Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-07-29 Wednesday

Episode Date: July 29, 2026

Democracy Now! Wednesday, July 29, 2026

New York, this is Democracy Now. I just finished an excellent meeting with President Trump. When I say excellent, it's not just lip service. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House Tuesday for their first meeting since the two nations launched their war on Iran five months ago. The meeting comes as the Israeli military expands operations in the occupied West Bank and continues to carry out deadly attacks in Gaza. We'll speak with Francesca Abenazi, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory. Then we look at the cyclospora outbreak and the biggest measles outbreak in 35 years in the United States. This comes after the Trump administration made

sweeping cuts to public health programs. We'll speak to the former chief medical officer at the CDC, Dr. Deborah Howary. She resigned in protest last year. Secretary Kennedy censored CDC science, politicized its processes, and stripped leaders of independence. I could not, and good conscience, remain under those conditions. Then to the cockroach movement in India, where weeks of protest by hundreds of thousands of young people, led to the resignation of India's education minister. But now the Modi government is continuing to crack down on protesters.

While many of us are celebrating the resignation of the education minister, many students across the country who participated in the protests are facing a witch hunt. All that and more coming out. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warrant Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. France and Spain are racing to contain wildfires. Amidst a heat wave that has temperatures soaring to 42 degrees Celsius, that's up to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. More than 360,000 people have been evacuated so far. On Tuesday, French authorities evacuated 4,000 more people from tourist sites along its Atlantic coast. It's the largest peacetime evacuation in France's history.

Earlier this month, 13 people died in a blaze in southern Spain. This is a resident of El Tiemblo, Spain. This has affected my heart because I have had heart surgery. That is how it has affected me. I've had to bear the rest. Bottom my emotions and keep on going. I have to help my neighbors. In Japan, at least 18 people have been killed after a powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake

struck the southwestern part of the country Monday. Rescue efforts continue at a collapsed shopping mall. An explosion ripped through the mall about an hour. after the earthquake. In Uganda, the country's health minister declared the country Ebola-free Tuesday. The latest outbreak of the disease had infected 20 people killing two. Since 2000, Uganda suffered multiple outbreaks of the disease. Meanwhile, Ebola continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the government reporting over 3,300 cases and more than 1,400 deaths. in Washington, D.C., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president,

Volodemir Zelensky, attended a memorial service for South Carolina's Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. They also had meetings with President Trump. After his meeting, Netanyahu posted a video boasting he had, quote, one of the best conversations, unquote, with President Trump. Meanwhile, in an unusual move, President Trump did not invite the press in for photo op or questions after their meeting. Since Trump returned to office, Netanyahu's made seven trips to U.S. protesters gathered near the White House. And he is the reason for the illegal war that has started on my homeland of Iran that is also currently being bombarded. And every time he comes to visit, our people, our countries get

bombarded again. And we are here to make sure that our voices are heard. And he knows that we don't want him here. He is not welcome here. We know that he's. of war criminal. We want bombs to stop falling on our people. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the Senate voted to confirm Jay Clayton as the Director of National Intelligence Tuesday, with all Republicans supporting his nomination and all Democrats voting against it. During the confirmation hearings, Clayton repeatedly refused to say Joe Biden won the 2020 election and declined to say that Trump had lost. negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have stalled as Iran rejected a proposal to

evenly divide control of the Strait of Hormuz. This is Iran's deputy foreign minister. We told them explicitly that under no circumstances are they permitted to do so. We said that if any warships approach the Strait of Hormuz for this purpose, or if they bring equipment or any vessel or any other assets for mine clearing operations near the Strait of Hormuz, they will be considered legitimate targets by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite the Lullin fighting, Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles towards a U.S. military base in Jordan Tuesday. The U.S. Central Command called it an attempted surprise attack.

This comes amidst new reporting from Reuters that China is expected to deliver shoulder-fired air defense missile launchers to Iran within weeks. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia joined the U.S. in striking what they said were Iranian proxies in Iraq Tuesday. In Yemen, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker Tuesday. The U.S. walked out of a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday during the French ambassador's remarks. It comes after France blasted the U.S. for voting against extending Volker Turk's term as U.N. High Commissioner for human rights. After the vote Friday, France's UN mission posted on X, quote, the U.S. used to be a beacon of human rights, not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea,

Nicaragua, Mali, and Russia isolated, and the world no longer listens to it, France posted on X. In Iran, human rights groups say authorities have hang two people who participated in anti-government protests back in January. The two men executed Tuesday were Amir Hussin Safari and Abafazi Sepahai. Video verified by the New York Times show large crowds of protesters gathering near the site of the public executions. In Gaza, at least one person was killed and over a dozen wounded an Israeli strike that destroyed a mosque surrounded by tents of displaced Palestinian families. video footage shows Israeli jets striking the Almutakhine Kmask in Gaza City Tuesday, igniting a powerful explosion.

Sixty Palestinians released from Israeli prisons returned to Gaza, showing signs of severe injuries and starvation. With some of them so fragile, they were unable to walk. The men were detained across Israel's most notorious prisons. Ofe, Negev, and Citi Taman, many held for more than a year and recounted brutal beatings and other forms of torture by Israeli soldiers. In Israel, activists protesting against settler violence in the occupied West Bank clash with police in Tel Aviv Tuesday. It comes as defense minister, Israel Katz, announced that he's ordered the IDF to take over a fourth refugee camp in the West Bank and expel its Palestinian residents.

This is Eli 11, a protester from Haifa. The reason I'm here today is because what we have seen coming out of the West Bank, just the past week, but the past months and years is horrifying. It's immoral, and we believe that it is endangering not only Palestinians who are witnessing ethnic cleansing and the evacuation of their homes, but it's also endangering all of us. A federal judge has ordered the release from ICE custody of one of the key witnesses in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado O'Raljo, the 52-year-old Mexican father killed by an ICE agent July 7 in Houston. Jose Trinidad Rojas Pligo must be released within 48 hours, the judge ruled. He was one of the three passengers in the van driven by Salgado the morning of the fatal shooting.

Two other key witnesses, including his younger brother, Victor, remain in an ICE jail. Community organizers Tuesday again disrupted a Houston City Council meeting. Sagada Araujo's eldest son Ronaldo addressed the council demanding justice for his father and an end to the collaboration between Houston police and ICE. How will you show up for the rest of the immigrant community here in Houston to make sure that what happened to my dad, Lorenzo Salgado Arauco doesn't happen to any of them. This isn't a partisan issue. This is an issue of right and wrong,

and this wrong needs to be addressed. Every single one of you council members have immigrants living in your district. How will you protect them? This comes as Reuters reports more than 12,000 people have been detained after the Office of Refugee Resettlement provided personal and personal.

on unaccompanied migrant children, as well as their parents and sponsors to federal immigration agents. Since January of last year, ORR has shared more than 460,000 leads to immigration authorities. Meanwhile, the New York Times has found ICE arrests have surged at airports nationwide as the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, expands its collaboration with ICE. Wired reports. A longtime department of Homeland Security official has resigned over what he described as Trump's brazen corruption and the, quote, unquote, war on immigrants. Mark Rosenblum served as executive director of the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, where he led efforts to publish information on immigration, arrest, and deportations. DHS stopped issuing that data after Trump returned to office. Rosenblum said on the LinkedIn post, quote,

It'll come as no surprise that I'm thrilled to end my relationship with the current administration. Between the war on immigrants, the war on feds, and the war on facts, not to mention the crazy war in Iran and the brazen corruption, I just need a change, he said. President Trump's reportedly pressuring Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to more aggressively push for policies that would further slash childhood vaccination recommendations. The Wall Street Journal reported the issue came up during a lunch back in May at Trump's National Golf Club in Northern Virginia when Trump confronted RFK Jr. on why he wasn't doing more to probe a widely debunk link between childhood vaccinations and autism.

At the time, Trump reportedly told Kennedy he believed the secretary, quote, had the yips, unquote, to reduce the number of vaccinations for children. Lobbyists and Department of Health and Human Services staffers reportedly told the journal, Trump may replace Kennedy with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Chief Dr. Mebedaz, if RFK Jr. fails to fulfill the demands. Separately, Anthony Fauci, the former veteran director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is expected to testify at a Senate hearing today on the COVID-19 pandemic. And in Peru, Keko Fujimori has been sworn in his president.

She's the daughter of the former dictator, Alberto Fujimori, who spent years in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the 1990s. Protesters took to the streets of Lima. President Keko Fujimori does not represent us, ladies and gentlemen. What is happening right now in Peru is monstrous. We cannot live like this with this government that she has brought in today. And Mr. Raspi-Gliosi has passed new. laws and they do not represent us, ladies and gentlemen. This is why we are here in the streets.

Today they kill us. Today they murder us. Today they extort us. That is why we're in the streets. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Anjali Comet, long-time Democracy Now producer who's back with us after many years, producing and co-hosting. Welcome, Anjali. I'm delighted to be back. Thank you. And welcome to all our viewers and listeners from across the country and around the world. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House Tuesday for their first meeting since the two nations jointly attacked Iran five months ago. Trump and Netanyahu met for 90 minutes, but they did not appear together to make public comments. Netanyahu posted a short video after the meeting.

I just finished an excellent meeting with President Trump. I say excellent, it's not just lip service, a conversation with full partnership, mutual support, understanding of the common goal to ensure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons and other goals as well. This is one of the best conversations I have had with the President of the United States, our friend, President Donald Trump. After their meeting, both Trump and Netanyahu attended the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, protesters in Washington gathered near the White House to Netanyahu's visit. This is an Iranian-American activist named Bita. And he is the reason for the illegal war that has started on my homeland of Iran,

that is also currently being bombarded. And every time he comes to visit, our people, our countries get bombarded again. And we are here to make sure that our voices are heard, and he knows that we don't want him here. He is not welcome here. We know that he's a war criminal. We want bombs to stop falling on our people. Netanyahu's visit comes as Israel is escalating its military operations in the occupied West Bank, where there's been a surge in settler violence. On Tuesday, defense minister Israel Katz announced that he's ordered the IDF to take over a fourth refugee camp in the West Bank and expel its Palestinian residents.

Israel is also continuing to carry out deadly attacks in Gaza, where a severe humanitarian crisis is unseizing. The Trump administration allowed Netanyahu into the United States, even though the international Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza. We're joined now by a top U.N. official who's been barred from visiting the United States due to her public criticism of Israel. Francesca Abanezzi is the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory. She's been under sweeping U.S. sanctions for most of the past year. A judge lifted them briefly, then they were reimposed. She's also author of the new book. When the World Sleep, Stories, Words and Wounds of Palestine.

Francesca, thank you so much for being with us from Italy. If you can start off, I mean, this was unusual yesterday. I think it was Netanyahu's seventh visit to Washington since Trump returned to the White House. It was his first since the beginning of the U.S. and Israel's attack on Iran. And interestingly, though we see a video of Netanyahu saying it was the best conversation they ever had, Trump, in a rare move, did not invite reporters into the White House for either a photo op or conversations afterwards. And apparently the conversation was about Iran. Yet in Israel, the Israeli military has launched major operations in the occupied West Bank.

Now, the Israeli defense minister, as we just said, saying they're taking over a fourth Palestinian refugee camp. Can you assess the situation and the significance of this meeting? Thank you for having me, Amy. Having an ICC wanted in the White House again just corroborates the charges of complicity leveled at the U.S. administration. This is bullying in a sort of a formal diplomatic suit, But again, since Netanyahu's last visit to the U.S., the list of crimes that have happened, that the Israeli army but also Israeli civilians have committed against the Palestinians has just grown longer and more documented by Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations

and UN Commission of Inquiries, other committees, myself and other special rapporteurs. What does it mean? You know, I often hear the argument that the United States is not a member to the ICC. It doesn't matter. It doesn't mean that they have to extend protection to a fugitive from international law, which is what's happening. At the same time, this is not just a fugitive. This is an accomplice to other violations of international law that the U.S.

is committing itself against Iran and against Palestinians. in many ways. So what does it tell us in a nutshell that the United States is actively contributing to make the international criminal law architecture that it has been building from Nuremberg to Nuremberg trials until now crumble on our head? And this is no, I mean, this should make no one happy, including U.S. citizens who think that they have nothing to do with it or with Israel and Palestine, this is everyone's business. Francesca, I want to turn to a clip of New York City mayor, Zoran Mamdani. Last week in a video message, he called on the U.S. government to arrest Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu precisely because of this arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. As I've said, I agree with the ICC. The Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, as I do for anyone else charged by the ICC. My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here. It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does,

and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant. And I want to be equally clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large. Francesca, Prime Minister Netanyahu said in an interview and Fox News in response that Mamdani was, quote, fomenting hate. And you posted an ex as Netanyahu was en route to the U.S. That, quote, Italy, France, Greece did it again. Three Rome statute parties opened their airspace to the fugitive Netanyahu in breach of their obligation to cooperate with the ICC. I call on competent authorities to investigate possible complicity. Talk about what you're calling on countries to do,

the United States. Very simple. No double standards apply international law as it is. It's paraphrasing Rosa Luxembourg. It's either the rule of law or it's barbarism. I do agree with what New York mayor has just said and not out of sympathy, but because what he said is legally right and is morally compulsory. And we cannot keep on looking idle or standing idle in the face of impunity.

This is why at the beginning of this interview, when you asked me what I think of this visit by ICC wanted Benjamin Netanyahu, it's bullying. It's bullying in diplomatic suit because, I mean, the New York mayor might not have the power to enforce an arrest or another state. And still, he called upon competent authorities, federal authorities, to do so. It doesn't matter that it doesn't happen today because there is someone who prefers to abide by the law of might rather than a rule of law. We need to keep on voicing dissent in conformity with international law. This is what I keep on doing from within Europe as a European.

It doesn't matter if they ridicule me, if they mount hatred campaign or smear campaign against me. My skin has grown thicker as I think everyone who's dealing with justice and human rights. And at the same time, we need to recall the obligations that these states, including, as I said, Greece, Italy and France have, this is the third time, if my count is correct, that these three countries authorize flights of Ireland. ICC wanted Netanyahu over their airspace. I mean, making all of us, all European, French, German, Greece, Greek and Italian citizens accomplices, even morally. This is unacceptable. And this is why there should be an investigation over the authorities who allowed it.

It looks as small in the context of a genocide, but every action matters as every crime. matters and will be accounted for. Francesca, let's go to the West Bank. I mean, you recently posted on social media that pogroms against defenseless civilians are happening all over the West Bank while Gaza is under fire. Israeli civilians and army joining forces. It's not just Netanyahu, you wrote, and a few rotten apples.

This is Israel. Absolutely. And look at what Israelis themselves are saying. I want to point to the fact that an individual, increasing number of Israeli organizations, political forces, journalists have been sounding the alarm for over a year, and especially in the latest days, recent days, that the situation is out of control. A few days ago, a land for all coalition said the Israeli forces cannot keep control, cannot ensure protection of anyone, because the settlers, who are the settlers? These

are Israeli civilians who behave like Thugs, who behave like squads, who have been killing and beating, attacking Palestinian families and properties. And they are completely unleashed

supported by the army. Look, I've been investigating I was no expert on the occupied Palestinian territory until 40 years ago. I was an expert on the question of Palestine. And now I know what happens in Gaza, the West Bank, and his Jerusalem better than anything else because this is what I do. I look at it every day and in

the time of genocide I cannot let it go. And I can tell you, the pogroms have been a constant feature of settlers, Israeli, armed Israeli civilians since before October 23. Just in 2023, before October 7, there were 12 pogroms, meaning attacks by armed squads. Israeli civilians squads attacking Palestinian villages and everyone seemed not to care. It's better we pay attention now because the situation has gone out of control and I keep on saying I'm not just talking for the Palestinians, I'm talking for everyone in that land, including Israelis, who clearly see what's happening. But unfortunately, the weight of the pro-Israel and the pro-apartheid lobbies is just too strong for their voices to be heard.

very quickly ask you. I mean, you have the opposition leader Lapid saying, this is not you, Francesca Albanese. This is him saying, I never thought that in my lifetime we would talk about Jewish terrorism, but this is Jewish terror, he said, about Israeli settlers in the West Bank. And, of course, you then have Israeli soldiers who are working with Israeli settlers. I admit that. Thank you, Amy. And, well, finally. me and Lapid agree. And the thing is, the thing is that this

should have been said months and years ago. But the fact that Lapid says that proves that the situation has gone out of control. And again, it's not just Netanyahu, half of the governments inside colonization, I've received

I don't read Hebrew, but I've been receiving screenshots of chats in Hebrew by Israeli Act. and academics who keep on sounding the alarm. And they say they are calling for blood. They say no house units but blood. Now, I just want to remind, in closing,

that the West Bank, as well as Gaza and Israel, are illegally occupied. There is no possibility for Israel, settlers or soldiers, to invoke self-defense there because the International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to dismantle the occupation. So I really encourage every, every U.S. citizen with that place at heart, but also with U.S. values at heart, not to turn your eyes and your gaze away because this is happening. The U.S. support to this criminal endeavor is happening with your taxpayers' money.

Very quickly, we just have 20 seconds. Your comment on the U.S. walking out of the U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday during the French ambassador's remarks coming after France blasted the U.S. for voting against extending Volker-Turk's term as UN High Commissioner for human rights. France, saying on X, the U.S. used to be a beacon of human rights, not anymore. Francesca Albanese. Well, I don't think that U.S. used to be a beacon of human rights. Absolutely. But surely, it was much better than that, and clearly it's no longer.

Not only that, now it's really leading a campaign from the Board of Peace, whatever it is, to where it stand on Venezuela, Cuba, and Israel or Iran, it's leading a campaign to dismantle the multilateral order that was conceived, including through the U.S. support, in the aftermath of World War II. Francesca Albanese, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, her new book, When the World Sleep, Stories, Words, and Wounds of Palestine. coming up, the cyclospora outbreak. Thousands are experiencing this parasite around the United States

and the biggest measles outbreak in 35 years. What does this have to do with the doge sweeping cuts to public health programs? We'll speak with the former medical officer at the CDC. Stay with us. In the hog of thee forsaken got no reason to cry You got to chew the angels Falling from on high Waiting for no answer baking wawful pie Pie of eyesight, pie blue-black

Oh, that pie The pie of pie and pie In the hog of the forsaken, he will leave you one more chance, which if you won't be taken, he leave it for the ants. Sings out in the wilderness, sings for friend and foe. He sings of these and those times as well as the times to go. Pog of the Forsaken by the late folk musician Michael Hurley in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Anjali Comet. More than 11,000 people across 41 states in the country have been sickened by the food-borne parasite, cyclosporiasis.

Food safety experts have tracked one pocket of the outbreak that sickened 2,000 people and sent 98 to the hospital to iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico and distributed by food. giant Taylor Farms, the largest produce supplier in the United States. Recall lettuce was distributed and sold in at least 27 states. The numbers of cases are still climbing, and all sources of contamination in these latest outbreaks may never be identified. A key part of the food safety system in the United States is the FDA's Food Net Surveillance Program, which is a collaboration between the federal government and state agencies. When billions of dollars in public health funding were slashed at the beginning of the Trump administration, FoodNet stopped its mandatory tracking for cyclospora and five other pathogens, including Listeria, a bacteria that is fatal in 30% of cases.

Mass government layoffs are also a factor. The CDC lab that specializes in the cyclospora parasite was reduced from a team of 11 to just three. Meanwhile, the resurgence of the measles that began last year has reached a 35-year high with at least 2,300 cases. is three deaths, including two children. The CDC set a goal in 1978 to eliminate measles in the United States and achieved eradication status in the year 2000 following decades of vaccination efforts. This the year, the U.S. will lose that status. There's so much to discuss when it comes to public health in the United States right now. For more, we're joined by Deborah Howary. She's the former chief medical officer at the CDC, resigned in August.

last year in protest over political interference at the agency and the firing of the CDC director, Susan Monares. Dr. Howrie is a board certified emergency physician professor at Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health. Well, it looks like it's a real blank show here in the United States, Dr. Howry. But if you can start off by explaining what cyclosporiasis is how it has spread, and if you think it is related to the massive cuts, the staff at the CDC, what almost a third have been laid off or fired or have left since the Trump administration came into office. Absolutely. Well, so cyclospora is a parasite, and it is found in food such as lettuce, vegetables, cilantro, and certain fruits. And,

we see it every year, usually a couple hundred cases. And by washing foods, you know, really well and certainly cooking them to temperatures over 150 degrees, you can prevent a lot of these cases. But what has happened this time is because there have been significant cuts to CDC and FDA, and as part of FoodNet, they are no longer tracking it mandatorily, we don't have as good of a really a lens on what is happening. And so we've seen close to 11,000 confirmed or suspected cases now. That is, you know, four to five times more than I am aware of.

And what is concerning about this is, you know, it's not just a simple food poisoning. It can be a diarrhea that can last for several weeks. It needs to be treated by antibiotics. And several people have been hospitalized by it. And Dr. Harry, can you explain? more what FoodNet is and what the problems are when you stop this long-term tracking? So FoodNet was really kind of like, I talk about CDC as disease detectives. And so it was a system that, you know, tracked. States would report if they had several

different pathogens like Ecoli, salmonella, you know, many of those, you know, food poisonings that, you know, were very familiar with. And cyclospora was one of those. But when funding levels did not keep up with what was needed to maintain it, you know, several of these pathogens were cut. At the same time, as we've seen with USAID funding, that funded a lot of the malaria and parasitic work at CDC, and those cuts had an impact. That, coupled with, you know, the doge cuts to overall CDC workforce, really has just left our country hampered and being able to detect and respond to these outbreaks. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

defended the Trump administration's handling of the cyclospora outbreak that sicken thousands of people nationwide. He was questioned by ABC News reporter Elizabeth Schultz last week. We do have the outbreak under control. We have done extensive forensics, epidemiological forensics, and we've identified the source of the outbreak. break, we and the companies that have involved have implemented a recall. Any response to some of the criticism that the cuts to the federal agencies under your leadership has slowed the response to the athletes? Those criticisms are invalid. We've had no cuts in our surveillance program. Dr. Harry, what do you think of RFK Jr's response? Do you trust him? I mean, the number of scientists working on this at the CDC has dropped from 11 to 3.

Who do you hold responsible? So I would invite the secretary to actually meet with the CDC scientists and come to CDC and get a briefing. When I was chief medical officer there, we never spoke to him about measles or avian influenza, Ebola. We offered to brief the secretary. He doesn't really have a good, I think, understanding of what CDC does and where the cuts are. I recall last year he talked about mistakes were made when people that did lead were laid off.

and those scientists were eventually brought back. I don't know how we can say cyclospor is under control when there's over 10,000 cases. It's in greater than 30 states. And you look at other infectious disease outbreaks. The U.S. is really at a tipping point when you look at measles, woping cough, all these vaccine preventable diseases as well. And the secretary is responsible for this. So if you can talk about measles and the significance of the fact that the CDC said as its goal, what, like more than half a century ago to eliminate measles,

achieve that status a quarter of a century ago, and now this year will lose that status of eradication that we're talking about a surge in measles and what this means, Dr. Howary, and how it relates to these cuts. So unfortunately, you know, the secretary has promoted a lot of misinformation around vaccines, and specifically about the measles vaccine during the middle of an outbreak, he talked about the vaccine having fetal parts in it and promoted things like vitamins as well as therapies that weren't licensed for measles, such as antibiotics and steroids. That's not what parents and the U.S. public needs to hear in the middle of an outbreak.

Measles is highly contagious, and we have seen several outbreaks across the United States with now a record number of cases in over 30 years. What's concerning to me is it's not a harmless childhood disease. We've seen several hundred hospitalizations. Children are missing school and several have died. Many years from now, we will also see that some will go on to develop a brain infection and die, and many will have their immune memory wiped out. So this is not a harmless disease.

It has long-term consequences. Speaking about vaccines on another issue, I mean, you have very interestingly, Anthony Fauci's testifying before the Senate. on the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And then you had this expose in the Wall Street Journal that President Trump is reportedly pressuring RFK Jr., the health secretary, to more aggressively push for policies that would further slash childhood vaccine recommendations, reporting that the issue came up during a lunch in May when Trump confronted RFK on why he isn't doing more to probe a widely debunked link

between childhood vaccines and autism. Many might have thought it was RFK who was pushing this, but in fact, Trump is putting pressure on him and even weighing, sacking him, firing him. What are your thoughts about this and the core issue of the connection between vaccines and autism? So vaccines and autism has been widely studied. It's been probably one of the most studied things

when it comes to autism. I think autism is a serious problem in this country, and we should be doing more to study it. But something that's been studied for over 30 years and has not been found linked to autism is not where I'd be spending taxpayer money. I'd be spending it on things like environmental factors, looking at genetic predispositions, other infectious diseases. We need to seriously study autism. I think when you have a finding you want and you're backwalking it to really get the science to fit the data, that's not a problem. how we should be doing things. Science is about having a hypothesis, a question, investigating it, and then finding out what the cause is, not doing that backwards like the secretary does.

Although the report said that President Trump was pushing the secretary to do this, I don't know that, but what I can tell you is the secretary, you know, for decade, has been anti-vax and, you know, has sued the CDC and fired all the vaccine committee members. So I really don't think he needs any encouragement from the president to do this. And Dr. Harry, if you could explain again for our listeners and viewers why you quit last year? I quit because I saw vaccine preventable deaths going up. I saw political interference in the work we were doing. I saw programs being dismantled.

And I was concerned for the health of Americans in this country. So I could not stand by. And you saved your emails, Dr. Harry? Can you talk about that? Yes. So just, you know, as good clinical practice or as being a capstone official, the role that I had at CDC, my emails are preserved. And so when there were conversations to where I had concerns about conflicts of interest, how decisions were being made, or just so that we could track, you know, institutional memory, I documented all of that. And when I had concerns, I certainly raised them both verbally and in writing. Finally, Dr. Howie, the connection between the massive cuts at the CDC and domestic dealing with measles to these parasites to what's happening overseas and the evisceration of USAID, Agency for International Development, and our headlines today, we just reported on the thousands of cases, for example, of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. the connection between these two and the lack of tracking and what that means for global health?

So I think it's very concerning. Secretary Rubio is talking about America first, but the changes to the USAID funding and PEPFAR funding to CDC will result in significant less presence in countries. Currently, CDC is in about 60 countries, and that means that we're working closely with health departments there, the ministries of health, and the U.S. has a good eye on. what is happening. But with the changes to funding, many of these countries will no longer have CDC staff there, meaning we're not going to know when there's that global health threat. And years ago in Uganda, because of the support that CDC and USAID had provided, local staff were able to quickly detect the outbreak, do lab testing, and control it. That is why we need to

have a presence overseas to really protect Americans here from health threats both in the U.S. and abroad. You referred to PEPFAR, but for people to understand, that was the George W. Bush program dealing with AIDS in Africa. Now AIDS going up and HIV deaths in South Africa, for example, because of the cut in funding, if you could end by addressing this. Yeah, when you take support away from life-saving programs, you are absolutely going to see people die as a result. Both in the U.S. and globally, public health matters. When it works, you often don't know because you're saving lives. But when you take it away, we see those consequences today. Dr. Deborah Howrie, former chief medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC. She resigned last year to protest political interference in the firing of the CDC director.

Dr. Harry is board certified emergency physician professor at Emory University's Rollins School of Public. public health. Coming up, we look at the cockroach movement in India, where weeks of protests by hundreds of thousands of young people led to the resignation of India's education minister. Now the Modi government is cracking down. We'll talk about the response of the protesters. Stay with us. Sanyahu by gay, gathered my chow, by Sunny Singh in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

I'm Amy Goodman with Anjali Komet, who's rejoined us at Democracy Now, has spent the last several years working on a PBS Firelight-supported documentary film about India's right-word shift. So it's great to be doing this segment with you. It is amazing to see what's happened in India. You just returned from India. Could you have predicted what took place? No, this is absolutely, you know, unprecedented. The scale of protests. I mean, there have been mass protests for many years in India in the past,

especially during the past 12 years of the Modi regime. But this, the number of people who came through to these protests, young people who weren't necessarily politicized, who weren't organizers, who weren't activists, but who just felt compelled to come out. Well, we turn now to India, where the youth-led cockroach movement has accused the right-wing BJP government of backtracking on its promise not to take punitive action against student protesters and has threatened to restart demonstrations. Weeks of protests by hundreds of thousands of young people in India's capital, New Delhi and cities across the country, led to the resignation of the education minister Darmendra Pradhan on Saturday. This is Abichit Dipke, at the main protest site in the heart of New Delhi, Jantar Mantar, shortly after.

receiving news of Pradhan's resignation. It's a victory for the Constitution of India. It's a victory for the people of India and the defeat of the dictator. Action must be taken against the police officers who attacked us. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Lomba, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ajay Sharma, Shachan Sharma.

These batons are used in the name of Home Minister Amet Shah and Prime Minister Modi. As of now, there has only been one resignation. Remember, don't mess with cockroaches. Following the education minister's resignation, the cockroach movement agreed to call off the mass protest Saturday, once senior members of the Modi government, assured them that protesters would not face any repercussions.

But in addition to the police violence against demonstrators last week, hundreds of students have been detained since the protests ended. Police and states governed by Modi's BJP have reportedly arrested over 100 students in the days since the protest was officially called off, filing harsh criminal cases against many of them. In West Bengal, where the BJP recently won elections, the Hindu nationalist chief ministers suggested that the protesters were all Muslims. And on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India passed an interim order

allowing the government to proceed with existing cases against students. Leaders of the movement have decried the detentions as a witch hunt and vowed to resume the protests. For more, we're joined now from New Delhi by Tuga. Shadabrata Sangupta is an artist, with a rock's media collective, writes on social and political issues in India. His recent essay about the protests published in The Wire is headlined Night Shiffs in Jantamanta. Anne Nahabura is with us, the national president of the All India Students Association.

She was on hunger strike at the protests in New Delhi for 23 days, completing her PhD in theater and performance studies at Jahuatlal, Nehru University, or JNU, in New Delhi. We welcome you both to democracy. now. Neha, let's start with you. If you can talk about the significance of these mass student protests, but then the crackdown once they stopped. And now young people saying they're going to start again if these arrests and the punishment continues. So what happened at Janthar Mantar when Dharmanent under his resignation is the resignation, is that. nothing that has happened before. It is unprecedented in the history of India in the past 12 years.

In our country, we have a government, we have the ruling BJP, which one year after coming to power declared that there need not be any resignations under this government. It used to happen in previous governments, but there need not be any resignations now. since then there have been massive protests against the government on citizenship policies on the farm laws that were brought in

but this kind of step back from the government due to mass protests this is happening for the first time for a cabinet minister in the BJP government to resign is not it just does not mean that an individual

has resigned This is the acceptance of defeat, even if it is temporary, for a government that prides itself on being beyond any form of accountability, on being beyond even the very idea of democracy where elected representatives are answerable and can be removed from office if they don't perform. So for us, this win is massive. It means that the government that we are facing right now, even that government, with an extremely repressive state mechanism, with a government that has almost dismantled all institutions of democracy, for that government to accept defeat in front of a mass movement is a moment of great joy for us.

It helps us feel rejuvenated in the struggles that we are yet to fight, that we are yet, that we are yet to win. But because this government and its policy is and has always been that of vengeance, they know that the resignation of Dharmeni Pradhan is a big blow to the repetition of this government, to any form of arrogance that this government held. And ever since the protest was called off after. Dharman de Pradhan's resignation, we are witnessing a massive crackdown on student activists across the country, specifically in states which are ruled by the BJP or the NDA alliance. For example, in Bihar, I was in Bihar two days ago and we met the DGP there, the DGP of police

in Bihar. He showed us an official notification from the Bihar police which stated that there were over 600 students who had been detained for protesting against Paper League and Bihar. 355 of them were released and over 300 students continue to be arrested under charges as severe as attempt to murder. In Bengal, there were 14 students who were arrested. Two arrests, fresh arrests were made yesterday morning. Out of those 14 students which were earlier arrested, 13, are Muslim students and strict laws akin to the NSA have been evoked.

Charges under the Gunda Act have been fined against them. In Assam, students continue to be arrested. In Mumbai, students continue to be arrested. And here in Delhi, we have, first of all, on the 20th of July, there was a massive call for March to Parliament. that calls so massive state repression at the hands of the government and the security forces. Pellet guns were used against peaceful protesters. The use of these pellet guns was being denied until two days ago.

But media reports have revealed that there is a general entry in the Delhi Police's register where the Delhi police acknowledges having fired pellet guns. there have been reports where it is being said that a DCP level officer ordered the firing of pellet guns on peaceful protesters in Bihar, which is a state in India, an AK-47 was fired upon protesters by the security forces by the Bihar police.

This kind of massive crackdown and in Delhi what we are witnessing is a witch hunt of protesters specifically Muslim protesters. There is a witch hunt of Muslim protesters in Bihar, the divisive politics of the BGAP that we have been seeing for the past 12 years. That is being enforced by the security forces and the police across the country. And people are being intimidated.

People are being put behind bars, specifically based on their religion. If they are Muslim students, they are being intimidated, they are being put behind bars. And I just wanted to say we've been looking online at the picture. of pellet wounds, people who have suffered, almost like we saw in Tahrir. Yeah, these pellet guns obviously have also been used in Kashmir for years against protesters in Kashmir and now they're being used in the city's capital against protesters, you know, many of whom, you know, many of their parents, this is in many ways a revolt against an older generation that voted the BJP into power.

You know, and Nahar, you were just talking about how, you know, a lot of those who've been arrested and detained with harsh criminal cases against them are Muslim. And this is something that Muslim protesters at protests, previous protests in 2019 and 2020 are facing very serious charges with many of them still in jail. I wanted to bring Shudha Brathe Sen Gupta into the conversation from the Rucks Media Collective. Shudda, you've been at so many of these large protests that Nehah was talking about over the past 12 years. What is different about this one? And talk about the kind of cultural shift that you're seeing.

Thank you, Anjali, and thank you, Amy, for having me on the program. First of all, I'd like to salute and express my gratitude to Neha's generation, to Neha and many other thousands of young people like her for giving us reasons for hope in what we thought was an increasingly dark time. This protest, which is, I think, mistakenly be called the first Gen Z protest. It's not the first Gen Z process in India. the 2019-20 citizenship protest was led by very young Muslim women who are also Gen Z. And I think that for the last several years, we've been tracking the discontent of the young. And there's clearly a restlessness for change and unwillingness to accept the lies and the slander that the regime produces on a daily and a nightly basis. and that's really the change in the air.

I've written and compared it to a change of the scent, the aroma of the air. It's like the scent of Jasmine and monsoon time that completely changes your sensory perception. So that's the case. And you rightly pointed out that there are people from the 2019-20 protests who called for non-violent civil disobedience,

including my friend Omar Khali, Sharjil Imam and several others who were arrested. Omar Khalid and Sharj al-Im still remain in prison six years for having called for peaceful, non-violent protests for actually saying that if the state attacks us violence, we must offer them. These are Omar Khalid's words, that we must offer them love in return.

And it was interesting to see Omar Khalid return to haunt the cockroach Tanah Khad. party protests where many young people came back with signs saying, remember Omar Khalid, somebody says he walked so that we can run. And I think that is important to stress a certain continuity. Neha talked about the continuity between the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, the farmers protests, protests against suicides by Dalit students like Rohit Vamullah. In this particular instance, the neat paper leak, the NWT paper leak, was actually first brought to attention through the suicide of a young Dalit Tamil student called S Ajita.

And she brought up, she was partying a Supreme Court case against the discriminatory provisions of this examination. The Supreme Court, I think, insulted her by dismissing that case, and she had to tragically take her own life. So there is a string of continuities between all these moments of articulate, passionate dissent. In the new situation, we've seen that the young people during the last weeks and months respond with incredible humor, with incredible cheer, and incredibly high spirits. And that's certainly something new that Neha and many thousands of young people have shown us. and that's an inspiration for even someone like me. And Shaddah, you brought up Omar Khalid, who's been in jail without trial for over five years.

And actually, New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani brought him up while speaking about Nelson Mandela's legacy at a recent event. And he said, why must we wait as Omar Khalid enters his sixth year of captivity in Delhi? A political prisoner jailed under the same manufacture charges of terrorism that were once leveled against Madiba. We're going to have to end it. We thank you so much for both being with us. Shudabrata Sungupta, artist of the Rocks Media Collective and Nehavoda, who just completed a 23-day hunger strike. That does it for our show. I'll be in Martha's Vineyard, July 31st, Friday night for the screening of Steal the Story Please and Q&A actor.

I'm Amy Goodman with Anjali Comment.