s Seat Heats Up, Democrat Jennifer McClellan Wins VA Special Election; RI Rep. David Cicilline Resigns from House, SCOTUS Leaves in Place Ban on Israel Boycott, Hears Case Involving Liability for YouTube Algorithms, Pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Could Reinstate Abortion Access, Protect Voting Rights, Mexico’s Former Top Security Official and U.S. Ally Convicted of Bribery, Drug Trafficking, Biden Admin’s New Immigration Plan Seeks to Keep Blocking Thousands from Seeking Asylum in U.S., Texas AAPI Community Fights New GOP Bill That Would Ban Some Nationalities from Buying Property, Seattle Bans Discrimination Based on Caste in Groundbreaking Vote, Malcolm X’s Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against NY and Federal Authorities

We speak with renowned scholar and activist Angela Davis on the 58th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X. Davis is delivering a keynote address Tuesday at the Shabazz Center in New York, formerly the Audubon Ballroom, where the iconic Black leader was killed on February 21, 1965. Davis says Malcolm is still vital to understanding racism, power and justice in the United States and beyond. “Malcolm always placed these issues in a larger context, and I think that we can learn a great deal from that legacy today,” says Davis. She also responds to recent moves by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and others to restrict the teaching of African American history, calling it an effort to “turn the clock back” on racial progress.

The police murder of Fred Hampton in Chicago in 1969 helped launch a movement more than 50 years ago for community-led police accountability. In a culmination of this campaign, Chicago voters next Tuesday will elect 22 local police councils tasked with community control of the police. Seven members of the councils will be part of a Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, a new model of police oversight. We speak with Frank Chapman, longtime activist and field organizer with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, about the initiative and how it aims to empower Black and Brown working-class civilians.

A pivotal Chicago mayoral race, just a week away, on February 28, is an off-cycle election, and voter turnout could be low, as nine Democratic candidates court their vote and face pressure to address public safety and crime. Candidates include incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Congressmember Chuy García, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson and former Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools Paul Vallas, who is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police. This comes as Republican Governor Ron DeSantis spoke Monday in Chicago in support of police. We discuss the race with Democracy Now! co-host Juan González in Chicago, along with Chuy García supporter Luis Gutiérrez, a former Democratic congressmember for Illinois and former member of the Chicago City Council, and Brandon Johnson supporter Barbara Ransby, a professor of Black studies, gender and women’s studies and history at the University of Illinois Chicago.

New Tremors Add to Misery of Earthquake Survivors in Turkey and Syria, Vladimir Putin to Suspend New START Nuclear Arms Treaty, Biden Travels to Warsaw for Major Speech on Ukraine and Talks with NATO Leaders, France Officially Withdraws Army from Burkina Faso, 17 Asylum Seekers Killed as Bus Crashes in Southern Mexico , Cambodia Shutters “Voice of Democracy” Broadcaster in Latest Crackdown on Dissent, Iraqi Environmentalist Jassim Al-Asadi Freed from Kidnappers, One Person Killed, 12 Others Injured in Ohio Metal Factory Explosion , Ohio Opens Health Clinic for Residents Near Site of Toxic Train Crash, Michigan State University Classes Resume as Students Demand Gun Reforms After Mass Shooting , Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Colleagues Win George Polk Award for “The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh”

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns teen girls face record levels of depression and hopelessness, we host a roundtable on the role of social media and a bipartisan push against Big Tech in Congress. Several child safety-focused bills to curtail children’s exposure to harmful online interactions are being proposed this session. Critics say the measures may not actually help children while limiting speech and privacy rights. We are joined by three people who testified last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee: Emma Lembke, a college student and founder of the LOG OFF movement, which promotes healthy social media use among teens; Mitch Prinstein, professor of psychology and neuroscience and chief science officer at the American Psychological Association; and Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, a consumer advocacy group dedicated to ending marketing targeted at children.

At the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the United States has formally determined Russia committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Her remarks come amid a “massive justice mobilization” in Ukraine, where investigators are documenting abuses and seeking to prosecute Russian soldiers and leaders, says Reed Brody, a veteran war crimes prosecutor and former counsel for Human Rights Watch. Brody notes that for international law to have force, it must apply to powerful countries including the United States. “You can’t have it both ways. The tools of international justice should not only be aimed at enemies and outcasts,” says Brody.

President Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine ahead of this week’s first anniversary of Russia’s invasion and announced another $500 million in military aid to Ukraine and more sanctions on Russia. The visit underlines what Biden called his “unwavering support” for Ukrainian independence at a time when growing numbers of people in the United States and other countries are pushing for a negotiated end to the fighting. “For an American president to make a trip like this is enormously symbolic,” says Matt Duss, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former Bernie Sanders adviser. “I feel this is a propaganda move to shore up support for a senseless war that the American public are starting to realize has no end in sight except for more senseless waste of lives,” says CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin.

Biden Visits Ukraine, Pledges More Weapons Ahead of First Anniversary of Russian Invasion, Europe to Increase Flow of Weapons to Ukraine as Peace Protesters Call for Diplomacy Over War, Kamala Harris Accuses Russia of Crimes Against Humanity, Warns Beijing Against Supporting Russia, Japan, U.S., South Korea Threaten More Sanctions After N. Korea Ballistic Missile Drills, Turkey Winding Down Earthquake Rescue Operations as Anger Grows over Scale of Deaths & Destruction, Thousands Protest as Extreme-Right Israeli Gov’t Presses Ahead with Attack on Judiciary, Israeli Airstrikes Kill 15 in Damascus; U.S. Says It Killed ISIS Leader in Syria Raid, 18 Afghan Refugees Found Dead Inside Abandoned Truck in Bulgaria, Tunisia Expels European Trade Union Official Amid Crackdown by President Kais Saied, Extreme Weather Kills 36 in Brazil; Death Toll from New Zealand Cyclone Rises to 11, Asylum Seekers at Two California ICE Detention Centers Hold Hunger Strike, For-Profit Prison Corporation CoreCivic Sued for Death of Bahamian Immigrant, Five Memphis Ex-Cops Plead Not Guilty to Murdering Tyre Nichols, U.S. Logs 80th Mass Shooting of 2023 After Another Bloody Weekend of Gun Violence, Fox News Officials Pushed Conspiracy Theories About 2020 Election They Didn’t Believe, Former President Jimmy Carter, 98, Enters Hospice Care

The new Brazilian government recently conducted operations to expel thousands of illegal gold miners from Indigenous Yanomami land in the Amazon rainforest. The miners have caused a humanitarian crisis among the Yanomami who have suffered from severe malnutrition and illness from illegal mining operations that have polluted rivers and destroyed forests. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently accused Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right government of committing genocide against the Yanomami people. Bolsonaro, who is expected to return to Brazil from Florida next month, could face genocide charges for his actions. Democracy Now! spoke to Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, a leader and shaman for the Yanomami people, while he was in Washington, D.C., last week. Yanomami says he supports the prosecution of Bolsonaro.

Last Friday, the State Department announced the nomination of James Cavallaro, a widely respected human rights attorney, to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. But earlier this week, the State Department withdrew Cavallaro’s nomination after reports emerged that he had described Israel as an apartheid state and had criticized House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s close ties to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Defending the withdrawal of Cavallaro’s nomination, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “His statements clearly do not reflect U.S. policy. They are not a reflection of what we believe, and they are inappropriate to say the least.” The decision has sparked outrage within the human rights community. Cavallaro joins us to explain that this move by the Biden administration is particularly troubling because the role he was nominated for does not have any authority over U.S.-Israel relations and is an independent position.

We look at the failures that led to the massive train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that blanketed the town with a toxic brew of spilled chemicals and gases, fouling the air, polluting waterways and killing thousands of fish and frogs. Residents are suffering ailments including respiratory distress, sore throats, burning eyes and rashes, all with unknown long-term consequences. Many say they do not trust officials who tell them it is safe to return to their homes. This catastrophe could have been prevented, had it not been for lax regulation and the outsized lobbying power of corporations like Norfolk Southern, says Matthew Cunningham-Cook, a researcher and writer at The Lever who is part of a team that is reporting on the disaster.

Ukraine’s Zelensky Rules Out Trading Territory for Peace, U.N. Appeals for $1 Billion for Turkey Earthquake Relief, World Food Programme Plans to Slash Food Aid to Rohingya Refugees, Biden Remarks on Unidentified Objects Shot Down Over North America, Israel Approves Law Allowing Palestinians to Be Stripped of Citizenship and Deported, U.S. Won’t Rule Out Veto of U.N. Resolution on Illegal Israeli Settlements, Georgia Grand Jury Finds Evidence of Perjury in Testimony on Trump’s Bid to Overturn 2020 Election , 2024 Presidential Hopeful Nikki Haley Calls for “Mental Competency Tests” for Older Politicians, PA Sen. John Fetterman Seeks Treatment for Depression , Jeremy Corbyn Barred from Running on Labour Ticket in U.K., Nicola Sturgeon Resigns as Scottish Leader Amid Challenges over Independence, NYT Writers Call Out Newspaper’s Bias in Coverage of Transgender Issues, Norfolk Southern Train Derails in Michigan as EPA Chief Visits Site of Toxic Ohio Crash, Tesla Recalls 360,000 Self-Driving Cars; Worker Organizers Accuse EV Maker of Retaliatory Firings, NY Senate Votes Down Gov. Hochul’s Judicial Pick After Backlash from Unions, Rights Groups

Hundreds of residents of East Palestine, Ohio, packed into their first town hall meeting Wednesday night after a train carrying hazardous materials derailed and a “controlled” burn sent a mushroom cloud of toxic chemicals into the air. Many said they distrusted the train operator Norfolk Southern and their elected officials, who told residents the air and water were safe last Wednesday. We get an update from Emily Wright, development director for River Valley Organizing, which is working with residents to call for justice-centered healing.

Soaring inflation and devalued currencies have created a catastrophic debt crisis for much of the world, including in countries like Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Malaysian economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram says the instability is largely driven by interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which have the effect of increasing borrowing costs for poorer countries and devaluing their currencies compared to the U.S. dollar. The intensifying U.S. economic war on China is also hurting many countries of the Global South that are linked to Chinese industry, he says.

We get an update on last week’s earthquakes from Turkish parliament member Hişyar Özsoy, in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır in southern Turkey, who says the devastation there reflects a lack of planning and regulation that led to so many buildings collapsing. “This is not a natural disaster in Turkey. It is a human-made disaster,” says Özsoy.

The death toll from the massive earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 is nearing 42,000 and continues to rise as many face a lack of shelter and access to aid. The effects are especially dire in northwest Syria, which was already facing a humanitarian crisis prior to the earthquakes after nearly 12 years of war. Othman Moqbel, CEO of Action For Humanity, the parent charity of Syria Relief, says other countries must do more to support Syrians. “We have [a] duty to support them. The international community needs to do more,” he says, adding that sanctions on Syria are further hampering the delivery of aid.

Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 42,000 As Aid Workers Condemn US-Led Sanctions on Syria, Russian Journalist Maria Ponomarenko Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison Amid Crackdown on War Reporting, Buffalo Supermarket Shooter Gets Life in Prison Without Parole for Racist Massacre, One Killed, Three Injured Near Site of 2019 Racist Mass Shooting in El Paso, TX, Father Indicted for Helping Son Get Guns Used in Highland Park Mass Shooting, Michigan State University Students Hold Sit-In Protest to Demand Gun Controls, Special Counsel Subpoenas Mark Meadows in Jan. 6 Probe, Georgia Court Orders Partial Release of Grand Jury Findings on Trump and 2020 Election, Virginia Republicans Thwart Bill to Safeguard People’s Private Menstrual Data, 73 People Presumed Dead After Migrant Boat Deflates off Libyan Coast, Bus Carrying Migrants Plunges off Cliff in Panama, Killing at Least 39 People, Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” Headed for Collapse, Portending Disastrous Sea Level Rise, World Bank President to Resign Early Amid Backlash to Climate Crisis Denial

The Michigan State University community is in mourning after a mass shooting on campus Monday in which a gunman killed three students and severely wounded five more. In response to Monday’s killings, both Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and President Joe Biden have called for tighter gun laws to restrict the purchase of weapons. Monday’s bloodshed came just a day before the fifth anniversary of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, highlighting the ever-present risk of gun violence in the lives of young people in the United States. “Young people now experience gun violence multiple times throughout our lives,” says gun violence prevention advocate Robert Schentrup, whose sister Carmen was killed in the 2018 Parkland massacre. We also speak with pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who teaches at Michigan State and says gun violence must be seen as a public health crisis. “The number one killer of children is guns,” says Dr. Hanna-Attisha.

When the Nord Stream pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged last September, U.S. officials were quick to suggest Russia had bombed its own pipelines. But according to a new report by the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, it was the U.S. Navy that carried out the sabotage, with help from Norway. Citing a source “with direct knowledge of the operational planning,” Hersh writes on his Substack blog that planning for the mission began in December of 2021. The White House and the Norwegian government have since denied the claims. Hersh joins us for an in-depth interview to discuss his report and says the U.S. decision to bomb the pipelines was meant to lock allies into support for Ukraine at a time when some were wavering. “The fear was Europe would walk away from the war,” he says. Hersh won a Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for his reporting on the My Lai massacre. His reporting on CIA spying on antiwar activists during the Vietnam War era helped lead to the formation of the Church Committee, which led to major reforms of the intelligence community, and in 2004, he exposed the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.