Democracy Now!

Twenty years ago today, the U.S. military began imprisoning Muslim men at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. We speak with the prison's former Muslim chaplain, James Yee, who was jailed and held in solitary confinement for 76 days after being falsely accused of espionage. All charges were eventually dropped, and he received an honorable discharge. Yee describes how boys as young as 12 to 15 years old were treated as enemy combatants on the prison complex and the widespread Islamophobia that put even Muslim Americans under heavy surveillance. "During my time I was there, it was clear that these individuals were not in any way associated with terrorism whatsoever," says Yee.

On the 20th anniversary of the first prisoner's arrival at Guantánamo Bay, we spend the hour with former detainees, starting with Moazzam Begg, who was imprisoned for three years at the military prison and eventually released without ever being charged with a crime. He now advocates on behalf of victims of the so-called war on terror, calling on the Biden administration to follow through on promises to shut down the military prison and release the remaining 39 prisoners. Twenty years after the detention center opened, Begg reflects on the absurdity and lawlessness of Guantánamo, describing how its torture methods were not only unethical but ultimately extracted very little credible intelligence. "The legacy of this place is imprisonment without trial, torture, the absence of the rule of law, the removal of the presumption of innocence," says Begg.

U.S. Coronavirus Cases and Hospitalizations Soar to Record Highs, Warming Oceans Set New Temperature Records in 2021 as Climate Crisis Worsened, U.N. Appeals for Nearly $5 Billion in Afghanistan Aid as 1 Million Children Face Severe Malnutrition, Amid Talks with U.S., Russia Says Ukraine Must Never Be Allowed to Join NATO, North Korea Tests Hypersonic Missile for Second Time in a Week, Lithuania Pays $113,000 to Guantánamo "Forever Prisoner" Tortured at CIA Black Site, Former DEA Informant Arrested over Alleged Role in Plot That Assassinated Haiti's President, El Salvador Reopens Probe into 1989 Massacre of Jesuits by U.S.-Trained Death Squad, Biden and Harris Visit Georgia, Calling on Congress to Pass Voting Rights Bills, NC Voters Sue to Block Rep. Madison Cawthorn's Reelection Bid over His Support for Insurrection, Fox News Promotes Jesse Watters Despite Record of Violent and Racist Rhetoric, Safety Doors Failed at Bronx Apartment Where Fire Killed 17, Arson Blamed for New Year's Fire That Destroyed Tennessee Planned Parenthood Clinic, In a First, Doctors Transplant Heart of Genetically Altered Pig into a Human, Washington Post Investigation Finds 1,700 U.S. Congressmembers Enslaved People, Mourners Gather for Funeral of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, 14-Year-Old Killed by Police Bullet

The Omicron variant's transmission rate is exponentially higher than Delta, leaving healthcare workers across the U.S. in dire straits. Waves of doctors, nurses and other health professionals are unionizing, and some have quit the profession over exploitative conditions. The staffing shortage has added on to the strains of increasing hospitalizations due to COVID-19, limited availability of necessary equipment and lack of federal support for preventative measures such as paid medical leave. "This is the cost of two years spent pushing prematurely for a return to normal," says Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and science writer at The Atlantic. Yong also discusses the debate over keeping schools open during the COVID-19 surge, and challenges to President Biden's vaccine mandates affecting nearly 100 million workers.

As an Australian judge allows unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic to be released from immigration detention amid controversy over his COVID vaccine exemption, we look at how his case has intensified international scrutiny over Australia's inhumane treatment of refugees jailed in the same rundown hotel. "No one is telling us when we get out of this indefinite detention," says Mehdi Ali, an Iranian refugee currently detained by the Australian government at the Park Hotel in Melbourne. We also speak with former Australian soccer player Craig Foster, who advocates for asylum seekers.

Kazakhstan's authoritarian President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has described last week's protests as an attempted coup and defended his call for Russian-led troops into the country to put down the unrest. Demonstrations were triggered by a rise in fuel prices and widened to broader anti-government protests. Over 160 people were killed in the violence, including a 4-year-old girl, and thousands were detained. "The Russian troops will probably get out, but Tokayev, if he keeps power ... probably will be somehow in debt of Putin, and Putin may have [the] position to decide, or help decide, certain moves in Kazakhstan," says Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at The New School.

U.S. and Russian officials are meeting today in Geneva as NATO calls on Russia to remove its troops from along the Ukrainian border. The Russian military has also mobilized soldiers to suppress protests in Kazakhstan. We go to Moscow to speak with Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at The New School, who says President Vladimir Putin is expanding Russia's sphere of influence but will not invade Ukraine. "It's not that he wants to take more territory. I think he wants to get heard," says Khrushcheva.

Bronx Building Blaze Kills 19 People, Including 9 Children, Injures Dozens, Judge Sentences Men Who Murdered Ahmaud Arbery to Life in Prison, 25% of U.S. Hospitals Face Critical Staff Shortages; Chicago Schools Remain Closed Amid Omicron Surge, Airstrike Kills 56 Displaced People in Tigray as Region's Humanitarian Situation Worsens, Military Court Sentences Aung San Suu Kyi to 4 More Years in Prison, Fire in Cox's Bazar Destroys Homes of 5,000 Rohingya Refugees, Reprisal Attacks in Nigeria's Zamfara State Kill 200 Civilians, Tennis Star Novak Djokovic Released from Immigration Detention as Australian Visa Reinstated, Russia and U.S. Hold Diplomatic Talks over Ukraine Against Backdrop of Kazakhstan Violence, European Airlines Operating Highly Polluting Empty Flights to Keep Airport Landing Privileges, California Democrats, Healthcare Advocates Ramp Up Push for Universal Healthcare System, Chinese Victim of Anti-Asian Hate Crime in NYC Dies of His Injuries, Columbia Student Workers End 10-Week Strike, Winning Better Wages and Benefits, Legendary Film Star Sidney Poitier, Oscar Winner and Civil Rights Activist, Dies at 94

We get an update from Sudan, where at least three pro-democracy protesters were killed by security forces on Thursday, bringing the death toll to at least 60 since the military coup on October 25. Thursday's protest came four days following Abdalla Hamdok's resignation as Sudan's prime minister, after he was deposed in the October coup and then shortly restored to power by the military in November. However, protesters on the ground find Hamdok's resignation insignificant and consider him irrelevant to the fight for full democratic control over the government, says Sudanese activist Marine Alneel, who joins us from Khartoum. The civilian slogan is now "no negotiation, no partnership, no legitimacy," she explains, saying protesters are no longer interested in preserving the joint military-civilian governing deal signed after mass protests in 2019 that toppled longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. "In 2019, many people were displeased with the partnership, and now mostly people are outright rejecting any form of partnership with the military," she says.

We look at the skyrocketing number of COVID infections. Coronavirus cases hit record highs this week, with global cases climbing 70% from last week to 9.5 million and the U.S. reporting a single-day record of 1 million new cases on Monday. In the U.S., the extraordinary volume of cases is filling up emergency rooms nationwide and exhausting healthcare workers, says emergency room physician Dr. Craig Spencer, who has been treating coronavirus patients since the pandemic began. "We're much better at treating this disease now," says Spencer, "but the problem is that the amount of volume that we're seeing threatens to really wash away any added benefit from either a milder variant or even all that experience that we've learned and those tools that we've built up over the past few years." Spencer also critiques the U.S. government's role in prolonging the pandemic, saying, "Global vaccine inequity has been one of the most profound and disappointing aspects of this pandemic over the past year."

President Joe Biden warned about the looming threat of autocracy during his speech marking the first anniversary of the January 6 Capitol attack on Thursday and denounced his predecessor Donald Trump for inciting the rioters. In a statement responding to Biden's speech, Trump continued to falsely claim the 2020 election was rigged. To discuss further, we are joined by historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on the psychology of authoritarianism, who says Trump has grown his "personality cult" since his election loss and converted the GOP into "a far-right authoritarian party which has enshrined violence as part of the practice of power." She also discusses Trump's recent endorsement of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been recognized by European Union leadership as a threat to democracy, and calls Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a "mini-Trump" who is planning for "an authoritarian system at the state level."

On Jan. 6 Anniversary, Biden Warns of Trump's "Dagger at the Throat of Democracy", Supreme Court to Weigh Vaccine Mandates as U.S. Coronavirus Cases Hit Record High, WHO Warns Omicron Is Overwhelming Hospitals and Killing People, Not "Mild", As Omicron Shatters Pandemic Records, Brazil's Bolsonaro Blasts Child Vaccinations, Kazakh President Orders Troops to Shoot Without Warning as Protest Death Toll Mounts, 3 Eritrean Refugees, Including 2 Children, Killed by Airstrike in Ethiopia's Tigray, Israelis Kill Two Palestinians in West Bank; Far-Right Protesters Attack Palestinian Reporter, Two Journalists Murdered in Haiti Amid Spiking Gang Violence, Head of U.S. Prisons Resigns as COVID Ravages Incarcerated Population , Unionized Starbucks Workers Walk Off Job; Nurses Demand Permanent Protections Amid Pandemic, Activists Arrested While Halting Construction on Sunoco Fracked Gas Pipeline in PA, Murder Trial for Ex-Police Officers Involved in George Floyd Murder Set for Jan. 20, Journalist & Civil Rights Activist Mel Reeves Dies at 64 from COVID-19

Former Pentagon adviser Ryan Goodman says former President Trump could have used the Insurrection Act to hold onto power during the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters. "There needs to be reform of the Insurrection Act," says Goodman, who authored the report "Crisis of Command: The Pentagon, the President, and January 6” for Just Security, where he is co-editor. He also discusses how Republican leadership from Congress, as well as agency heads from the FBI and the Justice Department, waged a coordinated response around Trump's claims of voter fraud in an attempt to increase Republican voter turnout in Georgia. "The Justice Department used a lot of its resources, including the FBI investigations, to basically affect the outcome of the Georgia runoffs," says Goodman. "That's an extraordinary politicized use of the Justice Department and the FBI to do anything like that, to try to use it to shape an outcome of the election."

One year since Trump supporters staged a violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden's presidency, we discuss exactly what was happening behind the scenes in the intelligence community that day. We are joined by Newsweek national security reporter William Arkin, who appeared on Democracy Now! just hours prior to the Capitol attack and predicted a violent outcome hours later. Arkin says the intelligence community failed to prepare for the strength of Trump's movement and needs to beef up its approach in anticipation for the next insurrection or coup attempt. "It's really stunning to me that we haven't looked more closely at what the role of the federal agencies were, what the intelligence was and what the intelligence agencies knew," says Arkin.

Many events marking the first anniversary of the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are focusing on voting rights, as false claims about voter fraud have fueled Republican efforts to restrict voting access, especially for Black voters. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed Tuesday to proceed with a vote to change the filibuster rule to prevent Republicans from blocking new voting rights legislation. Professor Carol Anderson, author of "White Rage" and "One Person, No Vote," says former President Trump's false claims about voter fraud prompted a wave in 2021 of some of the most aggressive and racist assaults on voting rights in recent U.S. history. "It is Jim Crow 2.0," Anderson says of Republican voter suppression waged through state legislation. "It is designed to make sure we have minority rule in the United States, that we don't have a democracy."

On the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection of January 6, when right-wing and white supremacist supporters of Donald Trump attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, we speak with Elie Mystal of The Nation about the Department of Justice investigation, led by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who pledged Wednesday to bring everyone involved to "justice." Mystal says Garland should be more aggressive and also pursue Donald Trump. "I want actual evidence that this man is willing to take on the powerful, politically connected Republicans who did this to us, and so far I don't see that evidence," says Mystal. So far, 725 rioters have been arrested on smaller charges.

Biden to Call Out Trump's "Singular Responsibility" for Jan. 6 Insurrection, Jimmy Carter: U.S. Is at "Genuine Risk of Civil Conflict and Losing Our Precious Democracy", CDC Endorses Boosters for 12-to-15-Year-Olds as COVID Cases Skyrocket, Dozens Killed in Kazakhstan as Protests Grow in Former Soviet Republic, North Korea Acknowledges Testing Hypersonic Missile, Chilean Constitutional Assembly Elects New President to Rewrite Pinochet-Era Document, 12 Die, Including 8 Children, in Philadelphia House Fire, Ghislaine Maxwell Seeks New Trial After Two Jurors Admit Being Sexual Abuse Survivors, As Guantánamo Turns 20, Pentagon Is Building a New Secret Courtroom, Pacific Gas & Electric Blamed for Starting Another Devastating Fire in California, New Manhattan DA Calls for Not Prosecuting Some Nonviolent Offenses, Bomb Threats Probed at Nine Historically Black Colleges & Universities, California Man Attacks Vaccination Clinic Workers Calling Them "Murderers", Australia Cancels Visa for Tennis Star Novak Djokovic over Vaccine Rules, Antiracist Activists Cleared for Dumping Slave Trader Statue into a River in U.K., 750,000 Sign Petition to Strip Tony Blair of Knighthood, Plaintiff in 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Case Granted Posthumous Pardon

The January 6 insurrection resulted in criminal charges for over 700 rioters, and the FBI has since called it an act of domestic terrorism. Philadelphia Inquirer national columnist Will Bunch says there is growing evidence that links Trump and his inner circle to the Capitol attack. He argues understanding what was happening behind the scenes at the Pentagon, which has operational control over the National Guard in D.C., can help explain Trump's botched attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the insurrection that followed. "I think they fully believed that they would be able to call out the National Guard," says Bunch, explaining Trump's strategy to incite violence between his supporters and counterprotesters in an attempt to make military orders to disrupt the certification. Bunch predicts Trump and allies will delay cooperation with the House probe into the attack until Republicans can gain congressional power in 2022 and dismiss the investigation.

Thursday marks one year since a violent mob of thousands of far-right and white supremacist Trump supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol, disrupting Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election and resulting in five deaths and hundreds of injuries. We look at where these movements are one year later, with the updated investigative documentary "American Insurrection" by Frontline in collaboration with ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism's Investigative Reporting Program. Director Rick Rowley explains how the far-right social movements have grown since the insurrection and says "the locus of the organizing has shifted really from a national platform to a local one, which makes it more difficult to track and increases the potential for local or regional violence." Rowley and Frontline correspondent A.C. Thompson interviewed January 6 select committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson about what makes this a moment for "far-right mobilization" and discussed the significance of the widespread contradictory beliefs by many on the far right that antifa and Black Lives Matter dressed up as Trump supporters and carried out the January 6 riot, but that those who tried to overturn the election are patriots.

Chicago Cancels Classes After Union Vote to Move to Remote Learning, CDC Keeps in Place New Rule About 5-Day Isolation, Amid Surge, Delhi to Enforce Weekend Curfew as Hong Kong Bans Flights from U.S., U.K., Jan. 6 Committee Seeks to Question Fox's Sean Hannity over Insurrection, "Do You Realize You Are Describing a Coup?" Ex-Trump Official Defends Plan to Overturn Election, Report: 650,000 Messages Posted on Facebook Attacking Election Results Before Jan. 6, Manchin Says Changing Filibuster Rules to Pass Voting Rights Is "Heavy Lift", Canada Reaches $31 Billion Settlement with First Nations over Child Welfare Abuses, U.S. Charges Ex-Colombian Commando in Assassination of Haitian President, Palestinian Prisoner Wins Freedom After 141-Day Hunger Strike, B'Tselem: Israel Killed 313 Palestinians Last Year, Demolished 300 Residential Structures, Sudanese Forces Fire at Protesters Demanding Civilian Rule, Kazakhstan Declares State of Emergency Amid Protests over Fuel Hikes, Albany County DA Drops Sex Crime Charges Against Andrew Cuomo, Rep. Bobby Rush to Retire After 15 Terms, GOP Activist & Vaccine Mandate Critic Kelly Ernby, 46, Dies from COVID-19, Julian Assange Marks 1,000th Day Locked Up in Belmarsh High-Security Prison

The French humanitarian group Utopia 56 has filed a manslaughter lawsuit against British and French officials for failing to help 27 migrants who drowned to death in the English Channel in November. The only two survivors say they were ignored when they made distress calls and told their location to French and English rescue services after their boat capsized and started sinking in the freezing waters off the French port city of Calais. We speak with Nikolaï Posner of Utopia 56, who says the lawsuit is meant to "bring the truth and the transparency on what happened."

As the Omicron variant sets record-high COVID-19 infection rates across the United States, we look at the conditions in the sprawling network of jails run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement where the Biden administration is holding more than 22,000 people. "There's still a lot of people detained. There's no social distancing. People are still facing COVID," says longtime immigrant activist Maru Mora Villalpando, who adds that most COVID infections are coming from unvaccinated workers who are coming from outside of the jails. She describes how people held in GEO Group's Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, say conditions have gotten even worse during the pandemic, after a federal judge ruled the company must pay detained people minimum wage for work like cooking and cleaning instead of paying them a dollar a day. GEO Group responded by suspending its "voluntary work program."

Pandemic relief programs have helped millions of families get through the economic shocks of COVID-19, but undocumented immigrants — many of whom are essential workers — have been largely shut out of such federal aid. Those undocumented workers who have received limited assistance are now losing the pandemic aid they had only started receiving in August through the Biden administration's expanded child tax credit program, which expired and is being blocked from further implementation into Build Back Better legislation. "These families, in spite of the fact that they were essential workers, endured this really punishing income gap," says journalist Julia Preston, who reported on an undocumented immigrant community in New Bedford, Massachusetts, who sustain the United States' largest commercial fishing port. Preston and Ariel Goodman wrote the article "Essential But Excluded" for The Marshall Project and say the difference in income amounts on average to almost $35,000.

Global Coronavirus Cases Hit Record High, U.S. Logs 1M Daily Coronavirus Cases for First Time; FDA Approves Booster Shots for Teens, Schumer Promises Senate Vote on Filibuster Reform by MLK Holiday as Voting Rights Bills Languish, Protests Erupt on Anniversary of Trump's Assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Haitian PM Ariel Henry Says He Survived Assassination Attempt, Brazilian Far-Right President Jair Bolsonaro Hospitalized with Intestinal Blockage, Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Found Guilty of Defrauding Investors, Court Unseals Settlement Between Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew Accuser Virginia Giuffre, Corporations Gave $8 Million to GOP Lawmakers Who Sought to Overturn 2020 Election, New York AG Subpoenas Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. in Real Estate Fraud Probe, Mexican President Renews Asylum Offer to Julian Assange

A devastating climate change-fueled wildfire destroyed nearly 1,000 homes outside of Boulder and Denver, Colorado, with little notice last Thursday. The fire was fanned by winds that gusted up to 110 miles per hour, and came after a year of drought across the western U.S. and amid an unusually warm December. We speak with Jennifer Balch, director of the Earth Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who says the climate crisis is extending the scale and scope of wildfire season in the state. "We've known that there's a link between climate change and wildfires for over a decade, and it takes just a little bit of warming to lead to a lot more burning," says Balch.

The United States faces a shortage of rapid COVID-19 tests amid the Omicron surge even as many inexpensive at-home rapid testing models have been ready for distribution — but refused approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. One scientist, Harvard-trained Irene Bosch, submitted a rapid test to the FDA for emergency approval in March 2020 and even had a factory ready to produce it. Bosch describes how the FDA's rejection came from unclear standards set by the administration early on in the pandemic, and says earlier approval of testing like hers could have saved lives.

As COVID cases skyrocket, we speak to Dr. Peter Hotez at Texas Children’s Hospital about the Omicron surge, as well as his groundbreaking work developing an affordable patent-free coronavirus vaccine. Last week the Indian government gave emergency approval to the new low-cost, patent-free vaccine called Corbevax, which Hotez co-created. He says it could reach billions of people across the globe who have lacked access to the more expensive mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna. "We can really make a vaccine for the world," says Hotez. Hotez also addresses problems stemming from ongoing vaccine hesitancy.

Omicron-Driven Surge Causes Travel Disruptions, Sets Records for Infections, Child Hospitalizations, Climate-Fueled Colorado Wildfire Razes 1,000 Homes; Two People Still Missing, Ghislaine Maxwell Found Guilty in Federal Sex Trafficking Trial as Attention Turns to Prince Andrew, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok Resigns as More Protesters Killed in Anti-Coup Demonstrations, Hong Kong Independent Media Outlet Citizen News Shutters Amid Crackdown on Press Freedom, Germany Shuts Down Half of Six Remaining Nuclear Power Plants, As Jan. 6 Anniversary Looms, Rep. Liz Cheney Says Trump's Inner Circle Tried to Get Him to Stop Riot, Twitter Bans Account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over COVID-19 Misinformation, Karen Ferguson, Who Fought to Expand Workers' Pension Rights, Dies at 80, Colorado Governor Shortens 110-Year Sentence of Truck Driver, Large Fire Damages South African Parliament in Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, Anti-Apartheid Leader and Human Rights Champion, Laid to Rest

Democracy Now! first aired on nine community radio stations on February 19, 1996, on the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary. In the 25 years since that initial broadcast, the program has greatly expanded, airing today on more than 1,500 television and radio stations around the globe and reaching millions of people online. We celebrate 25 years of The War and Peace Report with an hour-long retrospective, including highlights from the show's early years, some of the most controversial interviews, and groundbreaking reports from East Timor, Standing Rock, Western Sahara and more.

Noam Chomsky decries what he calls the torture of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He also critiques the Biden administration's reckless foreign policy. "The trajectory is not optimistic," Chomsky says. "The worst case is the increasing provocative actions towards China. That's very dangerous."

Noam Chomsky warns the Republican Party is "marching" the world to destruction by ignoring the climate emergency while embracing proto-fascism at home. Chomsky talks about the January 6 insurrection, how neoliberalism is a form of class warfare and how President Biden's climate plans fall short of what is needed.

Today, a special broadcast: an hour with Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author, who just turned 93 years old. Chomsky spoke to Democracy Now! prior to the discovery of the Omicron coronavirus variant, but he predicted new variants would emerge. "If you let the virus run rampant in poor countries, everyone understands that mutation is likely, the kind of mutation that led to the Delta variant, now the Delta Plus variant in India, and who knows what will develop," Chomsky said.

We go to New Delhi, India, to speak with acclaimed Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy about the pandemic, U.S. militarism and the state of journalism. Roy first appeared on Democracy Now! after receiving widespread backlash for speaking out against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. At the time, her emphatic antiwar stance clashed with the rising tides of patriotism and calls for war after 9/11. "Now the same media is saying what we were saying 20 years ago," says Roy. "But the trouble is, it's too late."

Acclaimed poet Martín Espada recently won the National Book Award for Poetry for his anthology "Floaters." He became just the third Latinx poet to win the award. "Floaters" is titled after the photo of the Salvadoran father and daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande in June 2019 trying to cross into the United States, one that sparked outrage at the humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border. Espada discusses U.S. immigration policy and reads the poem "Letter to My Father: October 2017," which looks back at his father's native Puerto Rico.

U.S. Coronavirus Infections Hit All-Time High, Omicron Drives Record Rates of Infection in Several European Countries, Taliban Fire Warning Shots at Dozens of Women Protesters in Kabul, U.N. Envoy Warns of Civilian Toll as Saudi-Led War on Yemen Escalates, Mahmoud Abbas Meets Israeli Defense Minister, Death Toll from Brazil Flooding Rises to 20, Kodiak, Alaska, Hits 67°F as Climate Emergency Fuels Extreme December Weather, Climate Emergency Cost Global Economy Nearly $200 Billion in 2021, South African Court Halts Shell Oil's Offshore Oil Exploration Plans, Russia Shutters International Memorial, Which Chronicled Soviet Abuses, Chinese Police Close Hong Kong News Outlet Stand News, Arrest Staffers, Family of Valentina Orellana-Peralta Demands Justice for 14-Year-Old Killed by LAPD, Colorado Gunman's Shooting Spree Leaves 5 Dead, 2 Injured, Judge Rejects First Amendment Claims of Proud Boys in Capitol Riot Conspiracy Case, Jan. 6 Committee Defers Request for Trump Records as White House Cites National Security, Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Dies at 82

Mumia Abu-Jamal remembers South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday at the age of 90. Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting to end apartheid in South Africa. In 2007, Tutu visited Mumia when he was still on death row. "His spirit reflected a giant," says Abu-Jamal. "He struggled for change with his prophetic voice, his sweet humor, his deep love and his boundless sense of compassion."

World-renowned author, activist and professor Angela Davis talks about navigating the pandemic and an inadequate two-party political system during a time of racial uprising in the United States. She also talks about imprisoned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Biden presidential campaign and the protests that erupted from the police killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

World-renowned author, activist and professor Angela Davis talks about the prison abolition movement from her time as a Black Panther leader to today. In her tireless efforts as an abolitionist and a teacher, Davis continues to be a fierce advocate of education and the interconnected struggles of oppressed peoples. Davis talks about Indigenous genocide, Palestine, critical race theory and the role of independent media. "Democracy Now! helps us to place our own domestic issues and struggles within the context of global battles against fascism," says Davis.

Legendary poet, singer, author and activist Patti Smith has been awarded a key to New York City. Smith's music has inspired countless bands and helped earn her the title of the queen of punk. Her song "People Have the Power" has become an anthem at protests across the globe. Patti Smith has also been a longtime activist, performing regularly at antiwar rallies and political benefits. She gave an emotional acceptance speech during a ceremony Monday with outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. We also air a clip of her live performance with singer Michael Stipe at Democracy Now!'s 20th anniversary celebration in 2016.

World Coronavirus Cases Hit Record High as Omicron Surges, Israel Tests Fourth Vaccine Doses as COVID Surges in Largely Unvaccinated African Nations, Biden Warns Governors of Looming Shortages of Hospital Beds as COVID-19 Cases Near Pandemic Highs, CDC Recommends Shorter Isolation for People with Asymptomatic Coronavirus Infections, Afghan Taliban Bans Women from Road Trips Without Male Escort, Talks on Reviving Iran Nuclear Deal Resume in Vienna, Iraq's Top Court Ratifies Results of October's Contested Election, Russia to Hold Talks with U.S. and NATO Allies over Ukraine Border Tensions, New German Government Moves to Legalize Recreational Marijuana, Biden Signs NDAA, Lifting Pentagon Budget to Record-Shattering $778 Billion, LAPD Video Shows Officer Fatally Shooting Suspect and 14-Year-Old in Department Store

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African anti-apartheid icon, has died at the age of 90. In 1984 Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work fighting to end white minority rule in South Africa. After the fall of apartheid, Archbishop Tutu chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where he pushed for restorative justice. He was a leading voice for human rights and peace around the world. He opposed the Iraq War and condemned the Israeli occupation in Palestine, comparing it to apartheid South Africa. We reair two interviews Archbishop Tutu did on Democracy Now!, as well as two speeches on the Iraq War and the climate crisis.

U.S. Coronavirus Cases Skyrocket as Omicron Spreads at Unprecedented Pace, China Orders Lockdown for 13 Million in Xi'an; Pope Francis Calls for Universal Access to Vaccines, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Who Battled Apartheid and Championed Human Rights, Dies at 90, Israel Plans to Double Population of Illegal Settlements in Occupied Golan Heights, Burmese Military Accused of Massacring Dozens of Civilians , Iraqi Kurds Hold Funerals for Family Members Who Drowned Crossing English Channel , Dams Burst After Torrential Rains in Brazil; U.S. Records Record High December Temperatures, Sarah Weddington, Who Successfully Argued Roe v. Wade at Supreme Court, Dies at 76, El Salvador Frees Women Jailed for "Homicide" After Miscarriages, Literary Icon Joan Didion Dies at 87, Georgia Poll Workers Sue Rudy Giuliani, One America News for Defamation, Minnesota Cop Kim Potter Guilty of Manslaughter for Killing Daunte Wright, LAPD Fatally Shoots 14-Year-Old Girl in Department Store Dressing Room, Parents of 43 Missing Mexican Students Demand Answers in 2014 Disappearances

The Pentagon has announced new rules to slow the spread of extremism in the military, one of which will discipline soldiers for liking or resharing white nationalist and other extremist content on social media. The Pentagon announcement comes just two weeks before the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, where more than 80 of the 700 individuals charged with the attack had ties to the U.S. military. Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project Susan Corke says these rule changes are welcomed by her organization but don't go far enough to stop extremism in the armed forces. "It shouldn't have taken January 6 to rouse us to really address the problem of extremism in the military," says Corke.

In a major victory for labor rights, 1,400 unionized Kellogg's workers have ended their nearly three-month strike across four states after approving a new contract that provides a wage increase and enhanced benefits for all. The prior agreement that Kellogg's tried to bargain only offered wage increases and improved benefits to longtime workers, whereas the new agreement ensures newer workers have a guaranteed option to receive the same improvements. We speak with Kellogg's worker Kevin Bradshaw, who will return to work on Monday alongside his co-workers. "We didn't have any takeaways and no concessions, so I would say that, in essence, that we did win," says Bradshaw.

A new report titled "How The Koch Network Hijacked The War On COVID" reveals how a right-wing network linked to billionaire Charles Koch has played a key role in fighting public health measures during the pandemic, including mask and vaccine mandates, contact tracing and lockdowns. The groups include the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), Donors Trust, the Hoover Institution and Hillsdale College. We speak about the contents of the report with co-author Walker Bragman, who says the right-wing network's attack on public health is designed to "maintain corporate profit at the expense of human life."

Oxfam America has accused Moderna of misleading its investors about an ongoing dispute over whether it needs to share vaccine patent rights with the U.S. government. Oxfam filed a shareholders complaint against Moderna with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the company's resistance to recognizing the role played by three scientists with the National Institutes of Health in developing the vaccine. We speak with Robbie Silverman, senior corporate advocacy manager at Oxfam America, who says the federal government owns a right to license the vaccine to manufacturers. "It is simply not sufficient just to vaccinate the U.S. or just to vaccinate rich countries, because the virus knows no national boundaries," says Silverman, who claims Moderna is "essentially doing almost nothing to vaccinate low-income countries, and that has negative impacts for all of us."

South Africa Says Omicron Coronavirus Surge Has Peaked, WHO Warns Blanket Booster Programs Divert Vaccine Supply, Prolonging Pandemic, FDA Approves COVID-19 Pill; Most Monoclonal Antibody Treatments Fail Against Omicron, New York Coronavirus Cases Surge to Record High; Supreme Court to Weigh Vaccine Mandates, Proud Boys Member Pleads Guilty to Capitol Riot Conspiracy, Will Cooperate with FBI, FBI Undercover Teams Infiltrated Portland Racial Justice Protests, U.S. Relaxes Limits on Aid as Afghanistan Faces Dire Humanitarian Crisis, U.N. Calls for Probe into Reports That Sudanese Security Forces Raped Anti-Coup Protesters, 3 Dead, Dozens Missing After Boat Carrying Refugees Sinks in Aegean Sea, Biden Admin Extends Pause on Student Debt Repayment, Explosion at ExxonMobil Oil Refinery in Texas Injures at Least 4, Taylor Energy Agrees to Pay $43 Million in Settlement over U.S.'s Longest-Ever Oil Spill, NYC Divests $3 Billion in Retirement Funds from Fossil Fuels, Alabama Amazon Workers Say Two Warehouse Workers Died Within Hours of Each Other, Oscars Documentary Shorts Shortlist Includes "Takeover," Which Recounts Young Lords' 1970 Protest

A group of 11 Haitian asylum seekers is suing the Biden administration, accusing the U.S. government of physical abuse, racial discrimination and other rights violations when they were forced to shelter under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. The class-action lawsuit comes after images of Border Patrol agents whipping Haitian asylum seekers from horseback went viral in September, drawing outrage from rights groups. The plaintiffs in the case are also demanding the U.S. government allow the return of the thousands of Haitian asylum seekers deported from the Del Rio encampment. Guerline Jozef, co-founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which filed the class-action lawsuit, says the Biden administration's policies harm vulnerable people. "We believe that the lawsuit will force the administration to be accountable for what we continue to see as anti-Black racism within the immigration system," she says. "Immigration is a Black issue. We cannot disconnect that from the reality after what we saw under the bridge in Del Rio."

President Biden has announced a plan to begin distributing 500 million at-home COVID tests starting in January in response to the latest surge in cases, linked to the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus. His plan also includes the establishment of new federal testing sites and the deployment of military medical personnel to help overwhelmed hospitals around the country. Dr. Tsion Firew, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center, says nurses and other healthcare providers are quitting or retiring in large numbers as the pandemic drags on, leading to an even greater strain on those still on the frontlines. "It's just very frustrating and also overburdening our healthcare system," she says.