WEBVTT 00:00:14.310 --> 00:00:17.710 From New York, this is Democracy Now! 00:00:17.710 --> 00:00:19.460 My father is in a very critical condition. 00:00:19.460 --> 00:00:20.660 I’m getting no help. 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:23.210 Numbers are given there, but nobody’s responding. 00:00:23.740 --> 00:00:26.350 Numbers are not reachable. Please help me. 00:00:26.350 --> 00:00:30.720 Please! My father is dying. I can’t afford another loss. 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:32.519 Yesterday I lost my younger brother. 00:00:33.970 --> 00:00:39.910 India is facing 1 million infections every three days — 00:00:39.910 --> 00:00:41.910 a COVID storm. 00:00:41.910 --> 00:00:44.280 We’ll look at the devastating situation 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:47.670 and the reasons behind this lethal second wave. 00:00:47.670 --> 00:00:51.480 We’ll go to Mumbai to speak with journalist Rana Ayyub. 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:53.720 Her cover story for Time magazine, 00:00:53.720 --> 00:00:56.070 "How Modi Failed Us." 00:00:56.070 --> 00:00:58.530 And as pressure grows for the U.S. and wealthy countries 00:00:58.530 --> 00:01:00.560 to put an end to vaccine hoarding 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.320 and share their supply with India 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:03.680 and the rest of the world, 00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:07.160 we’ll speak with a doctor and an economist. 00:01:07.160 --> 00:01:10.890 Then, on the eve of his 100th day in office, 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:12.870 President Biden gives his first speech 00:01:12.870 --> 00:01:14.820 to a joint session of Congress. 00:01:14.820 --> 00:01:19.140 For the first time in history, two women sat behind him: 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:22.140 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:25.640 Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President, 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:36.760 no president has ever said those words from this podium. 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:38.920 No president has ever said those words. 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:40.620 And it’s about time. 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:43.360 President Biden used his address 00:01:43.360 --> 00:01:47.150 to propose trillions of dollars in new economic proposals, 00:01:47.150 --> 00:01:50.500 calling on lawmakers to expand the social safety net 00:01:50.500 --> 00:01:55.550 with $4 trillion in taxes from the rich and corporations. 00:01:55.550 --> 00:01:58.020 We’ll get response from Congressmember Ro Khanna. 00:01:58.020 --> 00:01:59.740 All that and more, coming up. 00:02:04.600 --> 00:02:07.660 Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:02:07.660 --> 00:02:10.440 The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:12.950 In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, 00:02:12.950 --> 00:02:15.850 President Biden urged lawmakers to support his plan 00:02:15.850 --> 00:02:19.060 to spend trillions of dollars on the nation’s infrastructure 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:21.740 and to expand the social safety net — 00:02:21.740 --> 00:02:25.270 and funding it with new taxes on the rich. 00:02:25.270 --> 00:02:28.760 Speaking on the eve of his 100th day in office, 00:02:28.760 --> 00:02:33.590 Biden unveiled his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan. 00:02:33.590 --> 00:02:34.880 President Joe Biden: 00:02:34.880 --> 00:02:37.480 "The American Families Plan will provide access 00:02:37.480 --> 00:02:39.240 to quality, affordable child care. 00:02:41.030 --> 00:02:53.800 We guarantee — we’re not proposing in the legislation; 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.290 we guarantee that low- to middle-income families 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:01.010 will pay no more than 7% of their income 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.860 for high-quality care for children up to the age of 5. 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:08.560 The most hard-pressed working families 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:10.260 won’t have to spend a dime. 00:03:11.250 --> 00:03:14.200 Third, the American Families Plan 00:03:14.200 --> 00:03:16.640 will finally provide up to 12 weeks of paid 00:03:16.640 --> 00:03:28.110 leave and medical leave — family and medical leave." 00:03:28.110 --> 00:03:32.460 Biden also condemned systemic racism and called on lawmakers 00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:35.830 to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. 00:03:35.830 --> 00:03:39.280 On the foreign policy front, Biden repeated his vow to end 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:41.750 what he called the "forever war in Afghanistan." 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:44.000 He also referenced China four times. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:46.820 President Joe Biden: "We’re in competition with China 00:03:46.820 --> 00:03:49.940 and other countries to win the 21st century." 00:03:50.890 --> 00:03:54.070 The evening also marked a historic first, 00:03:54.070 --> 00:03:58.380 with two women sitting behind President Biden on the dais: 00:03:58.380 --> 00:04:02.300 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:04.720 To mark his 100th day in office, 00:04:04.720 --> 00:04:07.020 President Biden is heading to Georgia today, 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:09.810 where he will meet with former President Jimmy Carter. 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:15.530 India is facing a growing public health catastrophe. 00:04:15.530 --> 00:04:19.500 Officials have announced about 3,600 people died 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:21.200 of the coronavirus Wednesday, 00:04:21.200 --> 00:04:25.330 but that figure is believed to be a vast undercount. 00:04:25.330 --> 00:04:29.580 Another 380,000 new cases were confirmed 00:04:29.580 --> 00:04:32.210 as India’s health system is nearing collapse 00:04:32.210 --> 00:04:36.310 with a massive surge in patients and a shortage in oxygen. 00:04:36.310 --> 00:04:39.170 In New Delhi, makeshift crematoriums 00:04:39.170 --> 00:04:42.300 are being set up in parks and parking lots. 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:46.090 Despite the surge, elections are going ahead in West Bengal, 00:04:46.090 --> 00:04:47.750 where Prime Minister Narendra Modi 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:50.460 has held large political rallies 00:04:50.460 --> 00:04:54.490 despite warnings from public health experts. 00:04:54.490 --> 00:04:56.730 COVID cases are also rising 00:04:56.730 --> 00:04:59.700 in neighboring Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. 00:05:10.050 --> 00:05:11.920 Federal prosecutors have indicted 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.510 three white men in Georgia for hate crimes 00:05:14.510 --> 00:05:16.790 and attempted kidnapping in connection 00:05:16.790 --> 00:05:19.920 with the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:23.250 Black man who was chased down by the men 00:05:23.250 --> 00:05:27.590 and shot to death while out for a jog last year. 00:05:27.590 --> 00:05:31.020 The men — retired police officer Greg McMichael, his son 00:05:31.020 --> 00:05:33.110 Travis and their friend William Bryan 00:05:33.110 --> 00:05:36.100 — already face numerous charges in Georgia, 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:37.870 including felony murder. 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:42.790 In North Carolina, a state judge is refusing to release bodycam 00:05:42.790 --> 00:05:45.320 footage of the police killing of Andrew Brown Jr. 00:05:45.320 --> 00:05:46.890 for at least 30 days, 00:05:46.890 --> 00:05:50.580 but he did order more footage to be shown to Brown’s family. 00:05:50.580 --> 00:05:53.600 The family has only seen a 20-second snippet of video, 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:54.890 which they say shows 00:05:54.890 --> 00:05:58.520 Brown had his hands on the steering wheel of his car 00:05:58.520 --> 00:06:00.060 when he was shot dead 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:03.220 while police were carrying out an arrest warrant. 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:06.820 An independent autopsy showed Brown was shot five times, 00:06:06.820 --> 00:06:09.840 including once in the back of the head. 00:06:09.840 --> 00:06:12.060 Harry Daniels, an attorney for the Brown family, 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:14.420 called for the police footage to be released. 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:16.550 Harry Daniels: "Let’s not get distracted. 00:06:18.380 --> 00:06:23.840 An innocent man was gunned down, shot in the back of the head, 00:06:24.910 --> 00:06:27.670 vehicle riddled with bullets from the rear. 00:06:28.610 --> 00:06:30.460 Now, I heard statements being made: 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:33.730 'Well, he might have hit the deputies,' 00:06:34.580 --> 00:06:36.090 or 'He might have did that.' 00:06:36.090 --> 00:06:39.160 Well, show us the video. Show us the video. 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:41.030 Show us the tape. Show the tape." 00:06:41.030 --> 00:06:45.270 In Chicago, newly released video shows police killed 00:06:45.270 --> 00:06:48.200 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez last month 00:06:48.200 --> 00:06:51.660 while he was running away during a foot chase. 00:06:51.660 --> 00:06:54.550 Police have not said why they initially confronted 00:06:54.550 --> 00:06:57.530 and then chased Alvarez. At one point in the video, 00:06:57.530 --> 00:06:59.980 Alvarez is heard saying, "Why you shooting me?" 00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:02.610 The officer said, "You had a gun!" 00:07:02.610 --> 00:07:04.900 Alvarez was killed on March 31, 00:07:04.900 --> 00:07:08.490 two days after Chicago police shot dead 00:07:08.490 --> 00:07:11.050 another young Latino male, 13-year-old 00:07:11.050 --> 00:07:14.280 Adam Toledo, also after a foot chase. 00:07:14.280 --> 00:07:15.640 At the time of his death, 00:07:15.640 --> 00:07:20.300 the seventh grader had his empty hands up in the air. 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:24.060 FBI agents have raided the New York home 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:26.170 and office of Rudy Giuliani 00:07:26.170 --> 00:07:29.760 and seized his electronic devices as part of a probe 00:07:29.760 --> 00:07:32.360 into the attorney’s dealings with Ukraine. 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:34.140 Giuliani is the former mayor of New York 00:07:34.140 --> 00:07:36.080 and the personal attorney of Donald Trump. 00:07:36.080 --> 00:07:37.510 The FBI also seized 00:07:37.510 --> 00:07:39.780 the cellphone of conservative attorney 00:07:39.780 --> 00:07:42.940 Victoria Toensing, who has worked closely with Giuliani. 00:07:44.130 --> 00:07:47.530 In Colombia, tens of thousands of people took to the streets 00:07:47.530 --> 00:07:49.820 Wednesday after trade unions called for a national 00:07:49.820 --> 00:07:52.680 strike to protest against the government of Iván Duque 00:07:53.250 --> 00:07:55.330 and a proposed tax reform bill. 00:07:55.330 --> 00:07:57.500 At least two protesters were killed. 00:07:57.500 --> 00:08:00.440 Union leaders said protests occurred across Colombia. 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:07.380 Diógenes Orjuela: "This march is the biggest display of outrage 00:08:07.380 --> 00:08:10.600 against this government, against the tax reforms 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:13.140 and against the labor and pension reform. 00:08:13.140 --> 00:08:15.140 The government has gone against the country, 00:08:15.140 --> 00:08:16.880 and the country is responding, 00:08:16.880 --> 00:08:19.260 in more than 500 cities in the country." 00:08:19.960 --> 00:08:23.260 The Pentagon has confirmed to the news outlet Vox 00:08:23.260 --> 00:08:26.790 that U.S. contractors are continuing to help Saudi Arabia 00:08:26.790 --> 00:08:28.400 maintain its warplanes 00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:32.150 despite President Biden’s pledge to end offensive support 00:08:32.150 --> 00:08:35.130 for Saudi Arabia’s devastating six-year war in Yemen. 00:08:35.690 --> 00:08:38.340 The Pentagon defended the role of the contractors, 00:08:38.340 --> 00:08:41.130 saying the U.S military relationship with Saudi Arabia 00:08:41.130 --> 00:08:43.230 is "important to the region." 00:08:44.190 --> 00:08:46.040 Press freedom groups are calling on Israel 00:08:46.040 --> 00:08:48.110 to release Palestinian journalist 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:51.560 Alaa al-Rimawi, who was detained a week ago 00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:54.410 when Israeli authorities raided his home. 00:08:54.410 --> 00:08:56.230 According to Reporters Without Borders, 00:08:56.230 --> 00:08:57.870 the Al Jazeera reporter 00:08:57.870 --> 00:08:59.840 has been on a hunger strike for the past week 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:01.939 and is being held in solitary confinement. 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:05.030 Meanwhile, another Palestinian journalist, 00:09:05.030 --> 00:09:08.150 the freelance photographer Mohammed Atiq, 00:09:08.150 --> 00:09:11.190 is being held in an undisclosed location 00:09:11.190 --> 00:09:14.750 after being arrested at an Israeli checkpoint last week. 00:09:16.060 --> 00:09:20.070 Scientists have found glaciers are melting 31% faster 00:09:20.070 --> 00:09:22.300 than they did just 15 years ago. 00:09:22.300 --> 00:09:24.760 The most impacted glaciers have been in Alaska, 00:09:24.760 --> 00:09:27.160 Iceland, the Alps and the Himalayas. 00:09:27.160 --> 00:09:29.450 Robert McNabb of Ulster University 00:09:29.450 --> 00:09:32.610 linked the melting glaciers to human-induced climate change. 00:09:32.610 --> 00:09:34.000 Robert McNabb: 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:39.610 "On the global scale, the main driver of that is temperature. 00:09:40.980 --> 00:09:47.130 And it’s hard to separate the fact 00:09:47.130 --> 00:09:51.320 that the temperature is what is causing the melt 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:55.190 with the fact that humans are, by and large, 00:09:55.190 --> 00:09:57.820 causing the increase in temperature." 00:09:58.560 --> 00:10:01.490 In other climate news, the Senate has voted to reimpose 00:10:01.490 --> 00:10:03.960 Obama-era regulations on methane emissions 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:05.580 from oil and gas wells. 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:08.480 The vote reverses a move by the Trump administration 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.390 to weaken the rules on methane, 00:10:10.390 --> 00:10:14.100 which is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 00:10:14.770 --> 00:10:18.220 President Biden has nominated Houston-area sheriff Ed Gonzalez 00:10:18.220 --> 00:10:19.600 to be the next head 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:21.770 of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:25.970 Gonzalez was a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s 00:10:25.970 --> 00:10:28.780 immigration policies, speaking out against ICE raids 00:10:28.780 --> 00:10:31.220 and the separation of families at the borders. 00:10:31.220 --> 00:10:35.040 In 2017, Gonzalez ended Harris County’s involvement 00:10:35.040 --> 00:10:36.790 in ICE’s 287(g) 00:10:36.790 --> 00:10:41.050 program, which deputizes local law enforcement officers 00:10:41.050 --> 00:10:43.970 to perform the functions of federal immigration agents 00:10:43.970 --> 00:10:46.080 within local jails. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.370 In Arizona, Republican Governor Doug Ducey 00:10:48.370 --> 00:10:50.970 has signed a sweeping anti-abortion bill 00:10:50.970 --> 00:10:54.080 that makes it a felony for doctors to terminate pregnancies 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:57.520 because of a fetal genetic defect such as Down syndrome. 00:10:57.520 --> 00:10:59.090 The bill’s language is so broad 00:10:59.090 --> 00:11:02.030 it could also lead to charges against nurses 00:11:02.030 --> 00:11:03.950 and other staff at health centers. 00:11:03.950 --> 00:11:06.300 Arizona state Representative Diego Espinoza 00:11:06.300 --> 00:11:07.790 blasted the new law, 00:11:07.790 --> 00:11:11.310 saying it is "anti-families, anti-woman and anti-doctor." 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:13.930 Meanwhile, in Ecuador, pro-choice activists 00:11:13.930 --> 00:11:16.250 celebrated in Quito Wednesday after Ecuador’s 00:11:16.250 --> 00:11:20.220 high court decriminalized abortion in cases of rape. 00:11:21.300 --> 00:11:24.150 Native American activists are calling on CNN 00:11:24.150 --> 00:11:25.650 to fire commentator 00:11:25.650 --> 00:11:29.320 and former Republican Senator Rick Santorum over remarks 00:11:29.320 --> 00:11:32.130 he made to an ultra-conservative student conference. 00:11:32.130 --> 00:11:33.330 Rick Santorum: 00:11:33.330 --> 00:11:37.600 "We came here and created a blank slate. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.950 We birthed a nation from nothing. 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:41.310 I mean, there was nothing here. 00:11:41.310 --> 00:11:43.600 I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:45.380 but, candidly, that — 00:11:45.380 --> 00:11:48.479 there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture." 00:11:49.230 --> 00:11:52.730 The National Congress of American Indians criticized CNN 00:11:52.730 --> 00:11:54.780 for not firing Santorum. 00:11:54.780 --> 00:11:56.790 The group’s president, Fawn Sharp, said, 00:11:57.460 --> 00:11:59.510 "Televising someone with his views 00:11:59.510 --> 00:12:03.150 on Native American genocide is fundamentally no different 00:12:03.150 --> 00:12:05.860 than putting an outright Nazi on television 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:07.750 to justify the Holocaust." 00:12:08.350 --> 00:12:10.470 And those are some of the headlines this is Democracy 00:12:10.470 --> 00:12:13.720 Now, Democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:15.420 I’m Amy Goodman. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:27.220 AMY GOODMAN: A warning to our viewers: 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:28.730 Footage in this segment 00:12:28.730 --> 00:12:31.770 will include highly disturbing images. 00:12:32.380 --> 00:12:37.200 India has topped 18.3 million COVID-19 cases, 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:42.030 after adding 1 million new cases in just the past three days. 00:12:42.580 --> 00:12:45.610 At least 205,000 deaths have been reported 00:12:45.610 --> 00:12:46.990 since the start of the pandemic. 00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:50.650 Over the past day, 380,000 new infections 00:12:50.650 --> 00:12:53.580 and more than 3,600 deaths have been reported — 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:55.300 both record highs. 00:12:55.300 --> 00:12:57.840 Researchers say the true toll of the pandemic 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:00.180 is likely exponentially higher. 00:13:00.920 --> 00:13:05.940 In India’s capital, New Delhi, one COVID-19 death 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:08.780 is being reported every four minutes. 00:13:08.780 --> 00:13:11.650 Makeshift mass cremation facilities 00:13:11.650 --> 00:13:14.180 have been set up in parks and in parking lots, 00:13:14.180 --> 00:13:17.630 with rows of bodies being burned on funeral pyres. 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:20.390 The hospitals overwhelmed, 00:13:20.390 --> 00:13:22.500 some patients have been turned away, 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:25.440 left to deal with their infections on their own. 00:13:26.430 --> 00:13:28.170 NEW DELHI RESIDENT: My father is in a very critical condition. 00:13:28.170 --> 00:13:29.380 I’m getting no help. 00:13:29.380 --> 00:13:31.930 Numbers are given there, but nobody’s responding. 00:13:32.460 --> 00:13:35.080 Numbers are not reachable. Please help me. 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:39.450 Please! My father is dying. I can’t afford another loss. 00:13:39.450 --> 00:13:41.290 Yesterday I lost my younger brother. 00:13:43.140 --> 00:13:45.340 AMY GOODMAN: Vital supplies are coming into India 00:13:45.340 --> 00:13:47.900 from around the world, including the United States, 00:13:47.900 --> 00:13:51.950 but the country still faces dire shortages. 00:13:51.950 --> 00:13:55.130 DR. D.S. RANA: [translated] The need for oxygen 00:13:55.130 --> 00:13:56.670 is not like that of food or water, 00:13:56.670 --> 00:13:59.020 that it can hold up for a few hours and then be given. 00:13:59.020 --> 00:14:01.160 It can’t even be held up for a few minutes. 00:14:01.160 --> 00:14:02.970 AMY GOODMAN: That was Dr. D.S. Rana, 00:14:02.970 --> 00:14:05.250 head of nephrology at a New Delhi hospital. 00:14:05.800 --> 00:14:08.680 As the surge of infections continues, 00:14:08.680 --> 00:14:11.440 health officials warn more than 8 million people 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.050 are expected to vote in state elections in West Bengal 00:14:14.050 --> 00:14:17.850 and could make the region a new epicenter of the virus. 00:14:17.850 --> 00:14:20.780 Less than 2% of the Indian population 00:14:20.780 --> 00:14:24.420 of almost 1.4 billion has been fully vaccinated 00:14:24.420 --> 00:14:26.360 since the rollout started in January. 00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:29.450 Authorities will open up vaccine eligibility 00:14:29.450 --> 00:14:32.010 to all adults on May 1st. 00:14:32.010 --> 00:14:35.640 But the massive problem is the lack of vaccines. 00:14:35.640 --> 00:14:38.150 For more from India, we go to Mumbai, 00:14:38.150 --> 00:14:40.130 where we welcome back Rana Ayyub, 00:14:40.130 --> 00:14:42.220 global opinions writer for The Washington Post. 00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:45.850 Her cover story for Time magazine is headlined 00:14:45.850 --> 00:14:47.700 "How Modi Failed Us." 00:14:48.450 --> 00:14:50.370 Rana, thank you so much for joining us. 00:14:50.370 --> 00:14:54.000 I know you are just in the midst of a complete catastrophe, 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.310 with your own family, as well as everything that’s around you, 00:14:58.310 --> 00:15:02.260 people dying in the streets, gasping for air. 00:15:02.260 --> 00:15:05.270 Can you describe the situation for us 00:15:05.270 --> 00:15:07.700 and then put it in that political context 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:12.280 of how this second surge, this COVID storm, 00:15:12.280 --> 00:15:16.340 1 million people every three days being infected, happened? 00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:19.340 RANA AYYUB: It is devastating, Amy. 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:20.620 It is just devastating, 00:15:20.620 --> 00:15:23.440 the images that you witness outside hospitals, 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.230 outside crematoriums. 00:15:25.230 --> 00:15:26.730 I mean, I can give you an example. 00:15:26.730 --> 00:15:29.240 There was a news report today that the wood 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:33.150 that is being used to burn the funeral pyres is exhausting. 00:15:33.830 --> 00:15:37.200 There are more bodies than wood in crematoriums. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.120 I just got a video from a journalist 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:40.920 with whom I’ve been interacting. 00:15:40.920 --> 00:15:43.750 He has sent me a video of 70 bodies 00:15:43.750 --> 00:15:46.750 just lying outside one single crematorium. 00:15:46.750 --> 00:15:49.810 And the feeling that I’m getting from speaking 00:15:49.810 --> 00:15:51.630 to a lot of people, a lot of journalists, 00:15:51.630 --> 00:15:53.680 local journalists, health officials, 00:15:53.680 --> 00:15:55.940 is that the death toll in India 00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:58.740 is anywhere between 15,000 to 10,000. 00:15:58.740 --> 00:16:01.160 That is at least 10 times higher 00:16:01.160 --> 00:16:03.670 than what the Indian government officials are saying. 00:16:03.670 --> 00:16:06.650 Last evening, my family, which is in rural India, 00:16:06.650 --> 00:16:08.730 my maternal family in Azamgarh, 00:16:08.730 --> 00:16:11.160 seven members of my family tested positive. 00:16:11.160 --> 00:16:14.180 The doctors have told them they’re not COVID-positive. 00:16:14.180 --> 00:16:16.110 My uncle was critical last evening, 00:16:16.110 --> 00:16:18.680 as his oxygen went to 70. 00:16:18.680 --> 00:16:22.460 And we, me with my privilege and my contacts and my access, 00:16:22.460 --> 00:16:25.620 had to put out a tweet on social media to get him a bed. 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:28.460 Now, I did manage a bed for my uncle, 00:16:28.460 --> 00:16:31.390 but that’s not — but others in the country, 00:16:31.390 --> 00:16:33.820 especially in rural India, are not fortunate. 00:16:33.820 --> 00:16:35.510 I spoke to a district magistrate 00:16:35.510 --> 00:16:37.910 of a rural town in Uttar Pradesh, 00:16:37.910 --> 00:16:40.110 and he said there are more dead bodies 00:16:40.110 --> 00:16:41.960 coming in than there are patients. 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:43.770 There is devastation everywhere. 00:16:43.770 --> 00:16:46.180 Yesterday, the Indian Medical Association 00:16:46.180 --> 00:16:47.490 called Narendra Modi, 00:16:47.490 --> 00:16:49.970 the prime minister, the superspreader. 00:16:49.970 --> 00:16:51.930 And this is the Indian Medical Association. 00:16:51.930 --> 00:16:54.420 The Madras High Court has called — 00:16:54.420 --> 00:16:57.760 has said that the Election Commission of India, 00:16:57.760 --> 00:17:00.470 which is basically taking orders from Narendra Modi, 00:17:00.470 --> 00:17:03.920 should be held account — should be charged for murder. 00:17:03.920 --> 00:17:05.580 This is the Madras High Court. 00:17:05.580 --> 00:17:09.780 And the highest surge in cases right now are from West Bengal, 00:17:09.780 --> 00:17:11.520 where the prime minister 00:17:11.520 --> 00:17:15.310 and the BJP decided to hold the elections in eight phases. 00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:18.460 That’s where — which is why we say 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:20.640 that this is where Modi has led India. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:24.130 And despite all of this, this country is not stopping. 00:17:24.130 --> 00:17:27.000 I mean, instead of stopping these deaths from happening, 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:29.030 instead of stopping this devastation, 00:17:29.030 --> 00:17:31.640 this country wants to stop journalists from reporting. 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:33.180 That’s what they’re doing right now. 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:35.400 That’s what they’re prioritizing. 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:38.630 They have written to Twitter to stop journalists from tweeting, 00:17:38.630 --> 00:17:42.790 and they have blocked 52 accounts on social media. 00:17:42.790 --> 00:17:45.210 Yogi Adityanath, who is the chief minister 00:17:45.210 --> 00:17:46.940 of the largest state in India, 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:52.970 has sent out a message that no hospital should put out SOS 00:17:52.970 --> 00:17:56.620 for oxygen, and if they do this, then they will be charged. 00:17:56.620 --> 00:17:58.270 A young guy, a young boy, 00:17:58.270 --> 00:18:01.320 was begging for oxygen for his father on social media. 00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:04.260 He has been charged by Uttar Pradesh police. 00:18:04.260 --> 00:18:06.660 That’s the level of devastation in this country. 00:18:07.510 --> 00:18:08.920 It’s exhausting. 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:11.660 I mean, I have barely slept seven hours 00:18:11.660 --> 00:18:13.740 in the last three days. And so have — 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:16.190 and I don’t think many of my journalist friends have slept, 00:18:16.190 --> 00:18:19.830 because every minute there is an SOS message from a relative, 00:18:19.830 --> 00:18:23.510 a friend or an acquaintance begging for a hospital bed 00:18:23.510 --> 00:18:24.720 or oxygen. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.470 There’s not a single family in India 00:18:26.470 --> 00:18:29.320 that has not heard of a death of an acquaintance or a friend 00:18:29.320 --> 00:18:31.780 or a relative or immediate relative. 00:18:32.490 --> 00:18:34.190 That’s what it is, Amy. 00:18:35.370 --> 00:18:37.040 NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Rana, one of the reasons 00:18:37.040 --> 00:18:40.480 that this catastrophe has been brought 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.200 so sharply into both global 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:48.140 and, obviously, domestic view is that, as you say, 00:18:48.140 --> 00:18:51.500 not a single family has been unaffected — 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:53.770 that is, rich and poor alike. 00:18:54.300 --> 00:18:58.550 But, as you also point out, what’s going on in rural India, 00:18:58.550 --> 00:19:00.900 your family included, in Azamgarh — 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:02.260 what’s happening in rural India 00:19:02.260 --> 00:19:04.680 has not received as much attention, 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.900 where there are many people dying without 00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:10.990 even knowing what illness they’re dying from. 00:19:10.990 --> 00:19:12.790 So, could you talk a little bit more 00:19:12.790 --> 00:19:15.410 about what’s happening in rural India 00:19:15.410 --> 00:19:21.100 and how this illness spread to villages across the country? 00:19:22.310 --> 00:19:23.630 RANA AYYUB: So, Nermeen, 00:19:23.630 --> 00:19:25.820 the carnage, actually, at this point of time, 00:19:25.820 --> 00:19:28.590 which I have chosen to call a carnage, 00:19:28.590 --> 00:19:31.110 is now unfolding in rural India, 00:19:31.110 --> 00:19:33.290 because a lot of these migrant workers 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:36.690 have traveled back from the cities to the villages, 00:19:36.690 --> 00:19:38.840 and the villagers have been sick. 00:19:38.840 --> 00:19:40.780 The reason why it is spreading is, 00:19:40.780 --> 00:19:42.410 whenever a villager — for instance, 00:19:42.410 --> 00:19:44.330 the villagers that I have spoken to in rural India, 00:19:44.330 --> 00:19:45.770 including my own family, 00:19:45.770 --> 00:19:47.600 when they went to the local doctor, he said, 00:19:47.600 --> 00:19:49.440 "You have got typhoid or malaria." 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.660 They’re not calling them — they’re not calling them 00:19:51.660 --> 00:19:52.900 COVID or coronavirus, 00:19:52.900 --> 00:19:56.420 because the people do not even know what coronavirus is. 00:19:56.420 --> 00:19:58.430 They don’t even know what a vaccine is. 00:19:58.430 --> 00:20:00.780 A lot of them don’t even know what an antigen test is. 00:20:00.780 --> 00:20:02.550 For instance, when I called my uncle 00:20:02.550 --> 00:20:04.040 and asked him to get an antigen test, 00:20:04.040 --> 00:20:05.580 he said, "What’s an antigen test?" 00:20:05.580 --> 00:20:07.520 And when he went to the doctor, the doctor said, 00:20:07.520 --> 00:20:08.730 "I’ll give you medication, 00:20:08.730 --> 00:20:11.170 and the oxygen level will kind of go up." 00:20:11.170 --> 00:20:13.900 That’s the level of misinformation in our villages. 00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:16.240 There are no doctors. There is no electricity. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:18.470 How do you expect the hospitals to function? 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:19.780 There is devastation. 00:20:19.780 --> 00:20:22.130 And there is nothing which is being done 00:20:22.130 --> 00:20:24.410 to make sure that the virus is not spreading. 00:20:24.410 --> 00:20:26.700 In my own family, there are eight cases. 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:29.220 There is no social distancing happening in the villages. 00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:30.530 Everybody is mingling. 00:20:30.530 --> 00:20:35.270 And there are so many hospitals that I spoke to. 00:20:35.270 --> 00:20:37.590 There is no electricity for — there’s no power. 00:20:37.590 --> 00:20:38.960 There’s power failure throughout the day, 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:41.440 so there’s no oxygen functioning in those hospitals. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.720 People are lying on the pavements of the hospitals. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.400 And that’s where the real carnage 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:47.700 is unfolding in India. 00:20:47.700 --> 00:20:51.060 And nobody is paying heed to what’s happening in rural India. 00:20:51.060 --> 00:20:53.540 There are no doctors. There’s no infrastructure. 00:20:53.540 --> 00:20:55.170 And that’s something that existed, 00:20:55.170 --> 00:20:56.730 that has all this while existed 00:20:56.730 --> 00:20:59.150 between the — it’s a class problem. 00:20:59.150 --> 00:21:01.360 It’s the problem between our cities and rural India. 00:21:01.360 --> 00:21:04.740 There has always been a crisis of healthcare in rural India. 00:21:04.740 --> 00:21:09.390 But never has it been so acutely defined as it is now, 00:21:09.390 --> 00:21:11.320 from Bihar or West Bengal 00:21:11.860 --> 00:21:14.820 or Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh. 00:21:14.820 --> 00:21:17.440 Every day there are at least thousand deaths 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.610 which are being reported from rural India, 00:21:20.610 --> 00:21:24.470 and the government is not reporting them as COVID deaths 00:21:24.470 --> 00:21:27.610 because these people have no access to testing. 00:21:27.610 --> 00:21:29.120 So, if they have no access to testing, 00:21:29.120 --> 00:21:31.440 they don’t even go to hospitals and the deaths are happening, 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.690 the government counts them as regular deaths. 00:21:35.260 --> 00:21:36.520 NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Rana, 00:21:36.520 --> 00:21:38.580 could you talk about what the Modi government 00:21:38.580 --> 00:21:42.080 has said it will do to respond to the crisis, 00:21:42.080 --> 00:21:44.020 including, as you point out, 00:21:44.020 --> 00:21:47.680 the conspicuous absence of the most urgently needed 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.220 medical supplies, including, of course, oxygen? 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:54.580 RANA AYYUB: Well, the Modi government — Mr. Modi, 00:21:54.580 --> 00:21:57.470 in a speech the last time, had said that he will make sure 00:21:57.470 --> 00:22:01.520 that oxygen reaches every part of the country. 00:22:01.520 --> 00:22:03.960 But you will be able to solve a problem 00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:05.560 when you acknowledge the problem. 00:22:05.560 --> 00:22:07.630 Today, the health minister of India, Mr. Harsh Vardhan, 00:22:07.630 --> 00:22:09.730 went on television and said the death — 00:22:09.730 --> 00:22:12.040 the mortality rate in India is only 0.3% 00:22:12.860 --> 00:22:15.380 and that it is much, much lower than the rest of the world. 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:17.490 When you refuse to acknowledge a problem, 00:22:17.490 --> 00:22:18.890 when you refuse to acknowledge 00:22:18.890 --> 00:22:21.670 there are dead bodies lying all over the country, 00:22:21.670 --> 00:22:24.160 including miles away from the prime minister’s residence, 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:25.780 how will you solve the problem? 00:22:25.780 --> 00:22:28.390 There’s a problem of oxygen. Today, the country refused — 00:22:28.390 --> 00:22:30.870 India has refused help from the United Nations. 00:22:30.870 --> 00:22:32.310 That’s the hubris of the prime minister, 00:22:32.310 --> 00:22:34.330 because he does not want to be seen 00:22:34.330 --> 00:22:36.180 as taking help from the United Nations. 00:22:36.180 --> 00:22:40.610 And, in fact, it has been told that the new Parliament building 00:22:40.610 --> 00:22:43.100 that is being built in Delhi 00:22:43.800 --> 00:22:46.010 — prime focus will be given to building 00:22:46.010 --> 00:22:51.150 the new Parliament building. Is that our immediate priority? 00:22:51.150 --> 00:22:53.330 So, there isn’t — even while we are talking, 00:22:53.330 --> 00:22:55.929 even when the prime minister has spoken once so far, 00:22:56.500 --> 00:22:58.750 that is when he announced that — 00:22:58.750 --> 00:23:01.530 when he took the — not a press conference. 00:23:01.530 --> 00:23:03.000 He never takes a press conference. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:05.380 When he did that monologue eight days ago, 00:23:05.380 --> 00:23:07.460 ever since then, there’s hardly been any communication 00:23:07.460 --> 00:23:11.520 from either the prime minister or the health minister. 00:23:11.520 --> 00:23:13.580 The home minister, in the meantime, 00:23:13.580 --> 00:23:16.480 is still campaigning and still looking at the elections. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:18.230 So, while we talk, 00:23:18.230 --> 00:23:21.150 the last Kumbh snan took place two days ago. 00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:25.020 While we talk, the BJP took out a rally in southern India 00:23:25.020 --> 00:23:26.400 for a municipal election, 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.680 in which thousands of people participated. 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:31.290 So what action do you expect of this prime minister, 00:23:31.290 --> 00:23:35.460 who clearly has no plan in place to look at this? 00:23:35.460 --> 00:23:37.950 International help is pouring from various countries. 00:23:37.950 --> 00:23:40.480 Canada has offered generous help. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:43.780 So has United States. But it’s too little, too late. 00:23:43.780 --> 00:23:47.800 We still need a lot of help. This is too little for now. 00:23:48.990 --> 00:23:50.930 AMY GOODMAN: So, before we go, Rana, 00:23:51.530 --> 00:23:53.500 the latest information we have, 00:23:54.110 --> 00:23:57.000 journalists, about a hundred have died, 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:02.230 half of that just in the last two weeks alone, 00:24:02.870 --> 00:24:05.990 with information that they are being cracked down 00:24:05.990 --> 00:24:08.720 on getting out information — and not just journalists — 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.800 the Modi government removing tweets 00:24:10.800 --> 00:24:13.560 criticizing the handling of COVID, 00:24:13.560 --> 00:24:17.120 and a lot of these large multinational 00:24:17.120 --> 00:24:18.430 social media platforms 00:24:18.430 --> 00:24:20.640 cooperating with him to remove them. 00:24:22.290 --> 00:24:23.730 RANA AYYUB: Absolutely. 00:24:23.730 --> 00:24:27.280 All these social media platforms have always been complicit 00:24:27.280 --> 00:24:29.590 in enabling Modi’s authoritarianism. 00:24:29.590 --> 00:24:31.490 And it is no different right now. 00:24:31.490 --> 00:24:35.960 They’re removing posts critical of Modi’s management on Twitter, 00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:37.660 Facebook and Instagram. 00:24:38.350 --> 00:24:41.680 And journalists — journalists should be vaccinated, 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:43.920 and journalists are not being vaccinated. 00:24:45.420 --> 00:24:47.190 And they’re also worried for their safety. 00:24:47.190 --> 00:24:50.240 The three journalists that I spoke, from Uttar Pradesh, 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.530 they have sent me videos of the devastation. 00:24:52.530 --> 00:24:53.910 And I asked them, "Can I quote you?" 00:24:53.910 --> 00:24:56.560 because I’d rather quote them in my Washington Post 00:24:56.560 --> 00:24:59.100 piece which I’m writing on the devastation in rural India. 00:24:59.100 --> 00:25:00.430 And they said, "Please don’t do that. 00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:02.210 We will be arrested the first thing tomorrow morning. 00:25:02.210 --> 00:25:04.710 Please do not name us. We are sending these videos. 00:25:04.710 --> 00:25:06.050 If you do that, 00:25:06.050 --> 00:25:08.820 the chief minister will confiscate our property." 00:25:08.820 --> 00:25:11.590 That’s the priority of Yogi Adityanath, 00:25:11.590 --> 00:25:13.190 this autocrat, this dictator, 00:25:13.190 --> 00:25:16.830 who has said that anybody who reports on oxygen shortage, 00:25:16.830 --> 00:25:18.830 their property will be confiscated. 00:25:18.830 --> 00:25:21.490 So, journalists, of course, have been at the receiving end 00:25:21.490 --> 00:25:25.110 of this tirade of the government who’s trying to stop — 00:25:25.690 --> 00:25:27.700 trying to basically make every attempt 00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:30.900 to make sure that the real news does not get out of India. 00:25:31.900 --> 00:25:33.740 AMY GOODMAN: Rana Ayyub, I want to thank you so much 00:25:33.740 --> 00:25:36.510 for joining us in this time of terrible stress 00:25:36.510 --> 00:25:40.090 and catastrophe in your country, journalist, 00:25:40.090 --> 00:25:42.280 global opinions writer for The Washington Post. 00:25:42.280 --> 00:25:44.470 We’ll link to your piece for Time magazine, 00:25:44.470 --> 00:25:47.820 "How Modi Failed Us." And please be safe. 00:25:48.580 --> 00:25:51.690 Next up, as pressure grows for the U.S. and wealthy countries 00:25:51.690 --> 00:25:53.300 to put an end to vaccine hoarding 00:25:53.300 --> 00:25:55.550 and share their supply with India 00:25:55.550 --> 00:25:56.770 and the rest of the world, 00:25:56.770 --> 00:26:00.470 not to mention get out of the way for companies 00:26:00.470 --> 00:26:03.870 to be able to get patent recipes 00:26:03.870 --> 00:26:07.720 so that they can make vaccines for India and other places, 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:10.040 we’ll speak with an Indian doctor and economist. 00:26:10.040 --> 00:26:11.740 Stay with us. 00:27:21.590 --> 00:27:22.870 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, 00:27:22.870 --> 00:27:25.730 democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. 00:27:25.730 --> 00:27:27.780 I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, 00:27:27.780 --> 00:27:31.590 as we turn now, to continue with India, 00:27:31.590 --> 00:27:34.170 to look at the devastating situation there, 00:27:34.170 --> 00:27:37.230 looking at the reasons behind this lethal second wave 00:27:37.230 --> 00:27:39.550 and what can be done to help bring it under control. 00:27:39.550 --> 00:27:40.830 As in other countries, 00:27:40.830 --> 00:27:42.870 more infectious COVID-19 variants 00:27:42.870 --> 00:27:44.540 have been linked to a spread in cases. 00:27:44.540 --> 00:27:47.580 The so-called India variant has now been detected 00:27:47.580 --> 00:27:49.490 in at least 19 countries. 00:27:49.490 --> 00:27:53.350 To explain this, we’re joined by Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, 00:27:53.350 --> 00:27:56.280 an infectious disease physician at the Mayo Clinic. 00:27:56.280 --> 00:27:57.940 Doctor, welcome to Democracy Now! 00:27:57.940 --> 00:28:01.800 Thank you so much for coming on. Explain these variants in India 00:28:01.800 --> 00:28:05.200 and how they’ve contributed to this COVID storm. 00:28:07.010 --> 00:28:09.220 DR. PRIYA SAMPATHKUMAR: So, India 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:14.870 did very, very well with the first wave last year, 00:28:14.870 --> 00:28:16.570 compared to many other countries. 00:28:17.580 --> 00:28:22.480 And cases peaked and then came down fairly quickly, 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:23.950 and then there’s been a plateau. 00:28:23.950 --> 00:28:28.360 So, cases have been occurring at a low level for several months. 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:32.470 And the coronavirus has done what all viruses do. 00:28:33.430 --> 00:28:35.920 These viruses tend to mutate over time. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:39.470 And if they have, they accumulate enough mutations, 00:28:39.470 --> 00:28:41.210 they then behave differently, 00:28:41.210 --> 00:28:43.190 giving rise to what’s called a variant. 00:28:43.800 --> 00:28:48.780 So, the India variant is now widely reported 00:28:48.780 --> 00:28:51.790 as being present in many parts of the country. 00:28:51.790 --> 00:28:54.830 And the other variant that’s also circulating in India 00:28:54.830 --> 00:28:56.530 is the U.K. variant. 00:28:57.080 --> 00:29:00.380 And between them, these two variants probably make up 00:29:00.380 --> 00:29:03.450 the majority of the virus that’s circulating. 00:29:04.340 --> 00:29:06.640 This virus behaves differently now, 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.110 in that it’s much more infectious. 00:29:09.110 --> 00:29:13.380 And it’s still not known whether it’s also perhaps causing more 00:29:13.380 --> 00:29:17.170 severe disease, causing disease but presents in different ways, 00:29:17.170 --> 00:29:21.050 and whether it is causing more deaths, 00:29:21.050 --> 00:29:23.360 simply because there’s not enough information. 00:29:23.360 --> 00:29:26.570 We need a lot more testing than is happening now, 00:29:26.570 --> 00:29:29.500 and not just regular testing of individual cases, 00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:32.990 but sequencing, to understand how the virus is mutating. 00:29:34.860 --> 00:29:38.020 NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, could you talk about, Dr. Priya, 00:29:38.020 --> 00:29:39.990 why it is that you think 00:29:39.990 --> 00:29:42.350 the death rate has gone up so exponentially, 00:29:42.350 --> 00:29:44.350 not to mention the infection rate? 00:29:45.170 --> 00:29:46.470 We don’t know, as you said, 00:29:46.470 --> 00:29:49.320 whether the variants are responsible for deaths. 00:29:49.320 --> 00:29:52.960 Talk about the absence of crucial medical supplies 00:29:53.650 --> 00:29:55.010 and what else you think — 00:29:55.010 --> 00:29:59.810 what the reasons are for why the second wave is so widespread. 00:30:00.970 --> 00:30:02.680 DR. PRIYA SAMPATHKUMAR: So, there’s several reasons 00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:04.920 why the second wave is so widespread. 00:30:04.920 --> 00:30:07.600 First is, the variants are much more infectious. 00:30:07.600 --> 00:30:08.970 So, when there’s one case, 00:30:08.970 --> 00:30:12.240 there are many more people infected from that one case 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:14.960 than from the original strain of the virus. 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:18.540 The second thing is behaviors. 00:30:18.540 --> 00:30:20.890 People have completely relaxed their guard. 00:30:21.660 --> 00:30:22.930 In the last few months, 00:30:22.930 --> 00:30:25.990 there has been really very little masking 00:30:25.990 --> 00:30:29.890 in India and huge, huge gatherings. 00:30:29.890 --> 00:30:33.360 So, these have essentially been superspreader events, 00:30:33.360 --> 00:30:36.930 and the virus is now just raging across the country. 00:30:37.960 --> 00:30:41.550 So those are the two really big reasons. 00:30:41.550 --> 00:30:45.330 As far as the death rate, even if this variant strain 00:30:45.330 --> 00:30:49.460 was not causing more deaths than before, 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:51.380 the previous strain of the virus, 00:30:51.380 --> 00:30:54.630 the medical system is now completely overwhelmed. 00:30:54.630 --> 00:30:56.540 We know, from our own experiences 00:30:56.540 --> 00:30:57.750 in the United States, 00:30:57.750 --> 00:31:01.410 which is really, really resource rich compared to India — 00:31:01.410 --> 00:31:03.770 but when we had the surge in New York, 00:31:03.770 --> 00:31:06.730 what happened was there was a huge influx of cases 00:31:06.730 --> 00:31:08.110 into the hospitals. 00:31:08.110 --> 00:31:12.420 Hospitals are at their best when things are controlled and nurses 00:31:12.420 --> 00:31:15.590 and doctors can do everything they’ve been trained to do 00:31:15.590 --> 00:31:17.180 to take care of patients. 00:31:17.180 --> 00:31:20.960 When the numbers of patients coming in overwhelms the system, 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:24.160 everything breaks down, despite the best of intentions. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:27.840 Even if you have medications, even if you have ventilators, 00:31:27.840 --> 00:31:32.330 even if you have oxygen, you can’t have enough staff 00:31:32.330 --> 00:31:33.620 to take care of all these people. 00:31:33.620 --> 00:31:36.560 You don’t have enough triage facilities to ensure 00:31:36.560 --> 00:31:39.750 that the sickest people get care immediately. 00:31:39.750 --> 00:31:42.600 So, even in the absence of a variant, 00:31:43.370 --> 00:31:46.830 this kind of devastating death toll is inevitable 00:31:46.830 --> 00:31:49.650 when you overwhelm medical systems. 00:31:49.650 --> 00:31:50.910 AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, 00:31:50.910 --> 00:31:52.320 we want to thank you for joining us, 00:31:52.320 --> 00:31:55.490 from the Mayo Clinic, infectious disease physician there. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:59.340 AMY GOODMAN: We continue on what is happening in India 00:31:59.340 --> 00:32:02.900 and how it can be dealt with, particularly around the issue 00:32:02.900 --> 00:32:05.620 of vaccine apartheid and vaccine equity. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:08.320 As the death toll mounts in India, 00:32:08.320 --> 00:32:10.130 pressure is mounting for the U.S. 00:32:10.130 --> 00:32:13.090 and other wealthy countries to put an end to vaccine hoarding 00:32:13.090 --> 00:32:16.140 and share their supply with India and the rest of the world. 00:32:16.140 --> 00:32:18.520 Top White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci 00:32:18.520 --> 00:32:20.630 addressed the crisis in India, saying, 00:32:20.630 --> 00:32:23.470 "The only way that you’re going to adequately respond 00:32:23.470 --> 00:32:26.310 to a global pandemic is by having a global response, 00:32:26.310 --> 00:32:29.750 and a global response means equity throughout the world." 00:32:30.430 --> 00:32:33.280 Calls have also been growing for wealthy members 00:32:33.280 --> 00:32:34.980 of the World Trade Organization 00:32:35.660 --> 00:32:38.280 to waive intellectual property rights 00:32:38.280 --> 00:32:40.990 related to COVID-19 vaccines. 00:32:40.990 --> 00:32:45.170 Earlier this week, Democratic lawmakers and organizations 00:32:45.170 --> 00:32:47.160 working on this issue held a news conference 00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:51.370 to deliver a petition, signed by over 2 million people, 00:32:51.370 --> 00:32:54.990 urging President Biden and the WTO to grant the waiver. 00:32:54.990 --> 00:32:56.690 This is Senator Bernie Sanders. 00:32:57.430 --> 00:33:00.130 SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: To me, it seems that this is not 00:33:00.130 --> 00:33:02.400 really a debatable issue. 00:33:03.210 --> 00:33:06.440 We have the tools to save human lives, 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:11.750 and those tools should be readily available to all people. 00:33:12.750 --> 00:33:16.820 Poor people in Africa, in Asia, Latin America 00:33:16.820 --> 00:33:18.690 and throughout the world 00:33:18.690 --> 00:33:22.180 have as much right to be protected from the virus, 00:33:22.180 --> 00:33:26.970 have as much right to live, as people in wealthier nations. 00:33:26.970 --> 00:33:30.690 To me, you know, this is not a huge debate. 00:33:31.470 --> 00:33:34.040 This is common human morality. 00:33:34.570 --> 00:33:37.440 AMY GOODMAN: The WTO meets again next week 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:39.890 to reconsider the waiver. 00:33:39.890 --> 00:33:41.970 For more, we’re joined by Jayati Ghosh, 00:33:41.970 --> 00:33:43.260 economics professor 00:33:43.260 --> 00:33:45.030 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 00:33:45.030 --> 00:33:47.600 She was previously an economics professor 00:33:47.600 --> 00:33:50.540 at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India, 00:33:50.540 --> 00:33:53.200 where she taught for 35 years. 00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:55.710 Thanks so much for joining us, Professor Ghosh. 00:33:55.710 --> 00:34:01.490 Let’s talk about the causes of this catastrophe in India 00:34:01.490 --> 00:34:05.140 right now and what vaccine equity looks like, 00:34:05.140 --> 00:34:08.590 and particularly what the wealthiest country in the world, 00:34:08.590 --> 00:34:10.840 the United States, should be doing right now. 00:34:12.760 --> 00:34:14.260 JAYATI GHOSH: Well, the catastrophe in India, 00:34:14.260 --> 00:34:15.470 I would say right now, 00:34:15.470 --> 00:34:17.430 is actually a man-made catastrophe, 00:34:17.990 --> 00:34:20.370 because it really reflects a government 00:34:20.370 --> 00:34:22.740 that had become casual, irresponsible 00:34:22.740 --> 00:34:26.350 and, in fact, actively engaged in superspreader events. 00:34:26.350 --> 00:34:28.240 We have had, as was mentioned earlier, 00:34:28.240 --> 00:34:30.510 massive gatherings, political rallies, 00:34:30.510 --> 00:34:33.770 addressed by the prime minister and other political leaders, 00:34:33.770 --> 00:34:36.280 in which all guidelines were flouted. 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:39.710 We have had the bringing forward by a full year 00:34:39.710 --> 00:34:42.960 of a very major Hindu festival on the banks of the Ganges, 00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:45.140 at which 4 million people participated 00:34:45.140 --> 00:34:46.830 over the course of three weeks, 00:34:46.830 --> 00:34:49.400 which, again, is a huge superspreader. 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:51.480 And we haven’t even seen the full impact of that. 00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:54.180 That is going — those people are returning to their homes 00:34:54.180 --> 00:34:56.080 carrying this disease with them. 00:34:56.080 --> 00:34:59.240 So we’re going to see much more of that in the rural areas, 00:34:59.240 --> 00:35:02.240 where there’s absolutely no rural infrastructure for health. 00:35:03.100 --> 00:35:06.110 So, I think we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. 00:35:06.110 --> 00:35:08.270 It is beyond horror, what is happening. 00:35:08.270 --> 00:35:10.560 I have friends and colleagues 00:35:10.560 --> 00:35:12.320 who have died for lack of oxygen. 00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:14.280 It’s unbelievable, what is happening. 00:35:14.870 --> 00:35:16.790 Yet, this is not yet the worst. 00:35:17.570 --> 00:35:20.750 Obviously, what needs to be done as soon as possible is vaccinate 00:35:20.750 --> 00:35:22.910 as many people as can be done. 00:35:22.910 --> 00:35:24.720 There is a shortage of vaccines in India. 00:35:24.720 --> 00:35:27.050 There is a shortage of vaccines globally. 00:35:27.050 --> 00:35:29.400 But this is an artificial shortage. 00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:31.010 This need not happen. 00:35:31.010 --> 00:35:33.500 There is enough production capacity for vaccines 00:35:33.500 --> 00:35:34.790 in the world today 00:35:34.790 --> 00:35:37.030 to vaccinate 60% of the population 00:35:37.030 --> 00:35:39.890 by the end of this year, the global population, 00:35:39.890 --> 00:35:42.530 if we waive the intellectual property rights 00:35:42.530 --> 00:35:45.340 and transfer the knowledge for making these vaccines 00:35:45.340 --> 00:35:47.740 to all the different producers in different parts of the world 00:35:47.740 --> 00:35:49.880 who are willing to make it. 00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:52.640 It’s only these intellectual property rights 00:35:52.640 --> 00:35:54.300 and this protection of knowledge, 00:35:54.300 --> 00:35:56.110 which was publicly subsidized, 00:35:56.110 --> 00:36:00.320 which was actually created by massive public subsidies 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:04.790 and prior public research, this — if we waive these 00:36:04.790 --> 00:36:07.280 and allow the knowledge, we will actually be able 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:10.100 to vaccinate significant part of the population 00:36:10.100 --> 00:36:12.620 and do something about arresting this pandemic. 00:36:13.220 --> 00:36:16.630 Every day that we do not do this is more lives lost. 00:36:17.470 --> 00:36:18.850 NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Professor Ghosh, 00:36:18.850 --> 00:36:21.740 of course, India is home to the world’s 00:36:21.740 --> 00:36:25.930 largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute. 00:36:26.470 --> 00:36:30.580 How is it that the institute has failed 00:36:30.580 --> 00:36:36.220 to produce larger numbers of vaccines for domestic use? 00:36:37.420 --> 00:36:39.300 JAYATI GHOSH: Well, every company 00:36:39.300 --> 00:36:41.130 has its own manufacturing capacity. 00:36:41.130 --> 00:36:43.540 And they have done as much as they can. 00:36:43.540 --> 00:36:45.870 But it’s ridiculous to expect one company 00:36:45.870 --> 00:36:48.850 to meet the needs of 1.3 billion people 00:36:48.850 --> 00:36:51.250 or, in fact, the global population, 00:36:51.250 --> 00:36:53.910 because they have also many export commitments, 00:36:53.910 --> 00:36:56.290 to COVAX and to other areas. 00:36:56.290 --> 00:36:58.200 You really have to expand the production. 00:36:58.200 --> 00:37:00.340 You have to license other producers. 00:37:00.340 --> 00:37:02.560 This is actually — it’s a no-brainer. 00:37:02.560 --> 00:37:05.310 It’s so obvious that you cannot rely 00:37:05.310 --> 00:37:08.450 on the manufacturing capacities of just a few companies. 00:37:08.970 --> 00:37:11.520 And this is the problem that has actually plagued 00:37:11.520 --> 00:37:15.080 the entire attitude to vaccine development and production 00:37:15.080 --> 00:37:16.380 in this pandemic. 00:37:16.380 --> 00:37:18.550 A few companies have got the rights, 00:37:18.550 --> 00:37:20.280 and they are holding onto those rights, 00:37:20.280 --> 00:37:22.350 and they are only producing themselves. 00:37:22.350 --> 00:37:24.160 They must share this knowledge, 00:37:24.160 --> 00:37:25.940 and they must allow other producers, 00:37:25.940 --> 00:37:27.240 because that’s the only way 00:37:27.240 --> 00:37:28.900 we’re going to confront the crisis. 00:37:28.900 --> 00:37:30.900 You can’t blame one company and say, 00:37:30.900 --> 00:37:32.290 "You’re not producing enough." 00:37:32.290 --> 00:37:34.790 It’s impossible for one company to produce enough. 00:37:34.790 --> 00:37:36.360 AMY GOODMAN: I mean, we already know this, right? 00:37:36.360 --> 00:37:40.280 I mean, Biden announced this historic deal between Merck, 00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:42.780 which didn’t make a vaccine, and Johnson & Johnson, 00:37:42.780 --> 00:37:45.220 just so that those vaccines could get out there. 00:37:45.220 --> 00:37:46.560 That was a while ago. 00:37:46.560 --> 00:37:48.830 But I wanted to ask you, Professor Ghosh, 00:37:49.490 --> 00:37:52.630 about this back-and-forth. 00:37:52.630 --> 00:37:55.450 It was an interview with Medicare for All activist, 00:37:55.450 --> 00:37:58.510 the disability rights activist Ady Barkan. 00:37:58.510 --> 00:38:01.110 During the 2020 presidential campaign, 00:38:01.720 --> 00:38:03.950 then-candidate Joe Biden 00:38:03.950 --> 00:38:07.350 vowed to not let intellectual property barriers 00:38:07.350 --> 00:38:11.340 prevent other countries from mass-producing COVID vaccines. 00:38:11.340 --> 00:38:13.370 This is part of their exchange. 00:38:14.170 --> 00:38:16.870 ADY BARKAN: If the U.S. discovers a vaccine first, 00:38:16.870 --> 00:38:20.070 will you commit to sharing that technology with other countries? 00:38:20.870 --> 00:38:23.260 And will you ensure there are no patents to stand 00:38:23.260 --> 00:38:25.310 in the way of other countries and companies 00:38:25.310 --> 00:38:27.810 mass-producing those life-saving vaccines? 00:38:28.640 --> 00:38:30.680 JOE BIDEN: Absolutely, positively. 00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:35.030 This is the only humane thing in the world to do. 00:38:35.560 --> 00:38:38.109 Were I president now — and I propose we do it now — 00:38:38.610 --> 00:38:44.630 set aside $25 billion to put together a plan now — 00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:49.500 now, this instant — how we will distribute 00:38:50.530 --> 00:38:53.530 that vaccine when it’s made available, 00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:56.760 to guarantee it gets to every American 00:38:56.760 --> 00:38:59.680 and access is made available to the rest of the world. ... 00:38:59.680 --> 00:39:03.190 So, the answer is yes. Yes, yes, yes. 00:39:03.190 --> 00:39:05.280 And it’s not only a good thing to do, 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:07.140 it’s overwhelmingly in our interest to do it, 00:39:07.140 --> 00:39:09.430 as well. Overwhelmingly. 00:39:09.970 --> 00:39:12.920 AMY GOODMAN: So, that was candidate Biden. 00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:15.370 Is he living up to this promise, Professor Ghosh? 00:39:16.280 --> 00:39:18.080 JAYATI GHOSH: So far, unfortunately, not. 00:39:18.080 --> 00:39:22.520 The U.S. has continued to oppose the TRIPS waiver in the WTO. 00:39:22.520 --> 00:39:25.440 I am hoping that the pressure now and the realization 00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:28.510 that he was absolutely correct in what he said as candidate, 00:39:28.510 --> 00:39:32.530 that that should actually make the U.S. drop this opposition. 00:39:32.530 --> 00:39:35.770 It’s really just 14 or 16 countries in the world, 00:39:35.770 --> 00:39:38.690 the rich countries that are home to Big Pharma companies, 00:39:38.690 --> 00:39:41.050 that are preventing this from happening. 00:39:41.050 --> 00:39:43.940 Every other member of the WTO is supporting this. 00:39:43.940 --> 00:39:46.970 So, we really just need them to live up 00:39:46.970 --> 00:39:50.210 to what they obviously believed in even a few months ago. 00:39:50.210 --> 00:39:52.380 It’s actually not just a moral imperative — 00:39:52.380 --> 00:39:54.770 of course, it is — but it is sensible. 00:39:55.300 --> 00:39:57.730 If you do not contain this virus, 00:39:57.730 --> 00:39:59.390 you’re going to get these new mutant variants 00:39:59.390 --> 00:40:00.630 that were talked about, 00:40:00.630 --> 00:40:03.090 and you will have to have the whole process over again 00:40:03.090 --> 00:40:04.410 in your own countries. 00:40:04.410 --> 00:40:07.300 So it’s in the interests of rich country populations 00:40:07.300 --> 00:40:09.050 to suspend these patents right now. 00:40:11.040 --> 00:40:13.100 NERMEEN SHAIKH: I’d like to bring in Congressmember 00:40:13.100 --> 00:40:16.110 Ro Khanna into the conversation. 00:40:16.110 --> 00:40:19.200 He has been leading calls for the U.S. 00:40:19.200 --> 00:40:23.180 to do more to help countries like India, 00:40:23.180 --> 00:40:28.580 including to push for this waiver to the TRIPS Agreement. 00:40:29.230 --> 00:40:32.740 Good morning, Congressman Khanna. 00:40:32.740 --> 00:40:34.690 Could you talk about what’s happening 00:40:34.690 --> 00:40:37.050 and what you believe the U.S. needs to do now? 00:40:38.240 --> 00:40:39.530 REP. RO KHANNA: Well, thank you, Nermeen. 00:40:39.530 --> 00:40:42.180 And Professor Ghosh is absolutely right. 00:40:42.180 --> 00:40:45.760 We have to license this technology 00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:49.320 so that other countries can produce their vaccine. 00:40:49.320 --> 00:40:52.240 The argument that the manufacturing capacity 00:40:52.240 --> 00:40:55.030 isn’t there is simply not accurate. 00:40:55.030 --> 00:40:57.629 I was speaking to the ambassador of India yesterday. 00:40:58.190 --> 00:41:00.630 He said that there are 10 production sites 00:41:00.630 --> 00:41:02.730 ready to manufacture this vaccine. 00:41:02.730 --> 00:41:04.920 Obviously, we need to invest more 00:41:04.920 --> 00:41:07.210 in transferring the technical know-how 00:41:07.210 --> 00:41:09.960 and further building the production capacity, 00:41:09.960 --> 00:41:13.680 but the main thing is they need to have the vaccine recipe, 00:41:13.680 --> 00:41:16.210 the formula, to be able to do this. 00:41:16.210 --> 00:41:18.420 One misconception is this idea 00:41:18.420 --> 00:41:20.420 that if we have the TRIPS waiver, 00:41:20.420 --> 00:41:23.390 somehow Pfizer or Moderna won’t get paid. 00:41:23.390 --> 00:41:24.690 That is false. 00:41:24.690 --> 00:41:27.010 This is not asking these companies 00:41:27.010 --> 00:41:30.130 to give away their IP for free. 00:41:30.130 --> 00:41:33.130 What we’re saying is that they need to license it. 00:41:33.130 --> 00:41:36.920 Compulsory licensing would require compensation. 00:41:36.920 --> 00:41:41.070 It’s just that they would be able to use the vaccine. 00:41:41.070 --> 00:41:43.320 Currently, it’s important to understand, 00:41:43.320 --> 00:41:45.660 they’re not allowing manufacturers 00:41:45.660 --> 00:41:46.860 to use the vaccine, 00:41:46.860 --> 00:41:48.800 even manufacturers willing to pay for it. 00:41:48.800 --> 00:41:50.170 And what we’re saying is, 00:41:50.170 --> 00:41:52.520 "No, they need to be required to license it." 00:41:52.520 --> 00:41:54.220 AMY GOODMAN: So, you’re close to — 00:41:55.030 --> 00:41:57.150 pretty much, to the leadership now, 00:41:57.150 --> 00:41:59.360 the Democratic leadership, in both houses, 00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:01.680 also in the White House. What is happening? 00:42:01.680 --> 00:42:05.250 You heard that interaction where candidate Biden 00:42:05.250 --> 00:42:07.820 said he absolutely understands this. 00:42:07.820 --> 00:42:11.210 And that cooperation is happening to develop vaccines 00:42:11.210 --> 00:42:14.120 in the U.S., like Merck and Johnson & Johnson. 00:42:14.120 --> 00:42:17.240 So, when will this happen internationally, 00:42:17.240 --> 00:42:18.940 in terms of the U.S.? 00:42:19.690 --> 00:42:22.060 REP. RO KHANNA: Well, several of us have made it very clear 00:42:22.060 --> 00:42:24.270 to the administration that we need to do it, 00:42:24.270 --> 00:42:26.120 we need to be for a TRIPS waiver. 00:42:26.120 --> 00:42:28.480 You’ve had prominent voices, like Joseph Stiglitz, 00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:30.990 take to The Washington Post op-ed page. 00:42:30.990 --> 00:42:33.920 Public Citizen has been advocating for this. 00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:37.420 I think the concern is that these companies — 00:42:37.420 --> 00:42:40.020 Pfizer, Moderna — have so much power 00:42:40.020 --> 00:42:43.230 over the distribution of vaccines in the United States, 00:42:43.230 --> 00:42:46.130 the production of vaccines, that there is some concern, 00:42:46.130 --> 00:42:48.300 among some corners in the administration, 00:42:48.300 --> 00:42:51.700 that no one wants to rock the boat with these companies, 00:42:51.700 --> 00:42:53.870 because, obviously, we want to make sure 00:42:54.410 --> 00:42:56.750 everything goes smoothly in the United States. 00:42:56.750 --> 00:42:58.490 But I believe if President Biden 00:42:59.460 --> 00:43:02.460 gets on the phone with these CEOs 00:43:02.460 --> 00:43:07.180 and makes the case to them, that they will have to comply. 00:43:07.180 --> 00:43:10.010 They will continue the production in the United States, 00:43:10.010 --> 00:43:11.330 and they will actually see 00:43:11.330 --> 00:43:14.760 that it’s in their long-term strategic interest, 00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:17.530 with the markets in India and the rest of the world, 00:43:17.530 --> 00:43:19.220 to, at the very least, 00:43:19.220 --> 00:43:22.980 temporarily suspend the IP requirements 00:43:22.980 --> 00:43:24.350 and share the vaccine formula. 00:43:24.350 --> 00:43:25.900 AMY GOODMAN: And, I mean, you have four 00:43:25.900 --> 00:43:27.850 Indian American congressmembers, right? 00:43:27.850 --> 00:43:29.230 Ro Khanna, yourself. 00:43:29.230 --> 00:43:32.460 You have Pramila Jayapal of Washington, 00:43:32.460 --> 00:43:35.820 just went home, her family infected with COVID, 00:43:35.820 --> 00:43:38.410 came back to this country, said she’s demanding this. 00:43:38.410 --> 00:43:42.100 You’ve got Ami Bera, who is a doctor from California. 00:43:42.100 --> 00:43:45.150 And you’ve got Congressmember Krishnamoorthi of Illinois 00:43:45.150 --> 00:43:46.850 demanding that this happen. 00:43:48.480 --> 00:43:50.580 REP. RO KHANNA: Well, Nermeen, it highlighted to me 00:43:50.580 --> 00:43:52.920 the importance of representation. 00:43:52.920 --> 00:43:54.890 I actually never really fully appreciated it 00:43:54.890 --> 00:43:57.380 until this crisis, but you will see 00:43:57.380 --> 00:44:01.420 that our voices were one of the first in Congress 00:44:01.420 --> 00:44:04.020 sounding the alarm of what was happening in India, 00:44:04.020 --> 00:44:06.840 largely because either having family there 00:44:06.840 --> 00:44:08.730 or representing constituencies 00:44:08.730 --> 00:44:10.780 with lots of people who had family there. 00:44:11.350 --> 00:44:14.620 And I’m glad that the president and Secretary Blinken 00:44:14.620 --> 00:44:18.610 have taken action now to send oxygen, to send PPE, 00:44:18.610 --> 00:44:22.800 to send essential equipment that India needs. 00:44:22.800 --> 00:44:25.310 But a lot of it was in response to the activism 00:44:25.310 --> 00:44:27.360 and the early voices in Congress. 00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:30.370 Now the key issue is this TRIPS waiver, 00:44:30.370 --> 00:44:31.850 is having the president call 00:44:31.850 --> 00:44:33.870 these pharmaceutical companies and say, 00:44:33.870 --> 00:44:37.090 "You’re going to get paid. You’re going to get compensated. 00:44:37.090 --> 00:44:39.790 In fact, this is in your long-term commercial interest. 00:44:39.790 --> 00:44:41.950 But you can’t be refusing — 00:44:41.950 --> 00:44:45.780 you can’t be refusing to license your vaccines." 00:44:45.780 --> 00:44:47.000 And that’s what’s going on. 00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:49.570 And we should be absolutely clear about this. 00:44:49.570 --> 00:44:51.730 It’s not that they’re asking for money. 00:44:51.730 --> 00:44:54.740 It’s not that they’re asking for a profit. 00:44:54.740 --> 00:44:59.050 It’s that they are not willing to license their vaccines. 00:44:59.050 --> 00:45:01.610 Even making money, even making a profit, 00:45:01.610 --> 00:45:04.890 they’re not willing to let other countries manufacture it. 00:45:04.890 --> 00:45:06.160 And that’s just cruel. 00:45:06.160 --> 00:45:07.360 AMY GOODMAN: We have to break. 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:10.480 Then we’re going to go to what happened last night, 00:45:10.480 --> 00:45:13.280 this historic joint session of Congress 00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:16.500 that President Biden just addressed. 00:45:16.500 --> 00:45:19.590 I want to thank our guests, doctor — 00:45:20.210 --> 00:45:23.490 I want to thank Jayati Ghosh, economics professor 00:45:23.490 --> 00:45:26.080 at University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Ro Khanna, 00:45:26.080 --> 00:45:28.420 Democratic congressmember from California, 00:45:28.420 --> 00:45:30.710 vice chair of the India Caucus in the House, 00:45:31.330 --> 00:45:33.030 and ask you both to stay with 00:46:24.780 --> 00:46:26.480 this. 00:46:33.690 --> 00:46:35.010 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, 00:46:35.010 --> 00:46:37.480 democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. 00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:39.520 I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. 00:46:39.520 --> 00:46:41.410 You can watch, listen and read transcripts 00:46:41.410 --> 00:46:43.050 using our iOS and Android apps. 00:46:43.050 --> 00:46:44.840 Download them for free from the Apple App 00:46:44.840 --> 00:46:47.200 Store or Google Play Store today. 00:46:47.200 --> 00:46:48.780 Well, Wednesday night, 00:46:48.780 --> 00:46:51.000 on the eve of his 100th day in office, 00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:52.610 President Biden gave his first speech 00:46:52.610 --> 00:46:54.040 to a joint session of Congress, 00:46:54.040 --> 00:46:57.680 with attendance restricted to just about 200 — 00:46:57.680 --> 00:47:02.210 1,600 people usually fit in — to allow social distancing. 00:47:02.950 --> 00:47:06.570 Biden opened by noting that for the first time in history, 00:47:06.570 --> 00:47:09.450 two women sat behind him: House Speaker Nancy 00:47:09.450 --> 00:47:11.450 Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris. 00:47:12.060 --> 00:47:14.930 PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President, 00:47:20.090 --> 00:47:26.090 no president has ever said those words from this podium. 00:47:26.090 --> 00:47:28.230 No president has ever said those words. 00:47:28.230 --> 00:47:29.930 And it’s about time. 00:47:35.050 --> 00:47:36.870 AMY GOODMAN: Biden used his address to propose 00:47:36.870 --> 00:47:39.510 trillions of dollars in new economic proposals 00:47:39.510 --> 00:47:43.870 and unveiled his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, 00:47:43.870 --> 00:47:46.020 which includes $1 trillion in new spending 00:47:46.020 --> 00:47:49.810 and $800 billion in tax credits 00:47:49.810 --> 00:47:53.490 aimed at expanding access to education and child care. 00:47:53.490 --> 00:47:56.020 He also called on lawmakers to support his plan 00:47:56.020 --> 00:47:58.690 to invest heavily in the country’s infrastructure, 00:47:58.690 --> 00:48:00.580 to expand the social safety net, 00:48:00.580 --> 00:48:04.650 in part by funding it with $4 trillion in taxes 00:48:04.650 --> 00:48:06.540 from the rich and corporations. 00:48:07.290 --> 00:48:11.060 Biden also condemned systemic racism and called on lawmakers 00:48:11.060 --> 00:48:14.740 to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. 00:48:14.740 --> 00:48:17.250 On the foreign policy front, he vowed to end what he called 00:48:17.250 --> 00:48:20.790 the "forever war in Afghanistan" and referenced China four times. 00:48:20.790 --> 00:48:22.550 For more, we’re joined by Ro Khanna, 00:48:22.550 --> 00:48:24.420 Democratic congressmember from California, 00:48:24.420 --> 00:48:26.040 member of the House Committee on Oversight 00:48:26.040 --> 00:48:28.339 and Reform and House Armed Services Committee. 00:48:29.470 --> 00:48:31.700 Thanks so much for staying with us, 00:48:31.700 --> 00:48:33.300 Congressmember Khanna. 00:48:33.300 --> 00:48:37.750 Let’s talk about his proposal on taxing the rich. 00:48:37.750 --> 00:48:39.920 And explain the significance of it, 00:48:39.920 --> 00:48:42.790 how popular it is in this country — 00:48:42.790 --> 00:48:44.510 except for the U.S. Senate. 00:48:45.820 --> 00:48:47.190 REP. RO KHANNA: I thought the president 00:48:47.190 --> 00:48:51.520 gave a very powerful and consequential speech. 00:48:51.520 --> 00:48:54.580 We’ve come a long way from when President Clinton 00:48:54.580 --> 00:48:58.510 said that the era of big government is over. 00:48:58.510 --> 00:49:01.790 This speech was an explicit rejection 00:49:01.790 --> 00:49:04.110 of the neoliberal framework 00:49:04.110 --> 00:49:06.950 that I would say started with Reagan and Thatcher. 00:49:06.950 --> 00:49:09.440 And President Biden made the case 00:49:09.440 --> 00:49:12.540 that you need an active role of government 00:49:12.540 --> 00:49:16.100 in investing in people to unleash their potential, 00:49:16.100 --> 00:49:19.280 not massive deregulation and tax cuts. 00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:21.820 And he also explicitly made the case 00:49:21.820 --> 00:49:23.760 that those at the very top 00:49:23.760 --> 00:49:27.310 are simply not paying what he said is their fair share — 00:49:27.310 --> 00:49:30.560 in many cases, they’re actually not 00:49:30.560 --> 00:49:32.020 [inaudible] as they owe — 00:49:32.020 --> 00:49:35.060 and that we can raise the tax on the very wealthy 00:49:35.060 --> 00:49:37.550 and collect the taxes from them and corporations, 00:49:37.550 --> 00:49:38.960 to invest in our working class, 00:49:38.960 --> 00:49:41.860 to invest in our middle class, to invest in our country. 00:49:41.860 --> 00:49:44.060 And it was very popular, the speech, 00:49:44.570 --> 00:49:46.010 and very well delivered. 00:49:46.010 --> 00:49:48.020 AMY GOODMAN: Jayati Ghosh is remaining with us. 00:49:48.020 --> 00:49:50.840 She is a leading economics professor in this country, 00:49:50.840 --> 00:49:52.889 from University of Massachusetts Amherst. 00:49:53.700 --> 00:49:57.120 If you can talk about how transformational 00:49:57.950 --> 00:50:01.650 these proposals are, if they in fact became law, 00:50:01.650 --> 00:50:05.400 what Biden is presenting here, shocking even progressives? 00:50:06.920 --> 00:50:08.450 JAYATI GHOSH: Yes, I think it’s unexpected, 00:50:08.450 --> 00:50:09.690 and it’s very welcome. 00:50:09.690 --> 00:50:12.910 It’s very important to turn the direction 00:50:12.910 --> 00:50:16.000 of the nature of public intervention away 00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:20.330 from protecting the interests of the rich and of large capital 00:50:20.330 --> 00:50:22.120 to protecting the interests of people 00:50:22.120 --> 00:50:24.240 and making the economy work for people. 00:50:24.240 --> 00:50:27.060 This has not been the aim of government policy 00:50:27.060 --> 00:50:28.400 across the world, 00:50:28.400 --> 00:50:31.930 and especially in the U.S., for the last three decades. 00:50:31.930 --> 00:50:34.550 So, it’s very refreshing to see this shift. 00:50:35.290 --> 00:50:38.120 It’s not enough, but it’s a very important first step. 00:50:38.120 --> 00:50:39.920 And I hope that this will actually have 00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:42.580 very positive implications for the rest of the world. 00:50:42.580 --> 00:50:46.520 Already we’ve seen that Janet Yellen’s declaration 00:50:46.520 --> 00:50:49.320 that the U.S. would support a minimum global tax rate 00:50:49.320 --> 00:50:54.130 for corporations of 21% has had very significant impact. 00:50:54.130 --> 00:50:55.770 I am part of a global commission, 00:50:55.770 --> 00:50:58.280 with Professor Stiglitz and José Antonio Ocampo 00:50:58.280 --> 00:50:59.620 and others, that is saying 00:50:59.620 --> 00:51:03.370 that we must have a minimum tax rate for corporations 00:51:03.370 --> 00:51:07.960 and to ensure that we tax them as one single unit globally, 00:51:07.960 --> 00:51:09.620 which is how they make their profits, 00:51:09.620 --> 00:51:12.790 so that we don’t have this massive shift of profits 00:51:12.790 --> 00:51:15.070 into low-tax jurisdictions 00:51:15.070 --> 00:51:17.470 so that people everywhere in the world lose out. 00:51:18.580 --> 00:51:19.810 NERMEEN SHAIKH: Congressman Khanna, 00:51:19.810 --> 00:51:26.360 you’ve said that Biden’s vision will not come into view 00:51:26.360 --> 00:51:30.760 until we end the filibuster. Could you explain why? 00:51:32.860 --> 00:51:34.590 REP. RO KHANNA: Well, the reality is that 00:51:34.590 --> 00:51:40.610 a lot of the proposals, on immigration, on gun safety, 00:51:40.610 --> 00:51:44.670 on voting rights, require 60 votes. 00:51:44.670 --> 00:51:46.560 You can’t do that through reconciliation. 00:51:46.560 --> 00:51:50.590 And there’s just no way you’re going to get 10 Republicans 00:51:50.590 --> 00:51:51.950 to vote for some of those things, 00:51:51.950 --> 00:51:55.450 when they weren’t even willing to vote for basic COVID relief. 00:51:55.450 --> 00:51:58.150 So we need to get rid of the filibuster. 00:51:58.150 --> 00:52:00.340 It also, if we don’t have the filibuster, 00:52:00.340 --> 00:52:02.200 would decrease the leverage 00:52:02.200 --> 00:52:04.350 of some of the members in our own caucus 00:52:04.350 --> 00:52:07.750 and allow for the president’s agenda to go forward. 00:52:08.370 --> 00:52:10.380 But I agree with Professor Ghosh 00:52:10.380 --> 00:52:14.230 in the transformative nature of the speech. 00:52:14.230 --> 00:52:16.430 I mean, it’s sort of like Amartya Sen’s ideas 00:52:16.430 --> 00:52:18.010 or Professor Ghosh’s, 00:52:18.010 --> 00:52:19.570 others’ ideas are finally ascended, 00:52:19.570 --> 00:52:22.510 this idea that you don’t just have government 00:52:22.510 --> 00:52:26.330 spending on the military — still 53% of our budget — 00:52:26.330 --> 00:52:28.960 that your investment in education and healthcare 00:52:28.960 --> 00:52:31.040 is actually freedom-enhancing, 00:52:31.040 --> 00:52:33.170 that it’s actually what you need for people 00:52:33.170 --> 00:52:35.590 to have true freedom in a society, 00:52:35.590 --> 00:52:37.660 and it’s good for economic growth. 00:52:37.660 --> 00:52:40.480 And so, when you look at the philosophical framework 00:52:40.480 --> 00:52:44.430 that Biden is adopting, that is a dramatic shift 00:52:44.430 --> 00:52:47.440 in the right direction for our country and the world. 00:52:48.950 --> 00:52:50.510 NERMEEN SHAIKH: Professor Ghosh, could you talk about — 00:52:50.510 --> 00:52:53.270 you mentioned that Biden’s proposals 00:52:53.940 --> 00:52:56.780 would have a positive impact globally. 00:52:56.780 --> 00:52:59.579 Could you say a little more about why you think that is? 00:53:00.330 --> 00:53:01.960 JAYATI GHOSH: I think the tax proposal 00:53:01.960 --> 00:53:05.380 for minimum corporate tax globally is very important 00:53:05.380 --> 00:53:07.560 and will have a very positive impact. 00:53:07.560 --> 00:53:09.780 The other aspects, unfortunately, 00:53:09.780 --> 00:53:12.240 I don’t think would necessarily have a positive impact. 00:53:12.240 --> 00:53:14.010 Certainly, the U.S. economy growing 00:53:14.010 --> 00:53:16.220 will help all other economies grow. 00:53:16.220 --> 00:53:19.430 But it’s very important for other countries 00:53:19.430 --> 00:53:21.200 to have the options for public 00:53:21.200 --> 00:53:24.350 spending that are so easily available to the United States. 00:53:24.350 --> 00:53:26.770 And for that, you really need the United States 00:53:26.770 --> 00:53:31.210 to be actively participating in global architecture changes, 00:53:31.210 --> 00:53:34.600 which, again, Professor Stiglitz and others have called for. 00:53:34.600 --> 00:53:37.860 We need to ensure that there is, for example, 00:53:37.860 --> 00:53:41.490 a very large issue of special drawing rights by the IMF, 00:53:41.490 --> 00:53:43.180 that will make more finances available 00:53:43.180 --> 00:53:44.650 to developing countries. 00:53:44.650 --> 00:53:47.540 You have to do something about a whole lot of sovereign debt 00:53:47.540 --> 00:53:50.360 that is simply unpayable. You have to restructure it, 00:53:50.360 --> 00:53:52.190 so that many developing countries 00:53:52.190 --> 00:53:55.380 who are massive debt burdens, not for their own fault, 00:53:55.380 --> 00:53:56.710 can really now get on 00:53:56.710 --> 00:53:59.340 with not spending all this money on debt service, 00:53:59.340 --> 00:54:01.910 but spend it on health and on people, 00:54:01.910 --> 00:54:04.010 on employment, on education. 00:54:04.010 --> 00:54:05.830 So, I think that the U.S. still 00:54:05.830 --> 00:54:08.260 has a very important global role to play. 00:54:08.260 --> 00:54:12.810 And I recognize the importance to do things for Americans. 00:54:12.810 --> 00:54:16.530 But it’s very important, in the U.S. interest, 00:54:16.530 --> 00:54:19.250 to make sure that the kinds of strategies 00:54:19.250 --> 00:54:21.250 that he’s tying to implement in the U.S. 00:54:21.250 --> 00:54:24.310 are also available to people in the developing world 00:54:24.310 --> 00:54:26.010 and to governments elsewhere. 00:54:27.400 --> 00:54:28.650 AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Khanna, 00:54:28.650 --> 00:54:30.850 are you concerned — I mean, on the one hand, 00:54:30.850 --> 00:54:33.490 you have President Biden forcefully talking 00:54:33.490 --> 00:54:36.650 about ending the "forever war" in Afghanistan; 00:54:36.650 --> 00:54:39.370 you’ve called for a slashing of the Pentagon budget; 00:54:39.980 --> 00:54:42.100 he’s calling for an increase of the budget — 00:54:42.100 --> 00:54:47.030 that he’s just shifting the possible military might, 00:54:47.030 --> 00:54:50.730 setting up a kind of Cold War situation with China and Russia? 00:54:50.730 --> 00:54:53.170 He talked about China a number of times 00:54:53.170 --> 00:54:54.860 in his speech last night. 00:54:54.860 --> 00:54:57.780 Can you talk about how you redirect that, 00:54:58.640 --> 00:55:03.460 and also about, you know, his taking on white supremacists, 00:55:03.460 --> 00:55:06.550 calling them, very directly, terrorists at home? 00:55:09.190 --> 00:55:10.950 REP. RO KHANNA: Well, I was disappointed 00:55:10.950 --> 00:55:12.640 in the president’s defense budget. 00:55:12.640 --> 00:55:17.180 I mean, the defense budget is still 53% of the federal budget. 00:55:17.180 --> 00:55:21.380 And I think that that is a overprioritization of defense 00:55:21.380 --> 00:55:25.040 over the investments that we need in education, 00:55:25.040 --> 00:55:27.600 in healthcare, in infrastructure, 00:55:27.600 --> 00:55:31.240 and makes it more difficult to fully achieve the vision 00:55:31.240 --> 00:55:33.290 that he is talking about. 00:55:33.290 --> 00:55:36.700 And on China, we need to make sure that we are competitive. 00:55:36.700 --> 00:55:38.650 I agree with him that, ultimately, 00:55:38.650 --> 00:55:40.970 we have to show that liberal democracy 00:55:40.970 --> 00:55:43.410 is a superior model for the world. 00:55:43.410 --> 00:55:45.340 And we want to be leading in clean tech, 00:55:45.340 --> 00:55:48.960 in AI, in synthetic biology, in jobs of the future. 00:55:48.960 --> 00:55:52.430 But that doesn’t mean that we have to replicate a Cold War, 00:55:52.430 --> 00:55:54.940 that we should be engaged in xenophobia 00:55:54.940 --> 00:55:57.740 or fear of Chinese immigrants. 00:55:57.740 --> 00:56:00.910 In fact, the reason we’re having this conversation on Zoom 00:56:00.910 --> 00:56:02.680 is because of a Chinese immigrant, 00:56:02.680 --> 00:56:06.310 who was denied entry into the United States seven times 00:56:06.310 --> 00:56:08.520 and was able to come on his eighth try 00:56:08.520 --> 00:56:09.920 and then founded Zoom. 00:56:09.920 --> 00:56:12.350 And so, I rather those individuals 00:56:12.350 --> 00:56:14.050 be in the United States. 00:56:14.610 --> 00:56:20.300 We win when we have collective advances on science. 00:56:20.300 --> 00:56:23.540 If he wants to solve cancer, we have a better chance of doing 00:56:23.540 --> 00:56:25.640 that if it’s not just American scientists, 00:56:25.640 --> 00:56:27.060 but scientists around the world. 00:56:27.060 --> 00:56:29.400 So, there have to be, on areas of disease, 00:56:29.400 --> 00:56:31.870 on climate change, international cooperation. 00:56:31.870 --> 00:56:36.310 We ought not to replicate the paradigms of the 20th century 00:56:36.310 --> 00:56:40.800 with colonialism and cold wars into a 21st century. 00:56:40.800 --> 00:56:44.490 So, let’s compete without making that Cold War framework. 00:56:44.490 --> 00:56:46.490 AMY GOODMAN: And very quickly, Congressmember Khanna, 00:56:47.430 --> 00:56:49.950 why won’t the Democratic leadership move 00:56:49.950 --> 00:56:51.810 in the Senate on the filibuster? 00:56:51.810 --> 00:56:55.650 It’s clear this all cannot happen without that gone, 00:56:57.050 --> 00:57:01.420 that upheld slavery, that upheld Jim Crow laws. 00:57:04.060 --> 00:57:05.970 REP. RO KHANNA: Well, I think what you see is, we have — 00:57:05.970 --> 00:57:08.600 the Democratic leadership, the Democratic Party, 00:57:08.600 --> 00:57:12.940 has accepted the bold progressive vision 00:57:12.940 --> 00:57:14.770 in terms of ideas. 00:57:14.770 --> 00:57:18.230 But now there has to be an equally important second step, 00:57:18.230 --> 00:57:19.450 complementary step, 00:57:19.450 --> 00:57:22.430 and that is, there has to be bold institutional reform. 00:57:23.020 --> 00:57:27.130 Reform about ideas and a bold vision is necessary, 00:57:27.130 --> 00:57:31.870 but insufficient if it doesn’t come with institutional reform. 00:57:31.870 --> 00:57:35.940 And a filibuster, ending that is one key component, 00:57:35.940 --> 00:57:39.390 as is voting rights, as is campaign finance reform, 00:57:39.390 --> 00:57:41.720 as is ending gerrymandering. 00:57:42.300 --> 00:57:45.260 Unless we have institutional reform, 00:57:45.260 --> 00:57:48.410 you’re going to continue to see a frustration with politics, 00:57:48.410 --> 00:57:51.550 where policies at 70, 80% approval, 00:57:51.550 --> 00:57:53.430 which even the president is supporting, 00:57:53.430 --> 00:57:55.320 the majority leader is supporting, 00:57:55.320 --> 00:57:57.060 the speaker of the House is supporting, 00:57:57.060 --> 00:57:59.010 and yet are not getting enacted. 00:57:59.010 --> 00:58:01.940 So, we have to make the case that institutional reform 00:58:01.940 --> 00:58:04.090 is tied to the substantive vision. 00:58:04.090 --> 00:58:05.640 AMY GOODMAN: Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna 00:58:05.640 --> 00:58:08.130 of California, thanks so much for being with us. 00:58:08.130 --> 00:58:10.190 And, economics professor Jayati Ghosh 00:58:10.190 --> 00:58:11.610 of the University of Massachusetts 00:58:11.610 --> 00:58:12.880 Amherst, thanks so much. 00:58:12.880 --> 00:58:14.160 JAYATI GHOSH: Thank you. 00:58:14.160 --> 00:58:15.400 AMY GOODMAN: And that does it for our show. 00:58:15.400 --> 00:58:18.950 A very happy third birthday to Jahan, 00:58:18.950 --> 00:58:22.020 our dear producer Deena Guzder’s son. 00:58:22.020 --> 00:58:24.810 And tune in this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. 00:58:24.810 --> 00:58:29.490 Eastern time to a live stream of my panel on whistleblowers 00:58:29.490 --> 00:58:33.010 with Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg, 00:58:33.010 --> 00:58:35.350 as we move into the 50th anniversary 00:58:35.350 --> 00:58:38.020 of Ellsberg’s release of the Pentagon Papers. 00:58:38.020 --> 00:58:40.250 For more information for that event, 00:58:41.120 --> 00:58:44.120 as we span the world, from Russia to California, 00:58:44.120 --> 00:58:46.850 you can go to democracynow.org. 00:58:46.850 --> 00:58:49.870 That does it for our show. Democracy Now! 00:58:49.870 --> 00:58:51.880 produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, 00:58:51.880 --> 00:58:54.750 Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Carla Wills, Tami Woronoff, 00:58:54.750 --> 00:58:57.320 Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, 00:58:57.320 --> 00:58:58.960 John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud. 00:58:58.960 --> 00:59:00.810 I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.