Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-01-21 Wednesday

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Headlines for January 21, 2026; Facing Possible Arrest, Minnesota Lawyer Defends Protest at Church Whose Pastor Is Top ICE Official; As Trump Threatens to Take Greenland, Oxfam Warns of Rising Authoritarianism & Billionaire Boom; NYC Nurses’ Strike Enters 10th Day; Mayor Mamdani & Sen. Sanders Join Picket Line

New York, this is Democracy Now. How far are you willing to go to fire Greenland? You'll find out. As President Trump repeats his threat to seize Greenland, we'll go to Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum has turned into an emergency summit. Canada's prime minister is warning of a rupture in the world order. We'll go to Davos to speak with the head of Oxfam International

about Trump's threat. and the soaring wealth of the world's billionaires. Then New York mayors are on Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders joined the picket line at the largest nurses' strike in New York history. Don't tell me you can't provide it when you're paying your CEO at New York, Presbyterian, 26 million. To Minneapolis, as the Justice Department threatens to arrest demonstrators who disrupted services at a St. Paul Church Sunday because one of its pastors is reportedly a top ICE official in the Twin Cities.

We'll speak to civil rights attorney Nikima Levy Armstrong, who took part in the protest. Mr. Wood is a pastor here. He is also the director of the field office for ICE in St. Paul. So someone who claims to worship God, teaching. people in this church about God is out there overseeing ICE agents. Nakema Lee, the Armstrong, will join us from an undisclosed location. All that and more coming up. Welcome to DemocracyNow.

DemocracyNow.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Federal prosecutors issued subpoenas to five Democratic officials in Minnesota. Governor Tim Walls, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye, St. Paul Mayor, Kali Herr, State Attorney General, Keith Ellison, and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. The Justice Department's investigating whether the Democratic officials blocked ICE from rounding up undocumented immigrants. Mayor Fry said in a statement, quote, when the federal government weaponizes its power to try to intimidate local leaders for doing their jobs, every American should be concerned. We shouldn't have to live in a country where people fear that federal law enforcement,

will be used to play politics or crack down on local voices they disagree with, Fry said. Meanwhile, the police chief in Brooklyn Park said if off-duty police officers in the Twin Cities have been targeted by federal agents looking for proof of U.S. citizenship. One particular officer that shared her story with me was stopped as she passed ice going down the roadway. When they boxed her in, they demanded her paperwork, of which she's a U.S. citizen and clearly would not have any paperwork. When she became concerned about the rhetoric and the way she was being treated, she pulled out her phone. In an attempt to record the incident, the phone was knocked out of her hands. Meanwhile, the FBI opened then quickly closed an investigation into Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Renee Good.

And ICE refuses to say whether he's been suspended. ahead of his speech at Davos today, President Trump teased how far he would be willing to go to acquire Greenland telling reporters Tuesday, you'll find out, unquote. Amidst tensions with the U.S., Denmark has sent additional troops and military equipment to Greenland. Meanwhile, in the U.S., lawmakers from both parties promised to bring legislation to block President Trump's tariffs against eight European countries, including Denmark, the U.K., Germany, and France. Republican Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina, said, quote, this response to our own allies for sending a small number of troops to Greenland for training is bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America's allies, unquote. It comes as President Trump posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social Tuesday, depicting him seated in the Oval Office surrounded by European leaders, all gazing at a map that showed the territories of Greenland, Venezuela, and Canada as part of the United States. Meanwhile, Canada announced a trade deal with China, agreeing to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars.

On Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney received a standing ovation at Davos after a speech in which he declared the U.S.-led international order is breaking down. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy, and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration. But more recently, great powers have begun using economic integration. as weapons. U.S. forces have seized another Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean. This is the seventh vessel to be captured by the Trump administration as part of a month's long military campaign to control Venezuela's oil. This comes as President Trump has signaled he's open to involving right-wing Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Canina Machado, in some political

capacity in Venezuela, following the U.S. military strike that led to the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife is they now sit in a Brooklyn jail. Machado and Trump met at the White House last week where Machado said she gave her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump. Venezuela's interim leader, Delci Rodriguez, said Tuesday the country has received hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. as part of a deal to supply 50 million barrels of oil to the Trump administration. Rodriguez spoke from Caracas.

Today we must report that funds from oil sales have been received. The first 500 million has been received, the 300 million has been received. These funds will be used to cover and finance our workers' incomes to protect the purchasing power of Venezuelan workers, to protect them from the inflation and the negative impact of exchange rate fluctuations. A large Russian attack on Kiev left the Ukrainian parliament without power Tuesday and half the capital's residential buildings without heating or power. Russian attacks also targeted the cities of Nidipro and Odessa, killing four people and injuring 33 across Ukraine. Kiev residents were forced to warm up in emergency tents. It is the hardest right now. We've never had such a situation.

when at the same time there was no heating, no electricity, and no water. Today, when we came after the shelling, there was no heating, no water, no electricity. And you're like that in your apartment. What could you do there? The United Arab Emirates and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have committed to joining Trump's so-called Board of Peace in Gaza. Netanyahu's wanted for war crimes committed during Israel's war on Gaza. The board has been tasked to oversee Gaza's transition following a U.S. brokered truce between Israeli forces and Hamas, which Israel has repeatedly violated.

The board's executive committee includes Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. French President Emmanuel Macron refused to join the board, warning it could undermine the United Nations. Trump will serve as the board's chair indefinitely and have veto power over the board's decisions. Meanwhile, Reuters report some European nations are weighing whether to stop sending military personnel to assist U.S. forces in the region, citing the Trump administration's refusal to pressure Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The U.S.-led civil-military coordination center has been operating in southern Israel since October in order to monitor the enforcement. of the Gaza ceasefire, as well as to supposedly facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged territory. New York City Mayor's Orhan Mamdani and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders joined striking

nurses and freezing temperatures Tuesday as the action entered a second week. Nearly 15,000 nurses launched the largest nursing strike in New York history, demanding higher wages, fully funded benefits, an increase in staff to manage patients and better workplace protections for hospital workers who face violence on the job. Nurses have accused six private New York hospitals, including Mount Sinai, of refusing to negotiate a fair contract. Democracy Now is there. This is New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, speaking from the picket lines. When we see a strike, people forget that that is not where workers want to be. No! A strike is an act of last resort.

What workers want is to be back at work. What you mean is making that possible. And so we call on every side to come back to that negotiating table, having swift and urgent resolution. And to know that no matter what day it is, we will be here, we will be standing with you, and we will be saying the exact same thing. Thank you so much. We'll have more on that story later in the broadcast.

We'll be speaking with one of the striking nurse. and hear more from Zoran Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders. The Trump administrations acknowledged employees with Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, accessed and shared sensitive social security data in violation of Doge's own guidelines. The revelation came in a Justice Department court filing, making it the first time Trump officials have admitted to mishandling sensitive data. Alon Musk's Doge. the DOJ court filing also states the Social Security Administration unveiled a secret deal between a Doge employee and an identified political advocacy group which aimed to overturn election results in certain states.

Several public health groups are suing the Trump administration effort to reverse a policy by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce the number of vaccines it recommends for children. The lawsuit accuses Health Secretary Robert of Kennedy Jr. of manipulating a key vaccine advisory committee by installing unqualified members who promote vaccine, miss, and disinformation while failing to consider the harms the new policies may cause to families. The plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, and the American Public Health Association. President Trump has, for the second time, pardoned a California woman convicted of fraud. Trump had granted Adriana Comberos clemency during his first presidency, commuting her sentence in 2021 following her conviction as part of a conspiracy plot to sell millions of counterfeit five-hour energy drinks.

Then in 2024, Comberos was again convicted in a separate multimillion dollar scheme with her brother. The siblings were among 13 pardons Trump issued last week, which also included former governor of Puerto Rico Wanda Vasquez, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations. President Trump's asking a federal judge to block the Justice Department from releasing a second volume of a report prepared by former special counsel, Jack Smith. Smith is set to testify Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Trump and his attempts to overthrow. the 2020 election. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, President Trump taunted special counsel, Jack Smith.

And removed his handpicked radical left Marxist prosecutors from the Department of Justice like deranged Jack Sixth. He's a sick son of a bitch. The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, is expected to attend the Supreme Court's oral arguments

today when it hears a case about President Trump's attempts to file, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The Trump administration's accusing Cook of mortgage fraud and allegation she denies. Cook sued to keep her job in the Supreme Court issued a brief order last year, allowing her to stay on the board. It comes as Chair Powell confirmed earlier this month that the Trump administration had sent subpoenas to the Fed and threatened him with a criminal indictment

in an attempt to pressure him to lower interest rates. The New York Times editorial boards reporting President Trump used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. The editorial board estimates that major tech and media companies have paid President Trump $90.5 million in settlements, while noting that Qatar gifted President Trump a $400 million jet. The Trump family also made at least $867 million. through various cryptocurrencies. The New York Times editorial board said, quote, all told, Mr. Trump has profited from his return to the presidency

by an amount of money equal to 16,822 times the median U.S. household income, unquote. And musician Bruce Springsteen denounced the deployment of ICE officers nationwide and dedicated his song The Promise Land to Renee Good, killed by an ice agent in Minneapolis two weeks ago. This is Bruce Springsteen at a surprise performance in New Jersey Saturday. Right now we're living through the incredibly critical times. The honesty, the ideals of the values for which it stood for the past 250 years, is being tested as it has never been in modern times. Bruce Springsteen at a surprise performance this weekend, condemning ICE actions.

And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. We begin today's show in Minneapolis as the city endures its third week of occupation by a force of over 3,000 federal immigration agents accused of violating human and civil rights and of fatally shooting. resident Renee Good. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino defended the agent's actions Tuesday as, quote, legal, ethical, and moral, unquote. As protests continue, calling for ice out for good, a play on Renee Good's name, Vice President J.D. Vance will travel to Minneapolis Thursday. This comes as the Justice Department served grand jury subpoenas on seven,

top Democratic officials, including Minnesota governor, Tim Walls, Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Fry, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison accusing them of obstructing federal law enforcement activities in the state. Attorney General Ellison said in a statement Tuesday, quote, everything about this is highly irregular, especially the fact that this comes shortly after my office sued the Trump administration to challenge their illegal action. within Minnesota, he said. Also on Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department is investigating demonstrators who disrupted Sunday services at a church in St. Paul to protest one of the church's pastors, David Easterwood, who was reportedly a top ICE official in the Twin Cities.

Among those joining the protests were Black Lives Matter, Minnesota, co-founder Monique Colors, and longtime civil rights leader and ordained Reverend Nikima Levy Armstrong. David Easterwood is a pastor here. He is also the director of the field office for ICE and St. Paul. So someone who claims to worship God. Teaching people in this church about God is out there overseeing ICE agents. Now, federal officials claim the church protest is a potential violation of the Face Act. That's the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which is usually used to protect entrances to abortion clinics.

Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome told newsmax, arrests may be coming soon. And that pastor really did a remarkable thing. They're trying to protect his parishioners. And even the parishioners, I imagine, I felt and feel intimidated. They did. And there's going to be arrests.

In the next several hours, Greta, there will be arrests tied to that. David Easterwood's church issued a statement that, quote, invading a church service to disrupt the worship of Jesus or any other act of worship is protected by neither the Christian script scriptures, nor the laws of this nation, unquote.

Meanwhile, activists again gathered Tuesday to call for the pastor's resignation due to his possible connection to ICE. For more, we're joined by Nekima Levy Armstrong, Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney, founder of the Racial Justice Network, yes, she's also an ordained reverend and a preacher. We welcome you back to Democracy Now. you're joining us today from an undisclosed location. If you can explain what happened on Sunday, a protest that you were a part of. Yes. So, Amy, four black women activists and organizers planned Sunday's protests, and I was one of the four.

And we are unapologetic about going into the church. We participated in the first part of the service. and the pastor prayed during the service, dear God, please chasing us and help us to get our house in order. So when he was done praying, I stood up and I said, excuse me, Pastor, you just prayed this particular prayer. And he said, correct. And I said, well, help me understand how is David Easterwood a pastor here

and also a director of ICE in St. Paul? as soon as I mentioned David Easterwood's name, the pastor yells out, shame, shame over the microphone. It was clear that he didn't want to engage me in discussion about this in front of the congregation, because he didn't want people in the congregation to know about this conflict of interest that David Easterwood has. How can you serve as a pastor of the gospel of Jesus Christ while overseeing the brutal conduct? of ICE agents who are literally terrorizing communities in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. So can you respond now to Pambandi saying that the protesters, presumably, including you, will be arrested? She said this yesterday, but she said it would be within hours and talk about more about

your decision to go into the church? I can't speak to Pam Bondi and the federal government's decision to, you know, investigate those of us who were involved in the protest. There were probably around two dozen or so people. I can't speak to their decision making because these are the same individuals who have firmly decided that they will not investigate ICE agent Jonathan Ross for the killing of Renee Good. I mean, if that's not hypocrisy, I'm not sure what is.

How do you investigate and threaten to arrest nonviolent, peaceful protesters who are literally coming into a church to raise questions about this conflict of interest for this pastor? I mean, where is the separation of church and state? And if they're so concerned about what happens inside of churches, then why did Donald Trump roll back protections for churches when it comes to ice. As a matter of fact, ICE agents can go into churches with the warrant and they can take people out and detain them. There have been cases of ICE agents waiting in parking lots to apprehend people as they are

going in or coming out of church services. So clearly the Trump administration could care less about the sanctity of a church. I, however, as an ordained Reverend Duke care. I believe that if someone professes to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ and to preach it, that they should not be allowing ICE agents to drag people out of their homes, cut women out of seatbelts in their cars and drag them out, bused down doors, busts out car windows, bring people out, half-naked in the freezing cold to detain them, taking trophy pictures with black men and others that they've apprehended,

in their homes, scaring children, tear gassing children and families, almost killing a six-month-old through the use of high-powered military-grade weapons such as flashbang grenades and very strong tear gas. I mean, these are real things that we're dealing with here in the state of Minnesota. It's delusional to pretend that these things aren't happening. It's delusional to pretend that there is a significant problem with David Easterwood. serving as a pastor and as the overseeing seer of ice and defending their conduct, minimizing their conduct. So why are people who are raising their voices on behalf of the vulnerable, on behalf of the

poor in the name of Jesus Christ, the ones being persecuted? It is absolutely an abomination what is happening right now. And I am continuing to stand 10 toes down for my community. and in speaking the truth and in demanding justice and accountability. An ICE agent should not be able to kill someone with impunity, but that is exactly what we see happening with the murder of Renee Good. So we will continue to center these issues.

We will not be gaslit by the federal government continuing to weaponize their investigative powers against those with whom they disagree. Even our governor, our mayor, the Kenepin County Attorney's Office, You know, there are so many people that they've decided to investigate other than the wrongdoers. And I think that that's unconscionable. It's disgusting.

It's despicable. And it's antithetical to democratic values in our democracy. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dillon has also said the ex-CNN journalist Don Lemon may face charges for covering the protest. Dylan has said journalism is not a shield from a criminal conspiracy. and he said that Don Lemon was committing journalism. Can you respond to this as we wrap up? It's absolutely absurd. Don Lemon had no idea what the protests would even entail.

For this particular protest, the only people who are aware of what's going to happen are the organizers. So Don Lemon made the decision to come to Minnesota on Sunday. He reached out on Saturday night after he saw my fly. for the protest that I posted on social media, and I said, you know, if you want to come and document, you're welcome to, but I cannot give you any information about the demonstration itself. So this is an attack on the free press, as we've seen time and time again from the Trump administration. Don Lemon did nothing wrong other than being there documenting our voices as well as the voices of parishioners and asking them what they thought about ICE, what they thought about, Pastor David Easterwood being a high-ranking official within ICE. Some of the parishioners didn't even know about this man's dual role.

So Don Lemon did his job as a journalist, and he should be protected. And this is along the lines of what has happened to journalists, whether they are being smeared in the media, threatened with investigation, or physically assaulted by ICE agents in the field. We've had journalists wearing press badges and still being tear gas, still being shot with rubber bullets and harmed by ICE agents and others who are a part of the federal government. This has to end. We want to thank you so much for being with us, Nakema.

And I just want to ask you in the 10 seconds we have. Do you fear being arrested at any moment? It's very possible that I will be. But I'm still standing firm on behalf of our democracy, and I'm not afraid of the Trump administration and their shenanigans. Nikima Levy Armstrong, Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney, founder of the racial justice network, also ordained, reverend, and preacher. Next up, as President Trump repeats, his threat to seize Greenland, will go to Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum has become an emergency summit. The Canadian Prime Minister is warning of a rupture in the world order. We'll speak to the head of Oxfam International. Stay with us.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We turn out to Davos, Switzerland, the site of the World Economic Forum. Traditionally, the WEF is a gathering of the global elite. But this year, it's turned into an emergency summit over President Trump's threats to seize Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Over the weekend, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European allies that oppose his push to take over Greenland. On Tuesday, Trump posted a fake photograph showing Greenland, Canada, Venezuela as part of the United States. Speaking in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned of a rupture in the world order. We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false.

That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law. applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim. This fiction was useful. An American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for frameworks for resolving disputes. So we placed the sign in the window.

We participated in the rituals. And we largely avoided calling out the gags. between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Over the past two decades, a series of crises in finance, health, energy, and geopolitics have laid bare the risks of extreme global integration.

But more recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons. Tariffs is leverage. Financial infrastructure is coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination. That was Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaking Tuesday in Davos at the World Economic Forum. President Trump is addressing the World Economic Forum today. hundreds protested in Davos ahead of President Trump's visit to the WEF,

an annual gathering of global business elites. Here are some of their voices. I think it's really bad, especially what he just did with Venezuela. Like, he literally started a war, and now Switzerland lets him in. And also the VF just accepts him. Yeah, I think that's unacceptable. So we are here because it's a meeting, the web is a meeting, since in 1971 it exists and it proposes that the world becomes better, that everyone has a better life if those people are meeting. But it's just a meeting of rich people, of politics, and so on.

If Trump declares, I am here for the United States and he comes to devils, then he would be. bring the United States the slightest usefulness that Devils has for the world. And so it is scary. We're joined now in Davos by Oxfam International's executive director, Amitabeyha. Oxfam's just released a new report titled resisting the rule of the rich, protecting freedom from billionaire power. We'll talk about that in a moment. But first, if you could talk about what's happening on the ground right now. The World Economic Forum, a gathering of the global elite, but now an emergency summit to deal with President Trump threatening to seize Greenland. Can you talk about the significance of this? Samitab Behar. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. I must say that the

sound is extremely poor. But at the moment, in fact, now there's a massive cue for attending Trump session and you can hear actually protest sounds from outside. So this is really the moment where everybody is gathering. There's, I would say, massive nervousness. The people that I'm talking to, they're extremely concerned about what is the speech going to do. So that's really what's happening at the moment. Can you respond from your perspective as head of Oxfam International to what it means to turn this into? into an emergency summit, with President Trump threatening to militarily invade Greenland. When you look, for example, in the context of what you deal with at Oxfam International,

the world's, the global inequality of the world, the amount of money just going into the military to protect Greenland and for the attack, and where else it could go. So if I'm hearing the question right, you absolutely, I think this is really a critical question that we as Oxfam work on human rights, on humanitarian support, and at this juncture, the entire multilateral structure seems not just fragile, it's broken. And at this juncture, we need to understand why is this happening. So the very specifics, because I've not heard what's happened in the last few hours, the very specifics are very relevant, but essentially this is a reflection of the rule of the rich. As our report highlights, we are looking at billioners actually sitting at $18.3 trillion.

And last year they added $2.5 trillion to their kitty, which was. which is enough to eradicate poverty 26 times over. But really what we are also saying is that this money needs to be seen in the context where 50% of the global people live in poverty. One in four, quarter of the global population, actually sleeps hungry. But I think the real point that we want to underscore is that these billioners are now not happy being rich and richer. They really want now political power.

And they've started buying votes, media houses, political parties and governments. So at this moment, billioners are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than an average citizen. So that's the reality. And what we are seeing is that essentially we are moving away from democracies to oligarchy. So this emergency of inequality is leading to oligarchies. and what we are seeing in the world is a reflection of that. I wanted to summarize more what's coming out of the stunning report of Oxfam International. You've pointed out the collective wealth of billionaires last year surged by $2.5 trillion,

almost equivalent to the total wealth held by the bottom half of humanity, 4.1 billion people. The number of billionaires topping 3,000 last year for the first time, while the richest Elon Musk becomes the first ever to surpass half a trillion dollars. The $2.5 trillion rise in billionaire's wealth would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over. And U.S. billionaire wealth now stands at $7.935 trillion. more than one-third of all billionaire wealth globally, and the U.S. is home to more billionaires than any other country. Finally, Oxfam reporting, highly unequal countries are seven times more likely to experience the erosion of the rule of law and the undermining of elections.

Do you say that we are seeing that in the United States today? and overall, talk about what this means, inequality leading to authoritarianism. So it's very clear that the billioners are not happy being rich, and we are seeing how they're actually rigging the economic system, rigging the political system to gain more power. Just let's look at the media. 50% of the global media is owned by these billioners. nine out of the ten biggest social media platforms are again owned by the same Billiners. And eight of the ten biggest AI initiatives are again owned by the same Billiners.

So what you're seeing is they have enormous power of shaping narratives, of ensuring how politics is going to be run. And it doesn't stop here. They're able to twist policies. We have seen what happened when we saw Trump, a billionaire president, coming in initially backed by the richest man in the world for many months with some billionaires sitting in his cabinet, the first big thing they do is to slash taxes for the super rich. So this is the story of how economic policies get twisted. But let's justapose this.

I've already talked about hunger. I've already talked about poverty. But when you actually see slashing of taxes, and this is not just a phenomena in the US, it's happening globally. On the other hand, you don't have enough resources to invest in basic services like education and health. So what we are seeing is governments are making a massive mistake. They're making a choice of further supporting these billioners in their accumulation of wealth, in their accumulation of political power, in their capture of state power. On the other hand, as in let's take the continent, Africa, if you combine the debt reservicing that's happening from all the countries there, it's one and a half

times more than the combined budget of education, health, social security. And we all know through research, through experience that education, health, social security, daycare are the primary drivers of an equal society. So I think it's really important for us to understand that when World Economic Forum says that we're going through a poly crisis. It's not really a poly crisis. It's not a crisis, a climate crisis, independent of the hunger crisis, and independent of the inequality crisis.

These are all one crisis of the economic system we have created with multiple manifestations of it. In the last minutes we have, you single out the media, and you talk about the importance of the media being free to cover inequality. And you also talk about accountability for the political empowerment of ordinary citizens, including stronger protections for people's freedoms of association, assembly, and expression. The media can be used to further autocracy

or to challenge it. Talk about what you have found and how people overall, everyday people, vast majority of people in the world can be protected. I think it's really important for us to recognize that when you have economic poverty, it leads to hunger. But when you have political poverty, it leads to anger. And that is what we are seeing across the world.

Just last year, we have seen 144 protests, large mass protests by people in more than 60 countries. And that's happening at scale. The anger of common ordinary people against this rigged economic system is spilling on to the streets. When they see that you have a trina in the making, on the other hand, people are not able to get bread on their table. There is real anger coming around every street. I come from India. So just in South Asia, if you look at countries around me, in the last two years, we have seen a change of regime happening first in Sri Lanka because of people's protests,

then in Bangladesh because of the students' protests, then in Nepal because of the Gen Z protests. So these protests are really what gives us hope. But let's not forget, the states, instead of supporting the aspirations of common and ordinary people for an equal and just future, they're actually cracking down on protest and repressing protest. And that's translating in dramatic erosion of civil and political rights, dramatic erosion against voices of dissent. So that's really at the moment what we are seeing. But I work with social movements across the globe. I can clearly see that people are rising.

And at the moment, because the media is so controlled by these billioners, we do not get to hear about the anger. And I think the global leadership is making a massive mistake, but by not listening to the real voices of the people. And these voices are going to come together and they will work towards a just-an-equal future. I want to thank you very much. Amitab Behar for joining us. You're speaking to us as President Trump has taken the stage at the World Economic Forum. And we'll report on what he says tomorrow. Amita Behar is Oxfam International Executive Director,

joining us from Davos, Switzerland, from this World Economic Forum, WEF, and will link to Oxfam's new report titled Resisting the Rule of the Rich, protecting freedom from billionaire power. Next up, we hear from New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders on the picket line of the law. largest nurses strike in New York history. And we'll speak with a striking nurse who's a lead organizer with their unions. Stay with us.

Right, since I lay my burdens down. Glory, glory. Hallelujah. Since I lay my burdens down. Every round goes. Very hallelujah, performed by rising stars, Fife and Drum Band at the Brooklyn Folk Festival. This is Democracy Now.

Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show back here in New York City, where Mayor Zohan Mamdani and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders join striking nurses in freezing temperatures Tuesday as the action entered a second week. Nearly 15,000 nurses are engaged in the largest nursing strike in New York history, demanding higher wages, fully funded benefits, and increase in staff to manage patients and better workplace protections for hospital workers who face violence on the job. nurses have accused six private New York hospitals, including Mount Sinai, of refusing to negotiate a fair contract. This is Senator Sanders speaking from the picket line. The people of this country are sick and tired of the greed in the street.

They're tired of the drug companies ripping us off. The insurance companies ripping us off. And hospital executives getting huge salaries. Don't tell me you can't provide a good nurse staff ratio when you're paying your CEO at New York Presbyterian, $26 million a year. The CEO at Mount the Fiore's $16 million a year. Don't tell me you can't treat nurses with dignity when you're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on traveling nurses. So the people of New York City, the people of Vermont, the people of America love and appreciate our nurses. And today we say to those hospitals, sit down and negotiate a decent hospital.

Joining Senator Sanders in the sub-freezing weather there on the picket line was fellow Democratic Socialist New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani. The money. No. If it was, we would be talking about compensating. packages, we'd be talking about the amount of money spent on travel nurses. What this is in fact about is recognizing the worth of each and every nurse in this city. And so I am here to say the same thing that I said on the first day of this strike, which is that we are encouraging everyone to return to that bargaining table.

When we see a strike, people forget that that is not where workers want to be. A strike is an act of last resort. What workers want is to be back at work. Impossible. Back to that negotiating table. To have a swift and urgent resolution. And to know that no matter what day it is, we will be here, we will be standing with you, and we will be saying the exact same thing.

Thank you so much. In a minute, we'll be joined by a nurse who's a lead organizer of the strike. But first, we hear from nurses on the picket line. outside Mount Sinai West Hospital here in Manhattan. On the executive committee at Nizna, I work here at Mount Sinai West, and we're out here striking for health care benefits, along with workplace violence, protections, and safe staffing. Healthcare benefits.

We will not accept any cuts. These nurses do not deserve cuts to their health care. We need to be physically and mentally stable to take care of our patients and healthy, not just stable, but healthy. I can't provide the kind of care I want to do my patients. if I'm not mentally healthy or physically able to. I work at Mount Sinai West on 14B. It's a medical surgical telemetry unit.

We are also a specialty unit where we provide surgeries for gender reassignment. My daily work is very important. I am the ANCC on my unit. I'm a charged nurse. I take on a full of patient assignment while helping out the other nurses on the unit. You know, we get many different kinds of patients being a medical surgery telemetry unit and also a concierge unit. So we may have somebody in one room who has COVID.

The next room they just had gender reassignment surgery. And the next room, somebody is on their deathbed. So we're having to physically take care of patients while emotionally supporting them as well. And then myself, I have to maintain and manage the unit as a nurse while still having a full patient assignment. It is very taxing. It's very hard. I'm doing the best I can. But I'm out here fighting to make it better and easier for everyone.

So my son and my husband depend on my health care, and right now we have no health coverage. Personally, I can't afford Cobra right now. So unfortunately, we don't have any coverage. You know, it does make me very worrisome. I'm out here on this strike, and there's a lot of people, you know, I'm scared. I'm scared, but it's worth the sacrifice if, you know, we're able to come to a fair contract. It'll all be worth it. Fair, perfect!

I work at Mount Sinai Morningside. I work there. I worked at Mount Sinai, Maine for 25 years, and Mount Sinai Morningside for the past 11, 12 years. I work in a child and adolescent psychiatry. I'm currently the head nurse there. They call it the ANCC. I'm a child psychiatry nurse, so most of the time the children are left to us by the parents. So we have to make sure that we give the care to the children the way the parents should.

And we give that emotional support that we're supposed to have. I became a nurse because I really want to care for people in the start. I was still a young child. I like to help others. And I would like to be in the health care because I really like to help others and make others feel better. That was Nella Panetta Marcon and Nicole Rodriguez. Special thanks to Democracy Now's Cherina Nodura and Safwatnizal. As the nurses strike enters its 10th day, we're joined now by Michelle Gonzalez,

nurse at Montefi or Medical Center, executive committee member of their union, the New York State Nurses Association. Thanks so much for being with us, Michelle. Explain the significance of this strike, the largest. And is it New York City, New York State history of the thousands of nurses that are on the picket line? Good morning. Hi, Amy. Yes, this is the biggest nursing strike in New York City history. We have 16,000 nurses out on strike. I am one of them. I work at Montefiri Medical Center and I am a proud Nislander. I am part of our negotiating committee at Montefuri. We've been at the table since September trying to negotiate a fair contract. On January 2nd, we placed a 10-day strike notice. on the table with the employer in hope that we could receive a fair contract for ourselves and for our

patients. Our primary ask and our primary priority is and has always been staffing and improving our staffing ratios so that we can deliver safe patient care and securing benefits, such as our health care benefits and pension. Can you talk about how the pandemic changed nursing and talk more about how the hospitals are responding. Many people think of hospitals as nonprofits that are struggling. So I think with regards to the pandemic, the pandemic was something many nurses worked through that was a very difficult time in our lives.

We put our own lives on the line to make sure that we were taking care of our patients. we would come home tired, exhausted, and still very proud of the work that we were trying to do with our patients. We were a lot of the times, unfortunately, some of the last people that our patients saw. And we tried to do that with the most amount of dignity and respect to our patients that we could. And I think now it's sad and disheartening to see how we're, we're treated by our hospitals. We know that five or six years ago, we

were the heroes of New York City and now we are treated with little to very no respect. This is by major hospital corporations such as Montefuri, Mount Sinai, New York Presbyterian.

These hospital corporations have a surplus of profits and it's can be seen and how well they pay their CEOs. My CEO at Montefi Medical Center, Dr. Azua, he's currently at a $16.3 million salary. I think with that in mind, this fight for nurses is in a fight for improved salary. We would like a salary that includes cost of living wage increases.

But this is a fight for our patients. In Montefiore Medical Center, our patients are chronically, over an overcrowded emergency room, which presents unsafe conditions for both the patient and the nurse. They're also put in what we call hallway beds, which is a stretcher that's in the hallway that has no access to a real restroom to a sink to wash their hands. They have to share a sink and restroom with another patient. If that patient codes or has a life-threatening illness, in the hallway, we do not have access to life-saving equipment like oxygen and suction, which in an emergency is necessary.

And it's especially frustrating because our CEOs and these hospitals can afford to make the investments into these hospitals and to improve the conditions that the patients are in and improve the conditions, therefore, that the workers exist in. Because it's not just nursing. Our nursing attendance, our respiratory therapists, throughout, the hospital, our doctors are facing the same working conditions when we have overcrowded emergency rooms and hallway patients. So Gonzalez, can you explain what precautions are being taken if ICE were to go into hospitals?

Can they? How are you protected? So one of our other priorities included in this contract is to have ICE officers not be allowed into our facilities. Unfortunately, our hospitals have not been. bargain in good faith to make sure that safeguards are put in place to protect our patients. In the Bronx, we have a very high population of black and brown people, and we have a population of immigrants that we are trying to protect and make sure that they feel safe coming into hospitals.

And at this point, we've spent a year since the beginning of the Trump administration, beginning to start some of these ice raids and to increase the level of ice activity. we've spent the last year trying to build power with our brothers and sisters in CIR, the intern residence, the doctor's union, and 1199, which is another union that facilitates our other workers in the hospital to fight the hospital to get those safeguards in place. And we've been unsuccessful, which is why we've brought it into our contract demands, but still to this point. And Michelle, we only have 30 seconds.

The significance of Bernie Sanders and mostly the New York mayor, standing on the picket line with you, Zuran Mamdani. Yes, ma'am. I think the significance is that, you know, we have the support of many different people, but I think the most important support comes from our patients, our community. I really hope our community knows that this fight is as much for us as it is for them. I want to thank you very much for being with us. Michelle Gonzalez is a nurse at Montefiore Medical Center and an executive committee member

of the New York State Nurses, Association, the Union representing nurses, will continue to follow what happens. Democracy Now is produced with Mike Burke, Renee Felstina Guster, Messiah, Rhodes, Nermaine Sheik, Maria Teresana, Nicole Salazar, Sara Nassar, Sarmor, Tameer, Astur, Nudor, John Hamilton, Rabbi Karen, Honey, Massoud, and Safwat Nizal, Executive Director is Julie Crosby. I'll be speaking in Fort Lee after the showing of Steel the Story, please, on January 29th. at the Varamore Film Center. Go to our website at DemocracyNow.org. The film is showing about Democracy Now at 730, January 29th.

I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.