Democracy Now!

We speak to Yale University historian Timothy Snyder about his latest article for The New Yorker, “The War in Ukraine Is a Colonial War.” Snyder writes about the colonial history that laid the foundations for the Russian war in Ukraine, such as Russia’s imperial vision and how leaders including Hitler and Stalin have aimed to conquer Ukrainian soil on different premises. “The whole history of colonialism … involves denying that another people is real. It involves denying that another state is real,” says Snyder. “That is, of course, the premise of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The European Union has announced a plan for a total ban on Russian oil by 2023. The move is backed by Germany, one of the countries most dependent on Russian fuel. World leaders hope that stricter sanctions on Russia will cut off financing for the war in Ukraine. We go to Ukraine to speak with economist Tymofiy Mylovanov about what the European oil ban would mean for the conflict; possible alternative buyers for Russia’s oil surplus, such as China and India; military escalations Russia might be planning for its Victory Day on May 9; and more.

This week U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is in Nigeria, where he warned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is leading to a growing hunger crisis in Africa. A new report by Human Rights Watch finds the Russian invasion of Ukraine has worsened food insecurity, particularly for African countries that were already experiencing a hunger crisis. Russia and Ukraine are leading exporters of wheat and other grains, while countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria and Uganda are among the largest importers. With climate change and trade stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, “all these changes within the availability of food has sent the food prices to new levels,” says Lena Simet, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. Advocates are calling on exporting countries such as the United States and Canada to “open their markets, to not introduce export restrictions, and provide essential grains at an affordable price to humanitarian organizations,” she adds.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has tested positive for the coronavirus. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday Blinken would isolate at home according to CDC guidelines. Blinken met Wednesday with Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde shortly before his positive test result. A day earlier, he met with Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. On Saturday, he joined a crowd of 2,600 celebrities, journalists and Washington elites who packed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, where few in attendance wore masks. “You guys spent the last two years telling everyone the importance of wearing masks and avoiding large indoor gatherings. Then, the second someone offers you a free dinner, you all turn into Joe Rogan,” said comedian Trevor Noah in his address at the event, which has since been linked to a growing number of COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization estimates the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the deaths of nearly 15 million people around the world.

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 1 Million, NBC News Tally Finds, Air Raid Sirens Sound Across Ukraine as Russia Steps Up Attacks on Infrastructure, U.S. Intelligence Helped Ukraine Kill Russian Generals, Reports New York Times, Global Hunger Surged to Record High in 2021 Even Before Ukraine War, California Readies Constitutional Amendment to Protect Reproductive Rights, Democratic Leaders Continue to Back Rep. Henry Cuellar Despite Anti-Abortion Views, Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates by 0.5%, Citing High Inflation , Psychologist Details Torture of Saudi Prisoner at CIA Black Site, Irish Peace Activists Fined for Protesting U.S. Troop Movements at Shannon Airport, Donald Trump Jr. Begged White House to Stop Jan. 6 Riot: “It Has Gone Too Far”, Recording Reveals Rep. Kevin McCarthy Discussed Removing Trump After Capitol Riot, Starbucks CEO Promises Raises and Benefits to Nonunion Workers

The Trump-backed candidate J.D. Vance won the Ohio Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, while former Bernie Sanders presidential campaign co-chair Nina Turner lost the Democratic primary election for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District after massive outside spending and attacks by super PACs. We speak with Andrew Perez of The Lever about what Ohio’s elections mean for the future of the Democratic Party if it actively suppresses candidates like Turner who are critical of the establishment. Given that a majority Democratic Congress and sitting Democratic president have not delivered on campaign promises such as canceling student debt, protecting Roe v. Wade and passing Build Back Better, the party will be in jeopardy in the upcoming elections, says Perez.

What role did dark money play in the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade? We speak with reporter Andrew Perez about how conservative anti-abortion groups and right-wing extremists have funneled millions of dollars into promoting politicians and Supreme Court justices to ultimately curtail reproductive rights. A dark money network led by the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo has spent at least $10 million promoting each of President Trump’s picks for the Supreme Court and another $10 million blocking Merrick Garland’s nomination in 2016, says Perez, senior editor and investigative reporter at The Lever.

As the leaked opinion showing the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v. Wade sparks protests across the United States, we speak to an abortion doctor and a reproductive rights activist facing deportation about what is next. “We will keep fighting for us to have abortions that are safe, legal and accessible to everyone, no matter where you are, no matter where you’re coming from and no matter what your income,” says community organizer Alejandra Pablos, noting the decision could have particularly disastrous effects on already vulnerable undocumented immigrants and border communities in Arizona. “People should be able to access abortion care as part of the general healthcare that a pregnant person or any other person would seek,” says gynecologist Dr. DeShawn Taylor about how criminalizing abortion affects medical professionals in the field, especially her clinic Desert Star Family Planning, one of the only abortion clinics in Arizona.

VP Harris: Overturning Roe v. Wade Would Be “Direct Assault on Freedom”, Legal Experts: Overturning Roe Could Lead to Ending Same-Sex Marriage & Access to Contraceptives, Without Filibuster Reform, Democratic Efforts to Codify Abortion Rights Will Fail, Oklahoma Governor Signs Six-Week Abortion Ban, EU Unveils Proposal to Ban All Russian Oil Imports by End of Year, Parts of Lviv Without Power or Water After Russian Missile Strikes, Military in Belarus Begins Large-Scale Military Drills to Test Combat Readiness, Biden Visits Lockheed Martin Plant to Push for Passage of $33B for Ukraine, “NATO’s Barking at Russia’s Gate”: Pope Francis Partially Blames West for War in Ukraine, U.N.: 4.5 Tons of Grain Stuck in Ukraine Due to Russian Blockade, State Department Declares WNBA Star Brittney Griner to Be “Wrongfully Detained” in Russia, BP Records $6.2 Billion in Profits over Past Three Months, Report: CIA Director Made Secret Trip to Saudi Arabia to Meet MBS in April, J.D. Vance Wins GOP Senate Primary in Ohio with Help from Trump & Peter Thiel, Philadelphia Police Officer Charged with Murder for Fatally Shooting 12-Year-Old Boy, Ex-NYPD Officer Convicted for Assaulting D.C. Cop During Jan. 6 Insurrection, Trump on Black Lives Matter Protesters: “Can’t You Just Shoot Them?”, Guterres Warns Africa Is Facing Triple Crisis; Calls for Military Juntas to Hand Over Power, Report: Israel Is Holding 600 Palestinians Without Charge or Trial, North Korea Launches Suspected Ballistic Missile, PayPal Freezes Funds for Consortium News, An Outlet Critical of U.S. Policy on Ukraine, Norman Mineta, 90, Dies; Helped Win Reparations for Interned Japanese Americans

As President Biden seeks $33 billion more for Ukraine, we look at the dangers of U.S. military escalation with Medea Benjamin of CodePink and George Beebe of the Quincy Institute. He is the former head of Russia analysis at the CIA and a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. The massive spending in Ukraine that outweighs public funding to combat the coronavirus pandemic shows that “there are very few things that the Biden administration thinks are more important right now than defeating Russia, and I don’t think that accords, actually, with the priorities of the American people,” says Beebe. “To support the people of Ukraine and stop the fighting, we need not to pour billions of dollars of more weapons in, but to say, 'Negotiations now,'” says Benjamin.

The Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a leaked draft opinion published by Politico. In it, Justice Samuel Alito writes for the majority that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.” We speak to two reproductive rights advocates: attorney Kathryn “Kitty” Kolbert, who argued the landmark 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case, and law professor Michele Goodwin, author of “Policing the Womb.” The reproductive rights movement must not only stir public outcry and depend on the courts to protect these rights, but also focus more on state-level elections to vote out anti-abortion politicians, says Kolbert. Where Roe v. Wade didn’t go far enough, passing legislation such as the Women’s Health Protection Act can enshrine abortion rights, says Goodwin.

Supreme Court Is Prepared to Overturn Abortion Rights, Leaked Draft Opinion Shows, U.N. Confirms Over 3,000 Civilian Deaths in Ukraine; True Toll from Russian Assault Likely Higher , Pentagon Says Putin May Soon Formally Declare War on Ukraine, EU Energy Minister Rejects Russia’s Rubles-for-Fuel Scheme, Omicron Coronavirus Subvariants Fuel New Rise of Cases in South Africa, New York Raises Coronavirus Risk Level to “Medium”, Human Rights Groups Cite Serious Abuses in El Salvador’s State of Emergency, State Dept. “Disturbed” by Reports Egyptian Critic Died in Custody with Signs of Torture, Biden Meets Family of Austin Tice, U.S. Journalist Abducted in Syria in 2012, Rights Groups Demand Release of Ethiopian Journalists Facing Death Penalty over War Coverage, Russia Condemned on World Press Freedom Day over Censorship and Killing Reporters in Ukraine, New Mexico Wildfires Grow in Size, Scorching Over 120,000 Acres, Tennessee Halts Executions ver Potential Toxins in Lethal Injection Drugs, Union Drive at Second Staten Island Amazon Warehouse Falls Short, Oklahoma Judge Will Allow Tulsa Race Massacre Lawsuit to Proceed

Longtime Cuban diplomat Ricardo Alarcón died on Sunday at the age of 84. He was a student leader during the Cuban revolution who eventually became Cuba’s foreign minister and president of the National Assembly, Cuba’s parliament. He played a key role in talks between the United States and Cuba for many years. Democracy Now! spoke to Alarcón in 2015 as the Cuban Embassy reopened in Washington for the first time in 54 years. “You should not overstate the role of diplomats,” Alarcón said of the thawing in relations between the two countries. “The real force that brought about this result was the struggle of the peoples.”

The Ukrainian government says about 100 people have been able to evacuate the besieged steel plant in Mariupol, where thousands of civilians and fighters have taken shelter in recent weeks as Russian forces took over most of the strategic port city. This comes after several previously arranged “humanitarian corridors” fell apart. Meanwhile, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking American official to visit Kyiv, days after President Joe Biden asked Congress for an additional $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. For more on the war in Ukraine, now in its 10th week, we speak with Norwegian Refugee Council head Jan Egeland, who has been visiting Ukrainian cities “devastated beyond belief” by the Russian invasion. “I don’t think the world has understood enough that this suffering will become even deeper, especially in the east and the south, if the war is allowed to rage on like now.” Egeland says the only way to end the war is through talks, and warns against an “arms race” that could continue to fuel the conflict.

We speak with one of the leaders of a new study that finds one in five reptiles are threatened by extinction. The results of the first comprehensive study of over 10,000 reptile species around the world were just published in the journal Nature and found multiple causes, including deforestation, urban encroachment, hunting and the climate crisis. “The fate of reptiles is wrapped up with the fate of many other species,” notes Bruce Young, the chief zoologist and senior conservation scientist for the wildlife conservation group NatureServe.

We speak with a leading Indian climate scientist about the punishing heat wave that produced the hottest weather ever recorded in April for India and Pakistan. Temperatures have climbed above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, causing power outages, school closures, crop damage and health warnings. Scientists link the early onset of the region’s intense summer to the climate crisis and say more than 1 billion people may be impacted by more frequent and longer heat waves. “We are expected to and already seeing longer and more intense heat waves that are more frequent across the Indian subcontinent because of anthropogenic climate change,” says Chandni Singh, senior researcher on climate change adaptation at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and a lead author of the Asia chapter of the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Historical emitters of greenhouse gases have to step up because we are, in countries like India and Pakistan, really hitting the limits of adapting to heat.”

In Trip to Kyiv, Pelosi Vows U.S. Will Back Ukraine “Until the Fight Is Done”, Ukraine: About 100 Civilians Evacuated from Mariupol Steel Plant, AP: Ukraine Arrests Hundreds Accused of Collaborating with Russians, Rep. Kinzinger Introduces AUMF to OK U.S. Troops in Ukraine If Russia Uses WMDs, Ukrainian Journalist Dies in Russian Missile Strikes on Kyiv Apartment Building, Former U.S. Marine Working for Private Military Security Firm Dies Fighting in Ukraine, EU Holds Emergency Talks About Proposed Ban on Russia Oil, Big Oil, Big Profits: Chevron Records $6.3B Profit, Exxon $5.5B — in Just Three Months, At Least 10 Die in Blast at Sufi Mosque in Kabul, 200,000 Palestinians Mark Eid at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Days After Israeli Raid, Millions March on May Day, from France to Turkey to Chile, Protesters in Wisconsin Hold “Day Without Latinxs and Immigrants” Protests, Sri Lanka Opposition Rejects Presidential Offer to Form Proposed Unity Government, Trump Faces Grand Jury Probe in Georgia into Efforts to Overturn Election, DOJ Sues Alabama for Law Barring Gender-Affirming Medicine for Trans Youth, Florida Prison Guards Charged with Murder for Beating Death, FBI Carried Out at Least 3.4 Million Warrantless Searches of U.S. Residents’ Data, New York Drops Charges Against Peace Activists Arrested at 2019 Drone Protest, Former Cuban Diplomat Ricardo Alarcón Dies at 84, Kathy Boudin, Ex-Weather Underground Member Who Fought for Prisoners’ Rights, Dies at 78

The landmark 1979 labor documentary, “The Wobblies,” has been restored and rereleased for May Day, International Workers’ Day. The film details the history of the Industrial Workers of the World — a radical union whose members are also known as Wobblies — and their inclusive fight to organize “unskilled” workers, secure fair wages and enshrine the eight-hour workday in the early 20th century before they were targeted and repressed by the FBI during World War I. It features interviews with former Wobblies still alive in the 1970s. Deborah Shaffer, who co-directed the film with Stewart Bird, says the IWW “was founded in 1905 out of necessity” because no existing unions represented so-called unskilled labor. “The workers had no representation at all, and they were being expected to work seven days a week, 12-hour days, no breaks, no meals, underpaid, overworked,” she says. “Conditions were terrible and intolerable.” The high-definition rerelease of “The Wobblies” comes after the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2021.

Climate change is forcing animal migrations at an unprecedented scale, bringing many previously disconnected species into close contact and dramatically raising the likelihood of viruses leaping into new hosts and sparking future pandemics. That’s according to a new study in the journal Nature, which predicts that climate-driven disruptions to Earth’s ecosystems will create thousands of cross-species viral transmissions in the coming decades. We speak with The Atlantic’s Ed Yong, who says this new era can be thought of as the “Pandemicene,” a time defined by the power of viruses over humanity and the wider world. “In a warming world, we’ll get lots of these spillover events in which viruses find new hosts, mostly transferring between animal to animal but increasing the odds that they will eventually then spill over into us,” says Yong.

Nuclear watchdogs are expressing alarm over safety conditions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian control since early March after a fight that led to a fire near one of the plant’s reactors. It is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and located in the largest city in southeastern Ukraine still under Ukrainian control. The Ukrainian government accused Russia of launching two missiles that flew over the plant earlier this week, and says Russian missiles have also flown near two other nuclear power plants in the country. Ukrainian energy expert Olexi Pasyuk, deputy director of the group Ecoaction, notes that Russian forces likely already disturbed radioactive materials at the Chernobyl zone, scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. “Zaporizhzhia, where you have reactors in operation and they continue to work now, is a far more dangerous situation,” says Pasyuk.

Russia Bombs Kyiv as U.N. Secretary-General Meets Ukrainian President, European Energy Companies Agree to Pay for Russian Gas in Rubles, NATO Chief Says Allies Are Prepared to Support Ukraine “For Months and Years”, Biden Asks Congress for Additional $33 Billion for Weapons and Aid to Ukraine, U.N. Warns Humans Have Degraded 40% of Earth’s Land, Climate Crisis Threatens Largest Mass Extinction of Marine Mammals in 66 Million Years, Study Finds Climate Change Drives Animal Migration, Threatening New Viral Outbreaks, Protesters Demand Pfizer End Pandemic Profiteering and Share Vaccine Technologies, WHO Warns of Rising Measles Cases After Pandemic Disrupted Vaccinations of Children, Iran Put 333 People to Death in 2021, a 25% Rise in Capital Punishment, Oklahoma GOP Approves 6-Week Abortion Ban with $10,000 Bounty for Reporting Violators, Georgia Gov. Kemp Signs Bills Banning Books, Classroom Discussion of Race, and Trans Athletes, 19 of Most Profitable U.S. Corporations Pay Little or No Income Tax, Biden Rules Out Canceling $50,000 of Debt Per Student Borrower, FDA Proposes Ban on Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars

The Biden administration has pledged billions in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week that the U.S. goal was “to see Russia weakened.” Author and analyst Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, warns that unless there is a commitment to finding a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it could become a U.S. proxy war with “very, very dangerous potential consequences.”

The Biden administration participated in a prisoner swap with Russia this week, freeing a Russian pilot who was jailed in Connecticut on drug charges in return for a Marine veteran imprisoned in Russia since 2019. Meanwhile, the fate of jailed basketball player Brittney Griner remains unclear. The Phoenix Mercury center is one of the biggest stars of the WNBA, but both the league and the Biden administration have said little about her case since she was arrested at a Russian airport on February 17 on allegations of carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. “There are signs that this is clearly politically motivated from the start, but the White House and the State Department seem to be giving the WNBA this advice to remain silent,” says journalist Maya Goldberg-Safir, who wrote about the lack of public attention on Griner’s case in a recent article for Jacobin. “We know that in order to get Brittney Griner home, the White House will need to intervene.” Goldberg-Safir also notes that Griner, like many WNBA players, plays abroad during the off-season for extra income, and her arrest highlights the gender pay gap in professional sports that may have placed her at additional risk.

Harvard University released a 134-page report this week that detailed the school’s extensive ties to slavery and pledged $100 million for a fund for scholars to continue to research the topic. The report documents dozens of prominent people associated with Harvard who enslaved people, including four Harvard presidents. Harvard commissioned the study in 2019 as part of a wave of schools reckoning with their pasts and the ongoing legacy of racial discrimination. “Harvard’s ties to slavery begin with the founding of the institution,” says MIT historian Craig Steven Wilder, author of “Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities.” Wilder says that while this history is not new, Harvard worked for decades to erase its complicity in slavery. “We’re really only beginning to reconcile and to really struggle with the deep ties that this institution has to slavery,” he says.

Ukraine Skeptical as Russia Agrees “In Principle” to Evacuate Civilians from Conflict Areas, Putin Warns U.S. and Allies Against Intervention in Ukraine, Toxic Landfill Fire Adds to Misery of Delhi Residents Facing Record Spring Heat Wave, 20% of All Reptiles Face Risk of Extinction, California Officials Order Water Restrictions for 6 Million as Climate Emergency Deepens, Moderna Asks FDA to Approve Its COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Under 6, Guantánamo’s Youngest Prisoner Cleared for Release 20 Years After He Was Jailed Without Charges, Supreme Court Weighs Criminal Jurisdiction on Indian Reservations in Follow-Up to Landmark Ruling, Oklahoma GOP Leader Calls for Firing Squad Execution of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Establishing Election Police Force, Report Finds Pattern of Racist Discrimination in Minneapolis Police Department

We speak with historian Alfred McCoy about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could possibly end. McCoy argues the European Union is essentially funding the war by buying energy from Russia, and says sanctions will not deter Russian President Putin from war so long as his economy continues supplying energy for the world. McCoy says the European Court of Human Rights should instead force the EU to start deducting a portion of regular natural gas payments to Russia and reroute this money to a Ukraine compensation fund. Russia’s loss of energy income could incentivize Putin to roll back the invasion, says McCoy. His latest piece for TomDispatch is headlined “How to End the War in Ukraine: A Solution Beyond Sanctions.”

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether to strike down the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced tens of thousands of non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases played out in U.S. courts, often in extremely dangerous conditions. Biden suspended the policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, shortly after taking office, but Texas and Missouri challenged the move. “This is a pretty outrageous idea that a new president coming into office is not allowed to dismantle his predecessor’s programs that he disagrees with,” says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. Still, Reichlin-Melnick says the justices seem torn on their decision and that the Biden administration’s amended version of “Remain in Mexico” still puts asylum seekers at extreme risk of violence. We also hear from asylum seekers about conditions they faced in Mexico under the program.

Puerto Rican elected officials from both the island and the United States are on Capitol Hill today to support the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, which would establish a process for determining the status of the U.S. territory. This comes after the Supreme Court recently supported the Biden administration’s claim that Puerto Ricans are not entitled to claim full Supplemental Security Income benefits unless they move to the mainland. Democracy Now! host Juan González analyzes the developments and highlights conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch’s surprising concurring opinion in the latest Supreme Court decision, which he calls “one of the clearest and most eloquent statements exposing U.S. colonialism that’s ever been issued by a Supreme Court justice, at least in my lifetime.”

Russia Cuts Off Gas to Poland and Bulgaria, In Policy Shift, Germany to Send Dozens of Anti-Aircraft Vehicles to Ukraine, Report: U.S. Giving Real-Time Intelligence to Ukraine to Help Attack Russian Forces, Lavrov Accuses NATO of Waging Proxy War in Ukraine, Warns of Nuclear War, IAEA Head Visits Chernobyl, Praises Workers Who Ran Plant During Russian Occupation, Trevor Reed Freed in U.S.-Russia Prisoner Swap, Kamala Harris Tests Positive for COVID-19, CDC: 60% of Adults & 75% of Children Have Had COVID-19, WHO Warns Cuts to Testing Makes World “Increasingly Blind” to Evolution of Pandemic, Rep. McCarthy Warned Fellow Republicans Were “Putting People in Jeopardy” After Jan. 6, U.S. Refuses to Rule Out Military Action in Dispute with China over Solomon Islands, Aung San Suu Kyi Sentenced to Five More Years in Prison, At Least 21 Migrants Dead After Boats Sink Near Tunisia & Canary Islands, Israeli Airstrikes in Syria Kill Nine People, Israeli Forces Kill Two More Palestinians in West Bank Raids, Report: 52 Colombian Human Rights Activists Killed So Far This Year, Ex-Colombian Soldiers Admit to Executing Civilians & Planting Guns on Them, Biden Privately Tells Lawmakers He May Take Executive Action to Cancel Some Student Debt, Biden Pardons Three People & Commutes Sentences of 75 Drug Offenders, Harvard Pledges to Spend $100 Million to Redress School’s Deep Ties to Slavery

We speak with human rights and environmental lawyer Steven Donziger, who was released Monday from nearly 1,000 days of house arrest as part of a years-long legal ordeal that began after he successfully sued Chevron on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadorian Amazonian Indigenous people. Donziger calls his misdemeanor sentencing and arrest “a retaliation play by Chevron and some of its allies in the judiciary,” meant to intimidate other human rights advocates and lawyers from pursuing environmental justice. “Chevron tried to use me as what I would say is a weapon of mass distraction so people wouldn’t focus on the environmental crimes they commited in Ecuador,” continues Donziger, who says, “I didn’t really understand freedom until it was taken away.”

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is set to become the new owner of Twitter after the company’s board agreed to sell the influential social media platform for $44 billion on Monday. Musk, who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist,” tweeted, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.” We speak with tech industry watchdog Jessica González and Evan “Rabble” Henshaw-Plath, who was part of the team that launched Twitter in 2006, about what the buyout means for the future of digital media and journalism. “Musk or no Musk, Twitter has work to do to ensure that it stops amplifying bigotry, calls to violence, hate speech and conspiracy theories,” says González. Henshaw-Plath says he senses Musk has “no idea what he’s getting into,” and discusses the activist roots of Twitter.

The United States and Cuba held their highest-level talks in four years last week in Washington, where they discussed the soaring numbers of Cubans immigrating to the U.S. We speak with Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who participated in the talks. He says the U.S. has failed to implement the mutually set immigration goals between the two countries, which, paired with economic sanctions on the island, has resulted in “irregular and uncontrolled migration” of Cubans to the U.S. “If the United States would have fulfilled its commitment of granting 20,000 visas a year, it would perfectly have avoided thousands of Cubans reaching the border of the United States,” says Fernández de Cossío, who blames the Biden administration for upholding the same destructive policies as the Trump administration, which applied maximum economic sanctions starting in 2019 to “make life as difficult as possible” in Cuba. He also speaks about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying “this war could have been avoided,” and calls out the U.S. for pushing “double standards” under the guise of international human rights law.

U.N. Secretary-General Travels to Moscow to Urge Humanitarian Ceasefire in Ukraine, Blasts Rock Region of Moldova Home to Russian Troops and Pro-Russia Separatists, Pentagon Chief Hosts Meeting of U.S. Allies in Germany to Discuss Arming Ukraine, Greenpeace Blocks Russian Oil Bound for ExxonMobil Terminal in Norway, Thousands Flood German Village to Protest Plans to Expand Open-Pit Coal Mine, Elon Musk Purchases Twitter for $44 Billion, Nicaragua Expels Representatives from the Organization of American States, El Salvador Extends Anti-Gang State of Emergency, U.S. to Continue Expelling Asylum Seekers After Judge Blocks Rescission of Title 42, China Orders COVID Testing for 3.5 Million in Beijing; Major Cities Remain Locked Down, Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club Cancels Awards, Citing National Security Law, “A Travesty of Justice”: Rights Groups Condemn Turkish Court’s Life Sentence for Osman Kavala, New York Court Holds Donald Trump in Contempt, Orders Him to Pay $10,000/Day, Corporate Criminal Prosecutions Hit Record Lows Under Biden, Texas Death Row Prisoner Melissa Lucio Wins Reprieve as Courts Consider Innocence Claims

Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law is part of a nationwide push by Republicans to score political points by attacking gay and transgender students. We speak with Democratic Florida state Senator Shevrin Jones, Florida’s first openly gay state senator, about how the controversial measure, which bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade, is considered another effort by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to drum up support for his anticipated 2024 presidential run by marginalizing gay and transgender students. We also feature the viral speech from Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow denouncing her opponents for accusing her of “grooming” children, and remarks by Missouri state Representative Ian Mackey, who spoke out against a bill to allow school districts to vote on whether to ban trans student athletes from youth sports.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a gerrymandered voting map that virtually guarantees Republicans four more seats in Congress while likely cutting the number of Black Democrats elected. The measure passed along party lines Thursday but was delayed when Black Florida lawmakers staged an impromptu sit-in protest. “Republicans cannot continue to disenfranchise Black voters,” says state Senator Shevrin Jones, a Democratic member of Florida’s Legislative Black Caucus who took part in the protest and who calls the gerrymandering part of a larger suite of “racist tactics” enacted by Republicans across the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron won a second five-year term on Sunday, triumphing over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen and becoming the first French president since 2002 to be reelected. Macron beat LePen by a 17-point margin, though over a quarter of voters abstained from voting and Macron’s victory was much narrower than in 2017 — pointing to growing support in recent years for Le Pen’s openly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim platform. “The 17 percentage point margin of Macron isn’t really as comfortable of a margin as it looks,” says Paris-based journalist Cole Stangler, citing a “tremendous amount of dissatisfaction” among working-class immigrant voters. “Some people, frankly, are struggling to see the difference between Macron and Le Pen,” continues Stangler, who says Macron has enacted a “very right-wing policy program.”

French Election: Macron Wins Over 58% of Vote, Defeating Marine Le Pen, Blinken & Austin Visit Kyiv; U.S. Wants to See Russia “Weakened”, Russia Bombs Odessa Apartment Building & Five Train Stations, Fire Erupts at Russian Oil Storage Facility 60 Miles from Border, Global Military Spending Tops $2 Trillion; U.S. Outspends Next Nine Nations Combined, Study: Vaccines Could Have Saved Lives of 234,000 in U.S. Since Last June, D.C. Shooting: Sniper Fires 100 Shots at Private School, Injuring 4, Spring Wildfires in Three States Burn 150,000 Acres, Pakistan and India Face Sizzling April Heat Wave, Extinction Rebellion Stages Earth Day Actions from NYC to London, Climate Activist Dies After Setting Himself on Fire in Front of Supreme Court on Earth Day, Two Men from We Build the Wall Plead Guilty, Admit Bilking Donors, DeSantis Signs Bill to Rescind Disney World’s Self-Governing Status, Workers at Seattle Starbucks Roastery Vote to Unionize, Bernie Sanders & AOC Meet with Amazon Workers in Staten Island Ahead of Union Vote, At Least 109 Killed as Illegal Oil Refinery Explodes in Southeastern Nigeria, Janjaweed Militia Massacres Over 150 in Darfur, Sudan, Biden Administration Warns Solomon Islands over Military Pact with China, Mexican Protesters Demand Government Action to End Femicides, Environmentalists Defeat Slovenia’s Ruling Far-Right Populists in Parliamentary Elections, Prosecutor Drops “Illegal Voting” Charges Against Memphis BLM Activist Pamela Moses, Mark Meadows Was Registered to Vote in 3 States, Breaking Voting Laws, Mourners Demand Police Accountability at Funeral of Congolese Refugee Shot by Michigan Cop

We continue our Earth Day special by looking at how Indigenous peoples are protecting the Earth. We follow the journey of Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, an award-winning queer Navajo filmmaker whose new film “Powerlands” shows how corporations like Peabody, the world’s largest private coal company, have devastated her homeland. She also connects with Indigenous communities in Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico and Standing Rock facing the same struggle. “The most important thing about the film to know is that it’s for Indigenous people, by Indigenous people … and it’s about showing this global scale,” says Manybeads Tso in an extended interview that features clips from her travels to several continents. “Powerlands” recently won the award for Best Feature at the 2022 American Documentary and Animation Film Festival.

On Earth Day, we look at how the war in Ukraine gives the United States a new chance to break free of emissions-heavy steel production. Russia and Ukraine supplied over 60% of the pig iron the U.S. imported last year to make steel, some of it produced at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol where thousands of civilians and soldiers are now blockaded. We speak to Justin Mikulka and Zack Exley, with New Consensus, a think tank working on detailed plans, such as the Green New Deal, for governments to transition to clean energy to address the climate crisis and renew their economy. They argue in a new report for The Intercept that the U.S. must transition to using green hydrogen to produce sponge iron to replace dirty pig iron. As corporate profits have gone up, “there isn’t any real incentive for the U.S. steel industry to change their business model, and that’s why we argue that we need government policies,” says Mikulka. “We’ve got a real opportunity here to start building clean industries that can make the stuff that we need without changing the composition of the atmosphere,” says Exley, one of the leaders of the 2016 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign and co-founder of Justice Democrats.

Photos Show Mass Graves Near Mariupol; U.N. Cites Evidence of Russian War Crimes, Biden Pledges Another $1.3 Billion in Military and Economic Aid to Ukraine, ISIS-K Claims Responsibility for Bombings Across Afghanistan, French Voters to Decide Between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in Presidential Runoff, Report Condemns Biden Administration’s “Inhumane and Wasteful” Treatment of Asylum Seekers, Private Data Brokers Help ICE Skirt Sanctuary Policies and Target Immigrants , Honduran Ex-President Extradited to U.S. to Face Narcotrafficking Charges, Federal Judge Temporary Halts Kentucky’s 15-Week Abortion Ban , SCOTUS Rules Puerto Ricans Don’t Have Constitutional Right to Disability Benefits, Texas Executes Its Oldest Death Row Prisoner; Tennessee Halts Execution over Lethal Injection Drugs, NYT: Republican Leaders Privately Blasted Trump After Jan. 6 Insurrection, Black Lawmakers Stage Protest as Florida GOP Approves Gerrymandered Congressional Map

We get an update on the Donbas region of Ukraine, where Russian forces are now focused. Russia has backed a separatist movement in the Donbas since 2014 and used protecting the Russian-speaking population there as a justification for its invasion in February. We speak with Brian Milakovsky, who lived in the Donbas town of Severodonetsk before he evacuated to Croatia in January and is now fundraising for people trying to flee Russian attacks. The Russian obsession with annexing the Donbas region is part of a “fanatical belief that the East really must be actually a part of Russia,” says Milakovsky. “They’re leveling these cities,” and “it’s not really clear for what purpose except for bolstering their own narrative,” he adds.

Russians are weathering the fallout of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine with no sign of a negotiated peace deal soon. Economic sanctions have driven up food prices, and there has been repression of political dissent within the country. We speak with author Tony Wood, a member of the New Left Review editorial board, who says the crushing Western sanctions are unlikely to end Putin’s rule and are only hardening attitudes. “The Russian elite has already been fully consolidated around Putin since 2014, if not before,” he says. “These sanctions are not going to split them off.”

We go to Ukraine, where Russia continues its assault along a 300-mile frontline in the eastern region. This comes as the U.S. and Western allies promise more weapons for Ukrainian defenses, prompting worry of escalation as Russian President Vladimir Putin abandons negotiations for a ceasefire agreement. We speak with Ukrainian political scientist and historian Denis Pilash, who is a democratic socialist, part of Sotsialnyi Rukh, and is also involved in humanitarian aid efforts in western Ukraine that he calls “the backbone of Ukrainian resistance.” He says Putin’s imperialist military aggressions should be seen as analogous to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and other nations.

Putin Claims “Liberation” of Mariupol, Ukrainian City Devastated by Weeks of Siege Warfare, Russia Test-Fires New Nuclear-Capable ICBM, Germany Pledges to Halt Russian Oil Imports by Year’s End, Israeli Airstrikes Hit Gaza Strip After Palestinian Rocket Fire, Israeli Soldiers Raid Al-Aqsa Mosque Again, Firing Tear Gas and Rubber-Coated Bullets, Nicaragua Shutters 25 NGOs Critical of President Daniel Ortega, DOJ to Appeal Federal Court Ruling Voiding CDC’s Mask Mandate for Transit, White House Restores Environmental Reviews for Major Infrastructure Projects, Arizona Wildfire Scorches 20,000 Acres Amid Unprecedented Drought in Western U.S., Pentagon Will Build and Test Portable Nuclear Reactors, Texas Prisoner Carl Buntion Scheduled to Be Put to Death a Week After Hospitalization, Ohio Doctor Accused of Overprescribing Fentanyl Found Not Guilty of Murdering 14 Patients, Florida GOP Senators Vote to Punish Disney over Criticism of “Don’t Say Gay” Law, Black Lawmakers Protest GOP-Gerrymandered Florida Congressional Map, Apple Retail Workers in Atlanta Petition for Union

Calls are growing for Texas to stop the approaching execution of Melissa Lucio, who says she was wrongfully convicted of killing her toddler Mariah in 2007. We speak to one of Lucio’s attorneys, Vanessa Potkin of the Innocence Project, who says Lucio was coerced into making a false confession within hours of her daughter’s death and deserves a new trial based on new evidence and misleading expert testimony. There has also been historic bipartisan support for Lucio, with Texas lawmakers demanding Governor Greg Abbott commute her sentence or delay the execution until a new trial can be held.

The U.S. has hit a record number of apprehensions at the border shared with Mexico, arresting over 1 million asylum seekers in the past six months alone. We speak with immigration attorney Erika Pinheiro about the Biden administration’s unequal treatment of different nationalities, as refugees from countries like Haiti, Cuba and Cameroon face harsh restrictions on asylum, but Ukrainian refugees seem to be receiving special treatment and even exemption from Title 42. “Asylum is supposed to be a universal standard protecting individuals fleeing persecution from any country, but in practice it’s always been a political tool wielded by the United States to favor those fleeing regimes that the United States opposes,” says Pinheiro.

A pair of bomb blasts at a boys’ school in Kabul left at least six people dead on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks on the minority Shiite Hazara community in Afghanistan. While no group has claimed responsibility, it follows a pattern of aggression by ISIS-K, the Islamic State affiliate, against Shiites in Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan. “Governments, not only the Taliban, have failed to come up with a strategy where they could provide security to the Hazaras and Shias,” says Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary. “I call it a great betrayal towards people who are extremely committed to a bright future of Afghanistan.”

Russia Rejects U.N. Ceasefire Proposal; Ukrainian Refugees Top 5 Million, NYT Reveals Ukraine Used Cluster Munitions; U.S. to Send $800M More in Military Aid, Prominent Russian Banker Blasts “Insane War,” Urges West to Give Putin “A Clear Exit”, U.N. Warns 350,000 Children in Somalia Could Die of Starvation, U.K. Judge OKs Extradition of Julian Assange to U.S., Justice Dept. Holds Off on Appealing Mask Mandate for Travelers, One Killed in Sri Lanka as Protests Mount over Economic & Political Crisis, Solomon Islands & China Sign Security Deal Despite Protests from U.S., José Ramos-Horta Takes Commanding Lead in East Timor Election, New Jersey Diocese to Pay $87.5 Million to Settle Sexual Abuse Claims, Biden Administration Moves to Reduce Student Debt Burden on Some Borrowers, Mexican Mother Found Dead Hanging from 30-Foot-High Border Fence in Arizona, DOJ Threatens to Take Over NYC’s Rikers Island, Citing “Extraordinary Level of Violence”, Autopsy Shows Police Officer Fatally Shot Patrick Lyoya in the Back of His Head, Trump Supporter Pleads Guilty to Threatening to Kill Rep. Ihan Omar, Workers at Five Starbucks Stores in Richmond, Virginia, Vote to Unionize

Calls are growing for the release of imprisoned Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who launched a hunger strike on April 2 to protest the harsh conditions he is held under at Cairo’s Tora prison. Abd El-Fattah, who became a leading voice of the Arab Spring revolution, has been in and out of prison for nearly a decade for his human rights activism. His family recently obtained U.K. citizenship for him in the hopes of pressuring Egyptian authorities to release him, and they warn that his condition is rapidly deteriorating behind bars. We speak to his sister, Sanaa Seif, who was also imprisoned on similar charges of disseminating “false news” before being released in December. “Now is a critical time where it finally might be possible for Alaa to be free,” says Seif. “What keeps us going is that we as a family want to survive and want to unite in peace.” We also speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who is joining Seif on a U.S. tour with Alaa’s new book, “You Have Not Yet Been Defeated.” As the pair advocate for Abd El-Fattah’s immediate release, they also discuss more recent government crackdowns on prominent Egyptian voices, such as TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam. “It seems that prison is the government’s answer to any problem with a citizen,” says Kouddous.

Ukraine’s president says Russia has started a major offensive to seize the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine while launching missiles at targets across the country. We go outside of Kyiv to get an update from Peter Zalmayev, director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Facing a stronger resistance from Ukrainian defenses than anticipated, Russian President Vladimir Putin is practicing “scorched-earth tactics” and “venting his anger on Ukraine,” says Zalmayev. “His goal remains controlling all of Ukraine, or at least making it a failed state.”