Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-06-30 Tuesday

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Democracy Now! Tuesday, June 30, 2026

From New York, this is Democracy Now. We've been told the American Revolution was fought over taxes and representation. But the last complaint, the thing our founders were most angry about, goes like this. He has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages. There's a racial slur in the Declaration. of Independence. Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, we'll speak with Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagel, her new podcast series, First America.

She'll join us from Oklahoma. Then the Democratic Socialists score big wins across the country. Another world is possible. I think it's the biggest threat to our nation. there is, maybe since our founding, that includes World War I, World War II. As President Trump attacks Democratic socialists, will meet Abir Qaas, the Democratic nominee for New York State Senate. If she wins in November, she'll be the first Palestinian-American told office in New York State, then to Venezuela, where more than 1,700 people have died in

devastating earthquakes and rescue operations are still underway. We are procuring, and this is something that has been agreed with the authorities here, 10,000 qualitybacks. Go to Karakis, all that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Officials in Qatar say no high-level meetings are scheduled between the United States and Iran, after the Trump administration said it had sent envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkoff to Doha for talks following a weekend of tit-for-tat attacks around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's foreign ministry denied Trump's claim Monday that Tehran had requested the meeting, calling it fake news.

Iran, however, said it is sending a delegation to Doha to follow up on the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Iran also rejected a plan by France to demine parts of the Strait of Hormuz, warning Paris against provocations. Meanwhile, President Trump's lashed out against the skyrocketing cost of fuel unleashed by his war against Iran. Trump wrote on truth, social, quote, gasoline retailers must get their prices down immediately, adding that if they fail to lower prices, quote, big problems lie ahead, unquote. Israeli strikes on southern and central Gaza Monday killed at least eight people among them two children. And one of the attacks, Al Jazeera reports, said displaced 23-year-old mother and her one-year-old daughter were killed when their tent was hit in the Almwasi neighborhood of Han Yunus. Israel now claims control of some two-thirds of Gaza with Israeli finance minister Bezalal Smotrich calling for the immediate establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza's northern perimeter. Smotr spoke on Monday from the city of Cedarote on Gaza's border.

We're here in Soudirat. Today, the IDF holds nearly 70% of the Gaza Strip. We must complete the conquest of the remaining 30%. Defeat Hamas and above all, we need to establish a belt of Jewish settlements within the territory of the strip as a protective border for Cedarat in all the communities of the Gaza envelope. In news from the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the city of Elbeir near Romalo Monday. Amir Amir Amad Jawad-Jabar was reportedly shot in the head and chest during a raid. This comes as a new report by the Israeli Human Rights Group at Selim found Israeli soldiers killed at least 54 Palestinian children and teens in the West Bank last year in 2025. the highest rate since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.

In Venezuela rescue crews continue to search for tens of thousands of missing people nearly a week after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated La Guayira and Caracas. Venezuelan health officials say over 1,700 people are confirmed dead with the toll expected to soar. Speaking from Caracas, the UN's humanitarian coordinator said Monday, people are still being pulled from the rubble. At least 2,500 structures affected, most of which fully collapsed. We are procuring, and this is something that has been agreed with the authorities here, 10,000 bodybacks. This comes as the Associated Press reports, the United States deported more than 140 Venezuelans, including several children, they arrived back in Venezuela just hours before

the earthquakes. The deportees were left in a hotel in La Guaida, with some survivors describing crawling out of the rubble and barely escaping. This is the mother of one of the men deported to Venezuela from the U.S. She said he suffered life-altering injuries in the disaster. It's believe more than a hundred of the deportees have died. The flight arrived at 11 a.m. Then they went through all the migratory process. He called me at 5 p.m. and told me, I love you so much, Mom.

See you tomorrow at home. Like any mother, I prepared a welcome for him with his blue, yellow, and red balloons. We'll go to Caracas later in the broadcast. Ukraine launched a wave of long-range, drone attacks on Moscow overnight. The latest in a series of assaults on Russia's capital. A regional governor said a six-month-old baby was killed when a drone crashed into a home. This follows Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine Monday that killed at least eight people and wounded 34 others. On Sunday, Ukrainian drone strikes on two Russian oil refineries sparked massive fires.

Russian officials say the attacks left four people dead. In the United States, The Supreme Court has granted President Trump the power to fire and replace commissioners at independent government agencies. Monday's 6 to 3 ruling overturns more than 90 years of precedent that insulated regulatory agencies set up by Congress from presidential control. The case centered around federal trade commission commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who was fired by Trump without cause in March of last year. In a separate ruling announced Monday,

Justice has ruled five to four that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook could remain in her job as she challenges Trump's efforts to fire her. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts argued the Trump administration's efforts to end the Federal Reserve's independence is, quote, an interpretive leap out of step with a statute Congress enacted and our nation's tradition of central banking protected from political interference, unquote. Meanwhile, Avar Obadoia, former FTC commissioner, also fired by Trump, responded to the ruling by saying, quote, they're making clear that the Wall Street bankers, the central bankers, they deserve an independent above the fray regulated, regulator. The rest of us schmucks get stuck with the loyalists, he said. In another major Supreme Court decision, Justice has ruled five to four to uphold a Mississippi law that allows me. mail and ballots to be received up to five days after an election as long as their postmarked by Election Day. A ruling overturning the law could have seen hundreds of thousands of voters

disenfranchised in future elections due to postal delays or because they live in remote rural locations. A New York Times review of the 2024 election found at least 725,000 such ballots. The rulings of blow to President Trump, who sought to limit who can vote by mail while promoting conspiracy theories about mail-in ballots. In response, voting rights journalist Ari Berman wrote, quote, Every major study has shown that mail in voting is safe and secure, but the fact that four justices signed on to Trump's crusade to get rid of mail-in ballots is highly disturbing and could emboldened the president to attempt to take even more drastic steps to make. it harder to vote, Berman said. In another landmark decision Monday, the Supreme Court ruled law enforcement agencies must first obtain a warrant before sweeping up smartphone location data from third-party tech companies like Google. In her majority opinion, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that a lower court

should re-examine whether the technique known as geo-fencing constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. She wrote, quote, an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy and records about his cell phone's location and police intrude on that constitutionally protected interests when they demand the information, unquote. The Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider President Trump's appeal of a $5 million verdict in a civil suit that found he sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in the 1990. and later defamed her. The court dismissed the case without explanation. Trump's lawyers have indicated the last Supreme Court to consider a second defamation case successfully brought

by E. Jean Carroll after Trump called her a liar following the first verdict. Trump was ordered to pay more than $83 million in that case. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court's handing down the final decisions of its term this morning at the time of this broadcast with rulings on birthright citizenship bans on transgender athletes and campaign finance. Separately, the court announced it'll review two Arizona laws requiring people to produce proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. A ruling upholding the laws would dramatically weaken the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. In Colorado, 15-term incumbent Democratic Congress member Diana DeGette faces the most serious primary challenge of her political

career from a Democratic socialist seeking to build on last week's upset victories in New York. 29-year-old lawyer, Malat Kiros, is campaigning on a platform of Medicare for all, universal child care, ending homelessness, and a complete arms embargo against Israel. Outside groups have poured around $3 million into the race with super PACs funded by APAC and major big tech donors supporting to get. Kiro says her message is getting through despite the flood of negative campaigning against her. These issues are popular with the voters of Denver, right? In fact, socialism is more popular than capitalism for voters of this city.

But more than anything, what I would explain is that we already have socialism. It's in our streets. It's in our public schools. It's in our fire stations. What we're fighting for is to extend that kind of guarantee and that security into our health care, into our housing, into our child care, and our elder care. Meanwhile, incumbent Colorado Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper faces a challenge from state senator Julie Gonzalez. a progressive who is the backing also of Democratic Socialists of America.

We'll speak to a Democratic socialist who won the primary in New York later in the broadcast. In immigration news, Gothamist reports more than 70 immigrants detained at the Newark, New Jersey, ICE jail, known as Delaney Hall, have filed federal lawsuits over medical neglect and other abuses. In May, hundreds of detained immigrants at Delaney Hall started a labor and hunger strike that lasted for weeks and ended earlier this month as strikers face retaliation, including solitary confinement and being transferred to other ICE jails. Delaney Hall is operated by the for-profit prison company Geo Group. In related news, a New York City Council employee who has detained Delaney Hall for more than five months has been released from custody. Rafael Rubio was taken by

federal immigrant officers in January during a routine asylum interview, Rubio, who is from Venezuela, was detained despite holding TPS. That's temporary protected status. President Trump purchased up to $5 million worth of stock in the corporation that makes taser weapons just two weeks before ICE solicited a $220 million contract for the devices. Trump's investment in Axon Enterprise was first reported by CNBC. This comes as House Democrats are pushing for passage of the No Getting Rich in Congress Act,

a bill that would prevent public officials, including the president, from profiting from conflicts of interest. And New York City mayors are on Mamdani's administration has announced the permanent closure of a detention facility inside the Rikers Island jail complex. Mayor Mamdani said in a statement, quote, for decades, Rikers Island has represented one of the deepest failures of our city government. This milestone brings us closer to ending that chapter. We're replacing a system built around neglect with one centered on rehabilitation, Mayor Mamdani said. This all comes about seven years after the New York City Council on 2019 approved a plan to shut down Rikers for good. But city officials have said the prison complex won't be ready to close by its 2027 court-mandated.

headline. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York with Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez and Chicago. Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Saturday, July 4th, we turn to the people in history, most often, out of the nation's founding story. Award-winning Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagel has partnered with leading indigenous scholars in a new documentary podcast series called First America. It challenges the conventional U.S. origin story by examining the experiences of indigenous peoples and also

ask what those experiences can teach us about U.S. democracy today. The series also traces how Legal doctrines first used to dispossess indigenous nations continue to impact questions of executive power, immigration, xenophobia, citizenship, territorial expansion, and U.S. foreign policy today. This is a clip from episode one, merciless Indian savages. We've been told the American Revolution was fought over taxes and representation. But the last complaint. The thing our founders were most angry about goes like this. He has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages. There's a racial slur in the Declaration of Independence. Native people are called savages.

Alongside those lofty ideals, our founders included their deep hatred for indigenous people. Indian savages, whose no rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In case you need a refresher, the popular story of the American Revolution goes like this. Britain unjustly imposed taxes on the colonists, and they got mad. But every time they protested, like when they threw tea into the Boston Harbor, the king just imposed harsher laws. The colonists started to see their king as a tyrant. More thousand troops are now stationed here within our city.

Some started talking about independence. United under one continental congress. Late one night, Paul Revere rode his horse to warn militias waiting outside Boston that the British were coming. The next morning, the militia squared off against the Brits. The world was fired. and the Revolutionary War began. America began.

A year later, our founding fathers gathered in Philadelphia to write the Declaration of Independence. But for two and a half centuries, that document has been telling a different story. That's a clip from episode one of the new podcast series from Pushkin Industries, First America, host an executive producer award-winning Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagel, who's joining us now from Tulsa, Oklahoma, also author of By the Fire We Carry, the Generations Long Fight for Justice on Native Land. Rebecca, congratulations on this series. If you can start off by telling us this story about the Declaration of Independence

and as you talk about the racist slur it contains, Absolutely. So the part of the Declaration of Independence that we all know is the beginning part with those Enlightenment ideals, all men are created equal. But when you read the document, actually most of it is this list of grievances. So it's our founders kind of listing the reasons why they want to rebel against England. It's all the ways that King George III has hurt the colonists. And a lot of historians think that that list has an order, that it starts with smaller things and that it ends. with their biggest complaints, their biggest grievances. And the last grievance in the Declaration of Independence is about merciless Indian savages. And so when you read the document, you know, according to our founders in their own words,

the thing that they were most angry about was native people. Yet, for two and a half centuries, the story of the American Revolution that we have all been told is that it was about taxation and representation. And we're frankly just missing the truth of why the American Revolution even happened in the first place. And Rebecca, back in 2011, I did a history of the American press. And one of the things that struck me in the research in my book, News for All the People, was the extraordinary level of content about Native Americans in the colonial press.

I mean, the first newspaper in North America, Benjamin Harris's public occurrences had five separate articles in a three-page newspaper on what he called the barbarous Indians and merciless savages that were, according to him, lurking around the Massachusetts colony. And in fact, in the Boston Tea Party, the Sons of Liberty who Donned Native Garb did it out of the headquarters of the local newspaper, the Boston. of Gazette before they went into Dump the Tea in the Harbor. So there's always been this narrative issue of the American press and Native Americans during

that colonial period. What are your thoughts about the role of the press in creating this narrative? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that it's funny because when you go back in time and you look at primary documents, it's very clear that Native people were omnipresent in the colonists' lives. they were talking about it. I think you could even say they were obsessed with native people. And then the way that subsequent generations have told that story were erased.

But I'm glad that you bring up the Boston Tea Party because that's a great example. So when colonists stormed ships to throw tea into the Boston Harbor, they actually, they dressed up like native people. And it wasn't for disguise. It wasn't to confuse British officials. It was actually because pretending to be. be indigenous in this weird and complicated way symbolized freedom and liberty in the early republic. And so as Americans were kind of, you know, saying we're not British, we're no longer English, but we're not yet American. They actually, in certain ways, pretended to be indigenous

or took on parts of indigenous identity to figure out a new national identity. But when we think about what does it mean to be American, we actually don't tell the full story. We actually don't tell the full story of how early Americans were figuring that out. And so, yeah, I think your point is absolutely right in that when we look back in the history, we're not telling

the native part of the story, but Americans at that time very much were. I wanted to turn to a clip from your first episode of First America, where Rebecca, you visit a protest in the

aftermath of the ice killing of Renee Good. In this clip, you ask protesters if they know the history of Fort Snelling and its current connection with ice. How far are we from the historic Fort Snelling? I'm just right across Highway 62 here. Do you know what happened there? Oh, no, no. Don't ask you those kinds of questions. I'm not good with history. It's a historical. port. It's historic. Yeah, I'm sorry to put you on the spot.

I mean, the reason this is all happening here is because of the ice offices that are there, not because of the historic fort. Yeah. The fourth, and the 1860s is actually a concentration camp for Dakota people. Oh. I'm just curious if any of that history feels relevant to what's happening now. Yes, clearly, you know. But, I mean, our state, I mean, just, I, I, yeah.

I mean, what's, I mean, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, watch that video. Thank God that person was there taking the video on their cell phone yesterday. So everyone can see what happened, you know. After leaving the protest, I went back to see Nick Estes at his office. The murder of Renee Good and the history of Fort Snelling are actually inseparable. First of all, ICE is headquartered on the Fort Snelling area campus. Do you know if that's because it's federal land? Yeah, it's headquartered there because it's federal land.

And why is it federal land? It's federal land because it was once a military reservation from the Zebulent Pike Treaty of 1805. And that was a treaty signed between some Dakota leaders and the United States government to create a military outpost. It's not just the same place. The same thing is happening. People are being hunted in their names. neighborhoods and their schools, places that were considered sanctuary sites, such as hospitals and churches, are no longer off limits.

150 years ago, they were hunting us down to kill us, and now they're hunting down immigrants to deport them. So that's University of Minnesota, Native American professor Nick Estes, one of the people you talk to in this series, Rebecca Nagel. talk about why you feel it's so important. And listening to the episodes of this remarkable series, you're continually going back in time and showing the treatment of Native Americans

is a precursor and should have been a warning to, should have been dealt with, so that what's happening today wouldn't be happening. You know, Amy, it was a really interesting experience making this podcast because when I first set out, I thought I was making a history podcast. You know, I interviewed historians like Nick Astis. I read books.

I visited historic sites. Nick and I actually were at Fort Selling the day that ICE shot and killed Renee Good. And it was just a coincidence. And so what would happen is I would be reporting on America's past. And then the same thing would happen in our present. And what I heard a lot during the... the ice surge in Minneapolis was, this is an American, this is an American,

this is unprecedented. And actually, you know, rounding people up, putting people in detention, even shooting anybody who gets in the way, these are things that our government has done before, not once, not twice, but many, many times.

We've just, our government has just done it to people that we don't talk about. It's just this part of our history that as a country, we've never dealt with. And I think that most Americans see that what our government did to native people was bad. You know, I think most Americans would agree.

A lot of people agree that our government committed genocide. I think even people who wouldn't go that far would say that, you know, atrocities were committed. But I think the problem is that people don't see that as affecting their lives, right? It's a distant chapter. You know, it's really unfortunate that in the 1860s, the federal government had a concentration camp for Dakota people. at Fort Snelling, but what does that have to do with our present moment, right? And the government that did those things, right, that rounded people up, that made concentration camps, that's still our government, right? We never went back and had that edit to say, okay,

we have to make sure that that never happens again. Here are the things that we're going to change. And what we're seeing in this moment isn't new, isn't an American, isn't unprecedented, but is these aspects of our government that we thought would stay at the margins, right, that would only affect certain people getting pulled to the center. And so I kind of think of it as what our government did to Native people, almost like setting up fault lines in American government and American democracy, and what we're living through in our current moment is the earthquake. And this relationship that you try to bring out, not only in terms of the

ideals of democracy, but also the quest for empire and land in American history? Yeah. And so one of the biggest myths, I would say the biggest myth about the founding of the United States, is that our founders built a democracy, right? That's the story, even on the left. That's the story that we want to tell. And that's only half true, because they also built an empire. So actually, at the same summer that our founders are writing the Constitution, Congress meets in New York. So people actually leave the constitutional convention in Philadelphia to pass this law in New York called the Northwest Ordinance. And it establishes the first colonies of the United States, which are places like Ohio. We don't think of Ohio as having been a colony, but it was a colony. And those places weren't governed through democracy. There weren't elections, even for the white people living there. It was all through top-down, pointed leadership. And so that's how the U.S. governed Native people when it wanted to take our lands. It's how it's governed places like Guam and Puerto Rico. And so there has always, since the founding, since the founding, there has always been a part of our government that was

not following the blueprint of democracy that was following the blueprint of empire. And you know what it looks like? It looks like authoritarianism, right? Because when you're controlling people, lives when they don't have any say, when they don't have accountability, when you're governing top down, I mean, that's what we call authoritarianism. And so this idea, the political moment that we're in right now, so many people are searching, where did this rise of authoritarianism come from? How is it happening in the United States? People are looking abroad, you know, so people are looking to Putin's Russia or Hungary or even Nazi Germany. And we only have to look into our own history. And actually the reason that this is happening now

is because we have let that part of our government fester. And we thought that it would always stay separate, right? We thought that it wouldn't infect American democracy, that we could be an empire and that we could be a democracy and that they would stay separate, that never the two shall meet.

And that's just not how government works. And so, you know, from birthright citizenship to bombing boats in the Caribbean, to going to war with Iran, to, you know, detain. Haiti migrant families to deploying the National Guard to U.S. cities, all of these things that the Trump administration is doing, its power to do those things actually goes back to policies we first

pass to dispossess indigenous people. Rebecca Nago, we're going to end with the trailer to your First America podcast series. You guys make Chiefs fans? Hell yeah. Yes. This past year, I've been out traveling the country. Chiefs on three. One, two, three, she's... To try to understand something about America.

I feel like that's going to happen a lot. About where native people fit in. Do you know who Native Americans are? Yes, they're the first people to live here. Do Native Americans still exist? Maybe. I don't really think so. In the history, we've pushed aside.

Do you think most people who come to this spot, Do you think that they come here to honor the atrocity that happened here? No, they're doing winter sports. Going all the way back to how the United States began. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. The declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. The merciless Indian savages, who's not.

If we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. So it's been 250 years since 1776. How's this democracy of ours going? Oh, okay, I need to emerge. I'm going to... My wife called me, somebody got shocked. Damn, the photos are really about.

We've seen the military deployed to U.S. cities, invasions of foreign countries, billionaires out of control, and a president with unchecked power. I keep hearing people say, this isn't who we are as a country. What is happening right now in America is fundamentally un-American. This is just so un-American. But what I've learned the past year is that U.S. history tells a different story. 150 years ago, they were collecting bounties on us and hunting us down to kill us, and now they're hunting down immigrants to deport them. Is that a new thing? This is what we did. We're good at this. As we see more and more signs of fascism, people keep looking to other countries to understand it.

But it's right here in our own history. I don't believe we would have ended up in the same spot if people had realized what the structure of the United States government, is, I want us to know how we got here, because otherwise, we will never find our way out. Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagel just launched a new documentary podcast series called First America, the true story of the founding of the United States. Coming up, as Democratic Socialists score big wins across the United States, will be joined by one of those winners. a New York City Democratic Socialist, Abir Kowas, the Democratic nominee for the New York State Senate from Queens. Stay with us.

Head in hands, waking mind for human color. Grains of spirit with time tail in your teeth, snake hoop flowering with snake hoop flowering with the vine. Tail in your teeth. Snake hoop by Marisu. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Mimi Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. After a string of victories of Democratic socialists and primaries across the United States,

centrist Democrats, as well as President Trump, are pushing back. The DSA, or Democratic Socialists of America, endorsed about 150 candidates this year with 35 either winning primaries or advancing in races in Oregon, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, Washington, D.C., and New York. In the Colorado primaries today, the DSA is backing 29-year-old Milat Kiroz against incumbent Congress member, longtime Congress member Diana DeGette. and former DSA member state senator Julie Gonzalez is looking to unseat Senator John Hickenlooper. Over the past decade, the DSA has grown from about 5,000 members to over 100,000 members and 200 chapters across the country. On Monday, President Trump called the Democratic Socialists the greatest threat to the nation. It's not socialism, it's really communism. They use the word social Democrat because it sounds so nice, but it's a good.

It's really communism you're talking about. I think it's the biggest threat to our nation. There is, maybe since our founding. That includes World War I, World War II, September 11th. It includes the Pearl Harbor attack. I think this is the biggest threat to our nation. Just two days after the DSA sweep in New York primaries last week, a group of centrist Democrats led by Long Island, New York,

York Congress member, Tom Swozy, signed a letter titled Promise to America, distancing themselves from the DSA. The letter states, quote, we are capitalist, not socialist. We want safety, not lawlessness. We're mainstream, not extreme. We're proud, not ashamed of America, Suzzi wrote. Well, we'll be joined shortly by a proud Democratic Socialist who won her primary for the New York State Senate last week. If she's elected in November, she'll be the first Palestinian-American and the first Muslim woman in the New York State Legislature. This is Abir Kawa speaking to supporters after winning her primary with a 20-point lead against State Assembly member Stephen Raga last Tuesday.

October 7th, imagine if every single Democratic politician said, in order to end this cycle of violence, We need an end to occupation. Politician, whether they were a city councilor or they were a state legislator or a congressperson said, we want to end occupation and not fund genocide. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of lives of Gazans and Palestinians. And that is why we say another world is possible. It's free to live in Queens and New York. All over the world have dignity in their lives.

Activists like Mahmoud Khalil, like Lakot Kordia, birth of their child, and languishing in prison for a year. Where my father, whose family was displaced from Palestine in the Nakba, who came to the United States and was incarcerated for three years and then deported, that would be a world where my father could be in this audience to witness. Abir Kowah. Democratic nominee for the New York State Senate from Queens, joining us now in our New York studio. Welcome to Democracy Now, Abbeyer.

Congratulations on your victory in the Democratic primary. Thank you. If you win in November, you'll be the first Palestinian American to hold a seat in the New York State Senate. Yes, I believe it's the entire New York State. If you can go through your platform as President Trump not only calls DSA members like you, the greatest threat the United States has ever known. Two, on the same day, talking about the housing bill that he has yet to sign, calling it a yawn, and calling affordability a con job.

Well, firstly, I want to say it's incredible to be the first Palestinian and Muslim women in the New York State Legislature, and that is for many reasons, but beyond representation, I believe that is really mostly because as a Palestinian, I come from a group of people who have been waiting for years and years and years for politicians to speak out against the human rights abuses, the genocide, the occupation of our people. And we are a group that has been erased, has been ignored, and has been denied our rights by people in office. And so to actually have the opportunity to be elected into office in this moment is so monumental because it really gives a chance for us. to not only go in and advocate for working class communities, for communities that are struggling, but also advocate for communities that are erased, like the Palestinian community, but it also gives us a chance to go in with strength and to say this is what people want to see.

Now, you mentioned, you know, the president and him talking about democratic socialists as if we are a threat. When really what we are saying is that we want to make sure that people who are struggling are provided the best social social social. services possible by our government are provided the best transit, the best education, you know, the best health care possible, the most affordable health care possible by our government, our same government that is spending billions of dollars killing people abroad. So for me, that is not a threat to people. I think that is a really hopeful message that so many Americans and so many people are looking for. And that is why we were able to win in these landslide victories. I wanted to ask you about some legislation that was introduced by Zoran Mamdani when he was an assembly member and State Senator Jabari Bristport, the Not On Our Dime Act.

And what's been your role in that campaign? Yes. So I worked with then assembly member Mamdani years ago to help write and introduce a bill called Not on Our Dime. Now, we had found out as Palestinian activists on the ground that millions of dollars, were being raised in New York State to fund settler entities, to fund settlers going to Palestine, to steal Palestinian land, to commit atrocities against Palestinians,

to commit violence against Palestinians. And we said, that is not okay for these organizations that are raising these monies to do that under the guise of charitable status. And that was something that we introduced to the New York State, both through socialists in office,

then assembly members of Honam Dhani and Senator Jabari, Bristport. And one thing that is really fundamental about what we did was that when we introduced that bill, people thought that that would be the end of Zahran Ram Dani's career. People had said that to him. People had said that this was, you know, one step too far. And what we saw was that in the mayoral election, that his being part of introducing the not on our dime bill, him standing up for Palestinian human rights, him having a politics of conscious and consistency on this issue was something that really pierced through to voters' hearts. and made them really feel committed and feel like he could actually deliver on the affordability agenda

that he promised because of how consistent he was in his politics. And could you talk about the enormous change that has occurred among the voting public, especially in New York, but across much of the country on the issue of Palestine and the Israeli occupation? Has that surprised you? Yes, of course. I mean, it has not surprised me because as an activist on the ground, I know that there have been millions of people. And you have all reported on millions of people for years now who have hit the streets, who have said we want an end to the genocide in Gaza, that we want to end to the occupation in Palestine. This is what most people on the streets are

saying. And truly, when we went to knock on doors, and this was for a local state election, where, you know, the main issues that our constituents are facing are dealing with affordable housing or dealing with their inability to afford health care, right, who are looking for better education policy, all those things. They also were looking for candidates who were speaking out about Palestine. They were also looking for candidates who were anti-war. And when they found out that I was somebody who was part of introducing not on our dime, that made people extremely enthusiastic to vote for our campaign in our district. And so I think that what we are seeing is a reflection of the frustration that so many New Yorkers, but so many Americans have felt about

having a perspective, about going and watching the news every single day or looking at their phones and being so disgusted by the world that they are seeing and not seeing that be reflected by their politicians and not seeing their politicians act in urgency or reflect what they are thinking about and what they're looking for. If you can talk about the debate, not between the Democrats and the Republicans right now, but within the Democratic, Party. I mean, Chuck Schumer is the head of the Democratic Party in the Senate. He's the minority leader, and he also is a senator from New York. Have they endorsed you? No, they have not endorsed me. And of course, you know, I just got through a primary campaign where you often have less

endorsements than when you go into the general. But what I will say is that we ran a campaign against a progressive legislator. And what we are seeing right now is a redefinition of what people want to define as progressive politics. And that Palestine needs to be part of that fold. Having an anti-war platform needs to be part of that. If you are saying, I want to deliver affordability. If you're saying you're against ICE, then people will only see that as consistent in your politics if you're also saying that you're against a genocide in Palestine.

So in many ways, we are transforming the Democratic Party and also the progressive voice in the Democratic Party to make sure that it includes speaking out about Palestine. And that is what we're seeing in this race, that the thing that differentiated us from another progressive was us being on the forefront of that. What did your dad say when you won? You're a deported dad. Yes. My dad is so proud and happy. But of course, it was really difficult to win.

I mentioned in my speech to be someone who is making history, but not to be able to have my dad in the room is really devastating. for us. It was a sad moment because he couldn't be there with us. And until now, you know, he is celebrating and I can't celebrate with him. He's celebrating with his family. He's buying Kanafa, you know, this like Palestinian sweet for all his family members. But this is the idea of family separation that I often talk about. And it's not just my family. It's been happening to so many families. It's continuing to happen is that when somebody is separated from their family, they miss out on some of the most beautiful transformative moments of their lives, their birthdays, their graduations, right?

They'm getting their first job, graduating from college. And in this case, it meant a lot to win a position that I, in many ways, worked up to because I was always an organizer and advocate because of what happened, you know, to my father, but to not have him there to witness that was, you know, devastating for my entire family. Averick Owaso, and a thank you so much for being with us. DSA-backed Democratic nominee for the New York State Senate from Queens. If elected in November, she'll be the first Palestinian-American and Muslim woman in the New York State Legislature. Coming up, we go to Venezuela. More than 1,700 people have died in devastating earthquakes,

but the number is expected to soar. Over 100 Venezuelans died after being deported hours before The earthquakes to Kadakis from the United States. Stay with us. When first onto this country a string here I came. Nancy was her name. I called it dear as Nancy. I caught her day and night. Downhill struggleers singing when first unto this country.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Mimi Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. As we turn out to Venezuela, where rescue efforts continuous tens of thousands of people remain missing, trapped under the rubble of flattened homes and buildings nearly a week after two back-to-back earthquakes devastated La Guaida and Caracas. Rescue teams are desperately searching for survivors with Venezuelan health officials saying Monday over 1,700 people are confirmed. with the toll expected to soar. The UN has said they are procuring 10,000 body bags. This all comes, as the Associated Press reports,

it's believed more than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the United States to Caracas hours before the earthquakes have died. Very few survivors of that group describe being left in a hotel in La Guaida and having to crawl out of the rubble. For more, we go to Caracas, where we're joined by Beatriz Ochoa, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Latin America head of advocacy. Describe what's happening as you sit there today, Beatriz.

Thank you very much for having me and the Norwegian Refugee Council. What we are seeing is a lot of devastation, not only in Caracas, but also in other parts of the country and particularly in the coastal down of La Guayra and surroundings. We are seeing also a lot of solidarity from the Venezuelan people. This is some of the things that have surprised me the most in a good way. People sharing sometimes very little what they have, but everybody wants to help. Everybody wants to support their neighbors, their friends, of course, their family members. But we're also seeing that, of course, this is going to be something that needs

support for the long term. We're seeing people staying in parks as shelters, in schools, also as temporary shelters. And this is, of course, a good step into the right direction because people are safe. They are not sleeping in the streets. But this can only be a temporary measure. We will need to transition to more medium and longer term solutions so that people can have affordable housing and a more dignified place to sleep and to be able to reveal their lives. And Bethes, I wanted to ask you, the U.S. sanctions against Venezuela are largely still in place. What has been the impact of these sanctions on the ability of the Venezuelan government

to deliver assistance to their citizens? This has something that has been in place for many years. And in the past, the sanctions have impacted the humanitarian operations in a way that there's a lot of due diligence from the banks, from the financial institutions. There's a lot of difficulties to process payments for our staff, for suppliers. So it's more difficult, more expensive, more bureaucratic. to do procurement. Now, we welcome the general license that was issued a few days ago that it's supposed to allow operations that are intended for humanitarian operations.

This has only been in place for a few days. And I think what it's going to be most important is that financial institutions and banks are able to follow this license. Sometimes they are very afraid. and then become like to process any operation that has the tag Venezuela because they have

fines, a huge amount of fines. So we welcome this waiver so that banks and other financial institutions could feel more relief. This is a very positive step. I think it can be a little bit too soon to test it but for sure it's a very positive development. And I wanted to ask you as well about the Bolivarian Revolution always emphasized organizing at the neighborhood of grassroots levels, development of communes.

Has this type of a grassroots organization demonstrated itself in terms of the rescue and operations that have occurred so far since the earthquake? Yeah, it's been a lot of the neighbors and the community that have organized themselves. And recently I was in a school that is being used as a temporary shelter. And we were told that it was organized by communes and that they were trying to help the people that are already like in their neighborhoods and so on. And of course, this is a way to organize, maybe not the only way, but that's how the school was organizing themselves. I also visited parks and they were organizing in a different way.

It was more volunteers, neighbors, and the community themselves that was doing, for instance, who's cleaning the toilets, who is making sure that meals are distributed in a more equitable way. So there are different ways that the community are organizing themselves. I can tell you that. And can you talk about your call, the Norwegian Refugee Council's call, and so many others for more support from the international community? What would that look like?

Of course. Thank you. The Norwegian Refugee Council is calling for the international community to keep supporting the Venezuelan people already before the crisis. There were 7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and the funding situation had fallen very short in the last few years. So this needs to stop. The support, it's been great. There's been already a few countries that have sent search and rescue teams that have already pledged certain amounts of money. This is very generous.

We all very much welcome this. We need the money to provide life-saving assistance. as I said at the beginning, as safe or safer places to sleep with dignity, where people can have privacy, where people can take showers and have minimum standards of IGIN. But we also will need support for children. Schools are being used as temporary shelters. This is the case in many other crises. This is not just for this one.

But children will need access to education, to temporary learning. spaces where they can have a sense of normality, but also some psychosocial support, some basic tools that can make a difference between processing the traumatic experiences that they have gone through and being more resilient in the short, medium and long term. Another message from the Norwegian Refugee Council is that the support from the international community needs to be sustained over time. So again, not only in the short term, but this will need a long run. I see it as a marathon, not as a spring.

So we will need support for the months and years to come. Beatriz Ochoa, want to thank you for being with us. Norwegian Refugee Council's Latin America Head of Advocacy, joining us from Caracas, Venezuela. Again, it's believed over 100 Venezuelans deported to Venezuela, just hours before the earthquakes have perished. That does it for our show. We'll post a Spanish interview with Vaitres at DemocracyNow.org. Also, we're hiring an education program manager and fundraising and outreach interns. Find out more at Democracy Now.

dot org slash jobs. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez for another edition of Democracy Now.