Democracy Now!

Israeli Attack on U.N.-Operated Shelter in Gaza Kills 8 Palestinians in Bread Line, Polio Mass Vaccination Campaign Begins in Gaza Despite Ongoing Israeli Attacks, Israeli Military Returns Body of 58-Year-Old Palestinian Man with Signs of Torture and Abuse, Israeli Military Attacks Journalists Covering West Bank Raids, Kills Gaza TikTok Star, Hundreds of Thousands of Israelis Protest After Army Recovers Bodies of 6 Hostages, U.K. Suspends Some Weapons Shipments to Israel, CENTCOM Says 7 U.S. Military Personnel Are Injured in Raid on ISIS in Iraq, The New Yorker Publishes Images from U.S. Marines' 2005 Massacre of Iraqi Civilians, Attacks by Russia and Ukraine Leave Civilians Dead and Wounded, Venezuela Accuses U.S. of Piracy" After President Maduro's Plane Is Seized, 10,000 U.S. Hotel Workers Go on Strike to Demand Higher Pay and Increased Staffing

We end our Labor Day special with Shawn Fein, the president of the United Auto Workers. In August, he addressed the Democratic National Convention. Midway through his speech, Fain took off his jacket to show that he was wearing a T-shirt that read Trump is a scab."

As part of our Labor Day special, we remember the longtime labor organizer and scholar Jane McAlevey, who died in July at the age of 59. She dedicated her life to empowering rank-and-file workers, training tens of thousands around the world to effectively strengthen their unions. She gave one of her last interviews to Democracy Now! in April after she announced she was entering hospice. We like to win," says McAlevey, and we like to teach workers how to win. What are the methods? What is it we can do?"

In 1980, historian Howard Zinn published his classic work, A People's History of the United States. The book would go on to sell over a million copies and change the way many look at history in America. We begin today's special with highlights from a production of Howard Zinn's Voices of a People's History of the United States, where Zinn introduced dramatic readings from history. We hear Alfre Woodard read the words of labor activist Mother Jones and Howard's son Jeff Zinn read the words of an IWW poet and organizer Arturo Giovannitti.

Investigative journalist David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, is the host of a new podcast series exploring how extremist ideologues and wealthy oligarchs have developed a system of legalized corruption in the U.S. Master Plan traces the decadeslong conservative-led plan to increase the role of money in politics. This was a plan, a specific plan, to deregulate the campaign finance laws," says Sirota.

In her first major interview since replacing Joe Biden on the ballot, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was questioned about her shifting statements on fracking, which has been linked to a surge in methane gas emissions over the past decade. Harris, who has previously made comments opposing fracking, vowed not to ban it if elected. The vice president went on to highlight the Biden-Harris administration's environmental record, which activists have criticized for vastly expanding oil production rather than drawing down the country's reliance on fossil fuels. The data is telling us that what Kamala Harris said about fracking - that we can do it without dealing with reducing the supply of fossil fuels - it's just not borne out by the numbers," explains The Lever's David Sirota, who adds, Ultimately, consequences for that will be on the United States, for the entire world."

Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first major interview Thursday since becoming the Democratic nominee, laying out her plans for an opportunity economy" if she becomes president. Sociologist Nikhil Goyal, author of Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty, says Harris's support for policies like an expanded child tax credit shows a clear contrast between herself and Republican nominee Donald Trump. He fights for the billionaire class," while Harris is on the side of working people," says Goyal.

We turn to Kamala Harris's position on Israel's war on Gaza, which many are calling a genocide. After she was asked about calls to condition U.S. arms shipments to Israel by CNN reporter Dana Bash, Harris refused to consider halting the flow of weapons and instead affirmed her support of Israel. This position violates both federal and international law, argues Palestinian American political analyst Yousef Munayyer, and, coupled with her campaign's denial of a requested Palestinian American speaking spot from uncommitted" voters at the DNC, he warns that Harris could be worse than Biden" when it comes to U.S. support for Israel.

In her first major interview since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris was questioned by CNN's Dana Bash about her policy positions and campaign platform. We begin with a look at Harris's increasingly rightward stance on immigration and border policy with immigration activist Erika Andiola. As she touted her support for hard-line border security and asylum policies, Harris positioned herself as tougher on immigration than Trump. Republican talking points ... now truly have become Democrat talking points," says Andiola.

WHO Readies to Start Gaza Polio Vaccine Drive After Israel Agrees to 3-Day Partial Pause, Israeli Forces Continue Deadly Assault on West Bank's Jenin, Leave Tulkarm and Tubas in Ruins, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Give First TV Interview as Democratic Ticket, JD Vance Says Kamala Harris Can Go to Hell" at Pennsylvania Rally, Arlington Nat'l Cemetery Files Report After Trump Aides Attack an Employee, South Korea Court Finds Climate Law Violates Rights of Future Generations, Heavy Flooding Brings Death, Displacement and Disease in Sudan, Yemen and Bangladesh, Record Wildfires in Brazil Rage Across Amazon, Pantanal Wetlands, Klamath River Flows Freely Again After Crews Take Down Last Dam, East Timor Marks 25 Years of Independence, Immigrant Prisoners in California Are on Labor and Hunger Strike Against Their Inhumane Detention, 4 Arrested at UMich Gaza Protest; Pro-Palestinian Students at Columbia, NYU Face Censorship, Painters' Union to Divest Pension Fund from Israeli Firms to Protest Gaza Genocide, Video Game Performers Enter Second Month of Strike, Seeking Protections from AI, First Arrest Made as New York's Nassau County Bans Face Masks in Public

As Ukrainian forces press their counteroffensive deeper into Russian territory, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned of the heightened risk of a nuclear catastrophe from fighting near the Kursk power plant. The war between the two countries, now in its third year, has also impacted the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, controlled by Russian forces in the occupied southeastern part of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin have both signaled the war is likely to drag on for the foreseeable future. For more on the risk of nuclear disasters and possible peace talks to end the fighting, we speak with Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Russian environmental organization Ecodefense, and foreign policy expert Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan is drawing renewed outrage over a new law banning women's voices in public, forcing them to completely cover their bodies and faces out of the home, and more. This comes after the Taliban banned women from working in most fields and ended girls' education past primary school following their takeover of the country in 2021. We speak with Sima Samar, an Afghan human rights advocate and doctor who chaired the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission from 2002 until 2019; she also briefly served as minister of women's affairs in the interim Afghan government in 2002, after a U.S.-led coalition toppled the first Taliban government for its support of al-Qaeda. You cannot see such a law in any other regime on this planet," she says. This is a crime against humanity. It is gender apartheid."

At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and 30 more wounded in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has launched its largest military operation in two decades. Israeli forces have simultaneously raided four cities and refugee camps in the north, with hundreds of soldiers backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers, fighter jets and drones. Much of the violence has been centered on Jenin, a frequent target of raids by Israeli forces, but this latest military operation is the largest since the Second Intifada. Ahmed Tobasi, artistic director at the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp, says Israel's tactics are about punishing the people, punishing the civilians," with an ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing. They want Palestine empty from Palestinians." He also calls on the U.S. public to speak out against continued military support for Israel, saying the killings in both Gaza and the West Bank are only possible because Israel has the green light from the U.S. government."

We get an update from Gaza, where at least 68 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours as Israel continues its relentless assault on the territory. After nearly 11 months of war, the official Gaza death toll now stands at over 40,600, although the true figure is estimated to be much higher. The World Food Programme announced it is pausing the movement of all staff in Gaza until further notice after Israeli forces shot at one of its clearly marked vehicles despite receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities. This comes just two days after U.N. humanitarian efforts in Gaza virtually ground to a halt due to new Israeli evacuation orders that disrupted operations again. Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza over the past week, displacing a quarter of a million people in Deir al-Balah alone, including from the Al-Aqsa Hospital, where tens of thousands of residents and wounded were seeking shelter. Journalist Akram al-Satarri, speaking from just outside the hospital, describes continuous military operations, continuous devastation, continuous targeting and [an] increased number of Palestinians affected by those ongoing operations either by being killed or being injured or by becoming displaced because of the new evacuation orders."

Israeli Attacks Kill Another 68 Palestinians in Gaza; Mother of First Polio Patient Decries Baby's Fate, WFP Suspends Staff Travel in Gaza After Israel Attacks Convoy, Israel Escalates Invasion of Occupied West Bank, Kills at Least 18 Palestinians, EU Weighs Sanctions on Israeli Ministers Propagating Hate Messages Against Palestinians", Egypt Rejects Israeli Troops on Border; Namibia Blocks Vessel Heading to Israel with Weapons, U.S. Rejects Resumption of Nuclear Talks After Overture by Iran, Hong Kong Convicts Pro-Democracy Editors of Stand News of Sedition, U.S. National Security Adviser Meets Chinese President Xi Jinping, Honduras Ends Extradition Treaty with U.S. over Ambassador's Narcotrafficking Allegations, Rights Groups Sound Alarm as Texas GOP Purges 1 Million Voters from Rolls, Union Workers at Cornell University Win Historic Pay Increases After 10-Day Strike

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing accusations he is using his office to suppress Latino voters in the state. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the country's oldest Latino civil rights group, is calling on the Justice Department to investigate Paxton over a series of police raids on the homes of LULAC members, state lawmakers and other community leaders in the San Antonio area last week. Previously, Paxton had tried and failed to shut down the Houston-based and immigrant-led civil rights group Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (FIEL) by claiming it engaged in electioneering. We're joined by the director of FIEL, Cesar Espinosa, and the CEO of LULAC, Juan Proano, who both share how their organizations have been impacted by the attorney general's harassment and intimidation. Proano calls the targeting of Latino leaders and organizations a pattern of blatant discrimination" and says, We see these as tactics essentially for Republicans to stay in control of the government in Texas."

New voting rules in key battleground states could impact the 2024 election results. In Georgia, Democrats are suing to halt a set of Trump-backed election rules which Democrats say could be used to block certification of election results if they win in November. It appears that Georgia Republicans are laying the groundwork not to certify the presidential election if Kamala Harris wins," explains Ari Berman, who is the voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones magazine. Berman also discusses Tim Walz and JD Vance's voting rights records and a recent voting rights law out of Arizona that requires new voters to prove their U.S. citizenship.

The Israeli military has launched its biggest operation in the occupied West Bank in close to two decades, with hundreds of troops, backed by armored vehicles, bulldozers, fighter jets and drones, conducting simultaneous raids in the northern cities of Jenin and Tulkarm. At least nine Palestinians were killed overnight, with an additional 11 injured. In total, at least 652 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October - nearly 150 of them children - most of them during near-daily raids by the Israeli military. Israeli officials have indicated that the raids are just the first stage of an even larger operation in the West Bank. They are trying to repeat the Nakba. ... They are trying to repeat the same ethnic cleansing, the same genocide that is committed in Gaza," says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, who joins us from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Their goal is ethnic cleansing. Their goal is annexation of the West Bank."

9 Palestinians Killed as Israel Launches Largest Raid on West Bank in Two Decades, Israeli Attacks Kill Dozens in Gaza, Including 8 at School Sheltering Displaced Palestinians, Israeli Forces Rescue Bedouin Arab Man Kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, Zelensky Rules Out Ceasefire as Russia Continues Largest Aerial Assault" of Its War on Ukraine, IAEA Chief Warns Ukraine's Advance on Russian Power Plant Threatens Nuclear Catastrophe, Afghan Taliban Approves Gender Apartheid Law Banning Women from Speaking in Public, Indian Police Fire Tear Gas as Protesters Decry Rape and Murder of Medical Trainee, Jack Smith Files Amended Indictment of Trump over Jan. 6 Insurrection, Trump Adds Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard to Transition Team, Mexico Freezes Diplomatic Relations After U.S. and Canada Criticize Judicial Reform Plan

As sky-high rents and a housing shortage become major issues in the 2024 presidential election, the U.S. Justice Department has sued software company RealPage, alleging its algorithm enabled landlords nationwide to collude in raising rents on tenants. The DOJ says the price-fixing scheme has impacted millions of renters across the United States. ProPublica reporter Heather Vogell, whose investigation first exposed RealPage, says as much as 70% of big apartment buildings in some neighborhoods are owned by property managers using RealPage, with landlords seeing the software as a way to have a rising tide that lifts all boats." We also speak with tenant rights organizer Tara Raghuveer, who says RealPage is guilty of some of the grossest, most extractive business practices" documented in recent years, but the firm is hardly alone. For so much of the market which is a catastrophic failure, landlords' business model is predicated on tenants' instability," says Raghuveer.

We speak with Human Rights Watch researcher Milena Ansari about the organization's new report detailing the torture of Palestinian medical workers in Israeli prisons. HRW spoke with eight doctors, paramedics and nurses who were picked up in Gaza before being transferred to the notorious Sde Teiman camp and other facilities, where they say they suffered beatings, starvation, humiliation, electric shocks and other forms of abuse. The men also describe threats of sexual violence during brutal interrogations and seeing another prisoner bleeding after being gang-raped with an M16 rifle by three soldiers. The findings track with other reports from researchers and survivors, and HRW has called on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for its attacks on healthcare workers. We're really ringing the alarm about the situation inside the Israeli custody and detention facilities," says Ansari, who says evidence is mounting of a systematic pattern of ill-treatment and abuse."

U.N. Forced to Halt Aid in Gaza Amid Dire Humanitarian Needs Due to Nonstop Evacuation Orders, U.S. Has Sent Over 50,000 Tons of Arms and Military Equipment to Israel Since Genocide Started, Israeli Forces and Illegal Settlers Continue Deadly Attacks in Occupied West Bank, Greek Tanker in Red Sea with 150,000 Tons of Crude Has Been on Fire for Days After Houthi Strike, Russia Ramps Up Attacks on Ukraine in Wake of Kyiv's Surprise Incursion, Baloch Separatists Claim Attacks That Kill 40+ in Southwestern Pakistan, There's No Lifeboat to Take Us Back:" U.N. Head Demands Urgent Action Before Pacific Islands Wiped Out, Uganda Cracks Down on Climate Protesters Speaking Out Against EACOP, Arrests 20+ Activists, 130+ Killed in Heavy Flooding in War-Torn Sudan; Arbaat Dam Collapses in Red Sea State, French President Macron Shuns Progressive Coalition as Talks on Future Gov't Hit a Wall, Jake Sullivan Is First U.S. Nat'l Security Adviser to Visit China in 8 Years Amid Simmering Tensions, Trump and Vance Downplay Anti-Abortion Record and Plans, Special Counsel Jack Smith Seeks to Reinstate Classified Docs Case Against Trump, Texas Officials Raid Homes of Latino Elected Leaders, DNC and Georgia Dems Sue to Block New GOP Rules That Could Delay Election Results and Sow Chaos, Georgia Unveils Statue of John Lewis Outside Decatur Courthouse, U.S. Judge Blocks Biden Immigration Policy for Spouses of U.S. Citizens, Nashville Mayor Urges City Lawmakers to Pass New Safety Rules After Nazi Gatherings in TN City, Climate Reporter Peter Dykstra, Who Called Out Corporate Media Cover-Up of Climate Crisis, Dies at 67

We end today's show in conversation with New York City Councilmember Yusef Salaam. He was one of five teenagers from Harlem - four Black and one Latino - wrongfully accused and convicted of raping and nearly killing 28-year-old white investment banker Trisha Meili in 1989. Meili had been jogging in Central Park when she was assaulted, and the accused teens became known as the Central Park Five. They faced a barrage of racism from the public and news media during their trial, including from real estate mogul and future U.S. president Donald Trump. All of the boys were convicted and served at least six years, with one, Korey Wise, having been tried as an adult, spending over a decade in prison. All were later exonerated after DNA evidence corroborated a separate man's confession to the attack. Redubbed the Exonerated Five, four of the five members addressed the Democratic National Convention last week, slamming Trump, who called for their execution and says he still believes the men are guilty, as hateful and dangerous. The reality was that we were guilty of the color of our skin," says Salaam, who successfully ran for city council last year.

A federal judge in Kentucky has thrown out felony charges against two former Louisville police officers for their roles in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020. Instead, the judge ruled that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, is legally responsible for her death because he fired his gun to fend off intruders, after plainclothes police officers broke down the couple's front door and barged in just after midnight. Taylor was a Black 26-year-old emergency medical technician and aspiring nurse. Since then, only one officer has been found guilty of playing a role in Taylor's death, admitting to falsifying a no-knock warrant that claimed police had evidence of drug dealings taking place in Taylor's home. No drugs were ever found and the two cops who fatally shot Taylor have never been charged. This lack of accountability is part of a systematic pattern of disrespect" of Black women, says civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Breonna Taylor's family. Crump also discusses the latest developments in the cases against police officers accused of excessive force in the widely publicized deaths of Tyre Nichols in Tennessee and Roger Fortson in Florida.

Palestinian American journalist Rami Khouri responds to the latest exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah and the drawn-out ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, which Khouri calls a fictitious political dynamic" that is primarily used as diplomatic cover for Israel's warfare. The ceasefire talks should not be taken very seriously as an effort to bring about a ceasefire," he says. It's pretty clear now that the ceasefire negotiations today are the equivalent of the so-called peace process in the bigger Arab-Israeli conflict over the last 40 years."

U.N. Seeks Immediate Deescalation" After Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Heavy Fire, Human Rights Watch: Israel Has Tortured Detained Palestinian Medical Workers, No Deal Yet as Ceasefire Talks Continue in Egypt, Russia Launches Wave of Attacks on Ukraine, Member of Reuters Team Killed in Russian Attack on Ukrainian Hotel, Two Journalists Killed in Turkish Drone Strike in Iraqi Kurdistan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Suspends Campaign & Endorses Donald Trump, Kamala Harris Raises Record $540 Million in a Month, Trump's Bedminster Resort to Host Gala Honoring Jan. 6 Defendants, DOJ Sues RealPage for Helping Corporate Landlords Collude to Raise Rents, Felony Charges Tossed Against Two Former Cops Charged in Breonna Taylor Killing, Second Memphis Officer Pleads Guilty in Police Killing of Tyre Nichols, Sheriff's Deputy in Florida Charged in Connection to Killing of Airman Roger Fortson, French Authorities Detain CEO of Telegram Messaging App, Militant Group Kills Up to 200 in Burkina Faso, At Least 13 Migrants Die After Boat Sinks Near Yemen, Extinction Rebellion Protesters Block Norwegian Oil Terminal, Summer of Heat: Dozens of Climate Activists Arrested Outside Home of Citi CEO Jane Fraser, Federal Court Bars Biden Administration from Using Civil Rights Law to Block New Fossil Fuel Projects

Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday, vowing in her speech to the Democratic National Convention to continue the Biden administration's tough line on immigration. While describing the United States as a nation of immigrants" and promising to reform our broken immigration system," Harris also said that, as president, she would revive a harsh border bill that Republicans blocked from passing this year that limits asylum rights, speeds up deportations and hires more border agents. The Biden administration implemented many parts of the border bill through executive action after Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers to vote it down. Our politics have been pushed so far to the right on immigration by Donald Trump that we have to fight back ... to realign our politics on immigration back to where they were just a few years ago," says Congressmember Greg Casar of Texas.

The city of Chicago, which hosted the 2024 Democratic convention, is home to the highest concentration of Palestinian Americans in the United States. In the suburbs of the city, residents of Bridgeview - known as Little Palestine" - have been hard hit by Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed over 40,200 Palestinians. We take a tour of Little Palestine, where Palestinian flags and signs reading Free Palestine" adorn many of the streets and businesses, and traditional pastry and coffee shops have colorful murals of Palestinian landscapes on their walls. And we speak with residents about how they are organizing against anti-Palestinian racism and pushing for an end to uncritical U.S. support for Israel.

Vice President Kamala Harris made history Thursday as the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated to lead a major party's presidential ticket. There are now just two-and-a-half months left before the November 5 election, when she will face Republican nominee Donald Trump at the polls. For more, we speak with two political organizers - Maurice Mitchell, national director for the Working Families Party, and Mohammed Khader, manager of policy and advocacy campaigns at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights - and with historian and activist Barbara Ransby.

The Democratic National Convention wrapped up in Chicago on Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepting the presidential nomination, capping a week of political showmanship and celebration for many party members. One of the things that struck me most was the level of choreographed mass spectacle of this convention that would be really worthy of Leni Riefenstahl," says Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez. He says Democrats and Republicans presented the two faces of American capitalism" at their respective conventions this summer, with the GOP home to white supremacist capitalism" while Democrats promote a multiracial neoliberal capitalism." He adds that despite the constant chants of U.S.A." throughout the week, the reality is that the United States has never been lower in its prestige and never more discredited around the world than it is today."

Vice President Kamala Harris made history Thursday as the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent in the United States to be nominated to lead a major party's presidential ticket. We speak with historian Barbara Ransby about two Black women pioneers who helped pave the way for her historic nomination: former Congressmember Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress who sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1972, and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who led the fight to desegregate the party's Southern delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Thousands of protesters marched on the DNC on Thursday night calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. Protesters rallied into the night as Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on the DNC stage. Demonstrators had planned to march toward the convention site but were blocked by hundreds of police in riot gear who forced the march to disperse. We hear from some of the protesters who took to the streets.

Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday after a four-day convention in Chicago where her campaign refused to allow a Palestinian American to take the stage to address Israel's war on Gaza. We hear Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, who was among the list of speakers offered by the Uncommitted National Movement that the Harris campaign rejected, reading the speech she would have given on the convention floor had the DNC and the Harris campaign allowed her onstage.

Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, making history as the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for president by a major party. Her ascent to the top of the Democratic Party comes just over a month after President Biden dropped out of the race. We play excerpts from her speech and speak with historian Barbara Ransby, who says that while the nomination breaks a barrier," it's important to note the contradictions," as well. "Yes, it breaks barriers. Yes, it is a historic moment in a certain sense. But we have to also talk about the gravity of this moment and the politics that Kamala Harris brings with her," says Ransby, who criticizes Harris for her pro-Israel policy and for refusing to let Palestinian Americans address the convention. I was glad to hear her mention the suffering of the Palestinian people, but, of course, it didn't ring true. It rang a little bit hollow, because the Biden administration could stop much of that suffering by not sending 2,000-pound bombs and $3 billion a year to the Israeli government."

Climate activists disrupted a DNC-adjacent event sponsored by ExxonMobil on Wednesday, the same day that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz formally accepted his nomination as vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. Walz has faced harsh criticism from Indigenous and environmental rights groups in Minnesota for his authorization of the Line 3 oil pipeline through Native treaty lands in the state. We host a roundtable discussion on the climate crisis and the Democratic Party's response with Ojibwe lawyer and founder of the Giniw Collective Tara Houska; climate organizer Collin Rees, who was part of the ExxonMobil action at the DNC; and climate scientist Michael Mann.

Tanya Haj-Hassan is a pediatric intensive care physician who has volunteered in Gaza multiple times over the past 10 months. She joins us to recount what she witnessed there and to explain why she is calling for an end to U.S. support for the Israeli military and the resumption of comprehensive humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Over the course of Israel's assault, Haj-Hassan has treated victims of massacre after massacre," with injuries and casualties enabled by American bombs." She joins demands for Palestinian voices to be allowed to address the convention onstage and argues that Democratic Party leadership's refusal is part of a systematic process of dehumanization" targeting Palestinians.

As uncommitted" delegates continue their sit-in just outside the Democratic National Convention in protest of the party's refusal to meet demands to platform a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, we hear from two uncommitted delegates who have made a concerted effort to bring Israel's war on Gaza to the forefront and to push the Harris campaign on its policy in the Middle East. Asma Mohammed, a campaign manager for Vote Uncommitted Minnesota and a delegate from Minnesota, says there is widespread disappointment and betrayal among delegates who feel their voices in support of Palestinian rights are being ignored. This level of silencing, this level of exclusion [does] not belong in our Democratic Party," adds Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement and an uncommitted delegate from Michigan.

Democracy Now! spoke with Minnesota Congressmember Ilhan Omar late Wednesday outside the Democratic National Convention, where members of the uncommitted" movement launched a sit-in to demand a Palestinian American be allowed to address the convention from the main stage. Omar said she joined protesters outside the DNC because there is no compassion in turning our heads away from the piles of dead bodies" in Gaza. A ceasefire is only possible if we use every leverage that we have, and the biggest leverage that we have is to stop sending bombs," says Omar, explaining why she is calling for an arms embargo against Israel and an end to this genocidal war."

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz formally accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president at the DNC on Wednesday. A former public school teacher, high school football coach and National Guard member, Walz spent six terms in Congress before his successful run for governor in 2018. We take a look at his record, including his moderate" record on police brutality following the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with two guests: Jacobin staff writer Branko Marcetic and Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, who is the son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Walz's progressive wins in Minnesota appear to have swayed Kamala Harris's selection, says Marcetic, as Harris hopes to mirror parts of his agenda on the federal level. I think that he's sincere in his efforts to see change," says Jeremiah Ellison, who is also an uncommitted" delegate and goes on to discuss the uncommitted movement's strategy at the DNC.

Delegates from the Uncommitted National Movement and their allies launched a sit-in protest Wednesday night outside the convention hall in Chicago after the DNC refused to honor their request to let a Palestinian American speak onstage, despite allowing family members of an Israeli American hostage to address the convention. We hear voices from the sit-in with uncommitted delegates and their allies. Today I watched my party say, 'Our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans,' but it can't fit an elected official like me?" said Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, referring to convention addresses given by anti-Trump Republicans. Romman was among the list of speakers offered by the uncommitted movement that the DNC refused to allow on onstage. We can't take no for an answer here," Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, an uncommitted delegate from Minnesota, tells Democracy Now!.

Tim Walz Touts Record as MN Gov. as He Accepts VP Nomination, Uncommitted Mvt. and Allies Launch Sit-In After DNC and Harris Refuse to Let Palestinian Take Main Stage, Exxon Lies, People Die!": Climate Activists Condemn Corporate Sponsorship at DNC, Israel's Genocide Continues Amid Dimming Hopes for Ceasefire, New Report Details Israel's Pattern of Kidnapping, Torturing and Humiliating Gazan Children, Israel and Hezbollah Continue Cross-Border Fighting Amid Fears of a Broader Conflict, Emmy Awards Stands Firm on Nomination of Gazan Reporter Bisan Owda After Pushback from Israel Lobby, Israel Kills at Least 2 More Journalists in Gaza: Ibrahim Muharab and Hamza Murtaja, Canada's Two Main Rail Freight Companies Shut Down, Locking Out 10,000 Workers, Judge Tosses FTC Ban on Noncompete Agreements Which Affect 30 Million U.S. Workers, RFK Expected to Drop Out, Endorse Trump, U.K. Gov't Official Resigns over British Arms Sales to Israel to Use in War Crimes, NYT: Biden Admin Shifts U.S. Nuclear Strategy to Focus on China, Taliban Bans U.N. Special Rapporteur from Entering Afghanistan, France's Attempt to Give Their Citizens Voting Rights in New Caledonia Undermines Kanak Rights, ACLU Sues Oregon Police Dept. for Illegally Spying on Progressive Activists, Harris Campaign Raises $500M Amid Transparency Concerns over Large Donations, TX Appeals Court to Review Acquittal of Black Mother Who Was Sentenced to Prison for Trying to Vote

We speak with former Michigan Congressmember Andy Levin, a former synagogue president, who lost his 2022 Democratic primary in a race that saw millions spent by pro-Israel groups to unseat the progressive Jewish lawmaker. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and other lobby groups have used the same playbook over the years to defeat members of Congress who do not toe the line, and Levin says the Democratic Party has to act to stop such dark money" from deciding elections and push for a new policy on Israel-Palestine that brings peace. We need to all get along there, and we need to work together here to make that happen," he says.

A group of American doctors who treated patients in Gaza held a press conference in Chicago on Tuesday to describe the suffering they saw among Palestinians injured and killed in Israel's war on the territory. The press conference, taking place during the Democratic National Convention, was organized by the Uncommitted National Movement, which is pressuring Democrats for an end to blanket U.S. support for Israel. Among those who spoke was Dr. Ahmed Yousaf, who returned from Gaza just weeks earlier. When we got to the hospital, everything I saw on TikTok and Instagram and all the television, all the stuff that we had in alternative media ... it was 100 times worse than I could have ever imagined," he said.

Democrats have centered reproductive rights throughout the week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, with speakers discussing their abortions, how new restrictions have put women's lives at risk and why bodily autonomy is nonnegotiable. Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to restore reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Law professor Michele Goodwin describes the fight for reproductive rights as a tipping point for our democracy" and says Republicans cannot simply walk away from their record on the issue.

We play highlights from the second night of the Democratic National Convention, which ended with keynote speeches by Michelle and Barack Obama. The former first lady and president promoted Vice President Kamala Harris as a transformative leader while criticizing Donald Trump. Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs'?" Michelle Obama said.

Immigration has become one of the central issues of the 2024 race, with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump vowing to expand the draconian policies of his first term and deport 10 million immigrants from the country amid what he calls an invasion." Democrats, meanwhile, are touting their own border crackdown at the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago. President Joe Biden celebrated his executive action to block many asylum seekers at the southern U.S. border, and Vice President Kamala Harris promises to hire thousands more border agents if she is elected. We host a roundtable discussion in Chicago with Oscar Chacon, executive director of Alianza Americas, an immigrant rights group; Maria Hinojosa, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, founder of Futuro Media and host of the Latino USA podcast; and Marisa Franco, director and co-founder of Mijente, a national digital organizing hub for Latinx and Chicanx communities.

The Israeli military has ordered new forced evacuations in parts of central Gaza, signaling the expansion of ground operations and the latest displacement of Palestinians, many of whom have already been displaced multiple times over the course of Israel's war on the territory. At least 50 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, pushing the official death toll past 40,200. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his ninth visit to the Middle East since October without securing any breakthrough for a ceasefire deal. In Chicago, where Democrats are gathered for the DNC, Gaza has been mentioned only in passing from the main stage of the convention. The party's official platform adopted this week does not call for an arms embargo on Israel and reasserts unwavering U.S. support for Israel. There's been an almost competition between Democrats and Republicans on 'how much can we show Israel that we support them and that we have their back?'" says human rights lawyer Zaha Hassan, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and previously the senior legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine's bid for U.N. membership. Why should Israel ever compromise its positions if they know that by holding out, they'll get more goodies from the U.S.?"

Kamala Harris Accepts Democratic Nom; Obamas, Bernie Sanders Take to the DNC Stage on Night Two, Chicago PD Arrests Protesters at Israeli Consulate; 16 Activists from U.K.'s Palestine Action in Prison, U.S. Doctors Share Horrors They Witnessed in Gaza at DNC Press Conference, Israel Continues Its Genocidal War, Attacking Another Gaza School and Pushing Gazans Out of Deir al-Balah, Released Palestinian Describes Detention at Ofer Prison, Site of Systematic Torture and Humiliation", Israeli Strikes in Lebanon Kill at Least 6 as Cross-Border Fighting Adds to Growing Tensions, Report Says Countries and Oil Co's Supplying Israel May Be Complicit in Genocide Under Int'l Law, Russia Says It Intercepted Major Drone Attack on Moscow as Ukraine Pushes Ahead in Kursk, Arizona and Montana Join at Least 6 Other States in Putting Abortion Rights on the Nov. Ballot, RFK Jr.'s Running Mate Says They Could End Their Campaign and Join Team Trump, Nurses at Univ. of Illinois Hospital Strike over Unfair Labor Practices, Work Safety Issues, Bob Menendez Is Resigning, Will Be Replaced with NJ Gov. Aide Until New Senator Elected in Nov., Panama Deports 29 Colombian Migrants on U.S.-Funded Flight, Migrant Deaths Surge on U.S. Southern Border Amid Extreme Heat, Biden's Hard-Line Immigration Policy, NYC Evicts Makeshift Migrant Camp; NY State Greenlights Shelter Eviction of 30,000 Migrant Families, Six Unhoused People Dying Each Day in Los Angeles Amid Brutal Crackdown, Failed Policies, Mass Shooting in Bosnia Kills at Least 3 School Workers, U.S. Sanctions Ex-Haitian President Michel Martelly for Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering, East Palestine Residents Consider $600 Million Settlement with Norfolk Southern, Maryland Officials Warn PFAS Levels at Harford County Schools Too High for Drinking, Air Force Refuses to Clean Up Contamination of Tucson Waters, Cites SCOTUS Chevron Doctrine" Ruling

During President Biden's speech on the first night of the DNC, protesters briefly unfurled a banner that read Stop Arming Israel," before it was wrested away by convention staff. We speak to three members of the group Delegates Against Genocide who organized and carried out the action: Esam Boraey, a human rights activist and delegate from Connecticut; Florida DNC member Nadia Ahmad; and progressive Jewish activist Liano Sharon, an elected delegate from Michigan. We were there specifically to confront President Joe Biden," says Ahmad, explaining why the protesters chose to disrupt Biden's speech. He's the one who can stop this genocide by picking up the phone and making a phone call, and he has chosen not to do that."

We discuss Chicago's storied history of organized labor and the state of the labor movement today with Alex Han, a longtime union organizer and now the executive director of the Chicago-based progressive magazine In These Times, and with Stacy Davis Gates, the current president of the Chicago Teachers Union, of which Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson - who opened the 2024 DNC last night - was previously a member. As the Democratic Party increasingly embraces union rights as a major part of its policy platform, It's pretty remarkable to think of how far we've come. It's also important, sitting here in Chicago, [to] understand how far we still have to go," says Han.