therealnews--2020-03-25--Coronavirus Is The Shock, Dictatorship Is The Doctrine

This is a rush transcript and may contain errors .
It will be updated .
Greg Wilpert : It ’ s The Real News Network , I ’ m Greg Wilpert in Arlington , Virginia .
Recently , thousands of Israelis posted the cover of Naomi Klein ’ s book The Shock Doctrine on their social media accounts without further comment .
They were doing so because they had sensed that the book is a warning and that it ’ s becoming a reality before their very eyes .
The crisis has shocked the population and this now allows the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and undemocratic policies .
All over the world , we are seeing how governments are declaring states of emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic and are undertaking extreme measures to stop the spread of the virus .
However , other than perhaps China , no country in the world has gone as far as Israel in clamping down on civil liberties .
First , prime minister Netanyahu closed the courts a few days before he was supposed to appear in court himself to face charges of corruption .
Then , as the opposition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Knesset , Israel ’ s parliament , the ruling coalition that no longer has a majority decided to shut down the Knesset .
Next and most alarming , the government used an executive order to grant unlimited powers of surveillance to the secret police , tracking the phones of every person in Israel at all times , supposedly to keep track of infected people and to prevent them from spreading the disease and to punish them if they break the curfew .
And finally , when thousands of Israelis wanted to protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was denied .
Even a convoy of cars , in which everyone sits in their own car and does not interact with others , was forbidden .
Here ’ s how prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the measures last week .
Benjamin Netany… : [ foreign language 00:01:42 ] .
The government will approve tonight executive orders for a state of emergency to allow the use of digital measures to fight the coronavirus .
These measures will help us very much to find the location of the virus and the location of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the virus .
We discussed it yesterday at the cabinet meeting for six hours .
[ foreign language 00:02:06 ] .
Me , and I must say , almost all… No , all the ministers .
We wanted to ensure a meticulous supervision of this measure to prevent misuse .
The legal council accepted our request and this evening we shall authorize the use of digital tools for a limited time of 30 days .
Israel is a democracy .
It must keep the balance between individual rights and the collective needs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wilpert : Joining me now to discuss how governments are taking advantage of the pandemic is Antony Loewenstein .
He is an independent journalist and author of the book , Disaster Capitalism : Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe .
Thanks for joining us again , Antony .
Antony Loewenstein : Thanks for having me .
Greg Wilpert : So , many countries that the coronavirus has hit , has hit them actually much harder than Israel , but they have not implemented such extreme measures as Israel .
And so Israeli government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because of these extreme measures that Israel hasn ’ t been hit so hard .
However , there are many countries that slowed down the spread of the virus without taking such extreme measures .
So the question is why Israel of all countries is reacting in such an extreme way to the coronavirus .
What do you think ?
Antony Loewenstein : Well there ’ s a few reasons .
I was living in Jerusalem until just recently .
So I saw the beginning of this pandemic , but I left thankfully @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happened , the lockdown .
I think what you ’ re seeing in Israel really is almost an inevitability .
What I mean by that is for two reasons .
One , Israel is a country that has spent decades occupying , monitoring , surveilling millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and in Israel proper and that now is coming home to roost .
What I mean by that is that they are using their technology which traditionally has been used on Palestinians , now on all citizens , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And it also of course is coming at a time where there ’ s no actual government in Israel and Netanyahu claims to be prime minister , but in fact he hasn ’ t won three elections .
It has not been a legitimate government in Israel for close to 18 months .
This is the reality in Israel and a weak and divided opposition .
So the use and the and the technology and the ability of the Shin Bet , the internal security services to monitor all citizens , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a temporary measure should worry us deeply because these measures may well be loosened in time .
We don ’ t know , but the fact is we should not be trusting A the Israeli government or the Israeli security services historically have been known to very aggressively monitor and surveil Palestinians .
So the danger , which clearly is relevant to many other countries is , if you allow your government or your state to massively surveil and monitor the other , whether it ’ s Palestinians , all Muslims , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will inevitably used on ourselves .
And I think about Edward Snowden here when he talked about , he ’ s released in about seven years ago and he was saying that yes , the US massively surveils the world .
But they also surveil the Americans because that technology inevitably is used on our own .
That ’ s what ’ s happening in Israel today .
Greg Wilpert : Israeli member of parliament , Ahmad Tibi once said with regard to Israel ’ s Jewish population that Israel is a democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel is a Jewish state .
Now we are seeing the last democratic protections of the Jewish population of Israel crumbling as well .
What do you think this means for the Arab Palestinians population under Israeli control , which is nearly 7 million people ?
Are they being affected in the same way ?
Antony Loewenstein : Well even more so .
I mean obviously Gaza which has been under Israeli blockade now for much more than a decade has just recently seen two cases of the coronavirus and notably more will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collapsed for years , so that ’ s a real potential catastrophe on Israel ’ s doorstep .
The West Bank has essentially been locked down .
The West Bank is on the complete Israeli control , military control .
Bethlehem and many other cities are under complete lock down .
People can ’ t move in and out , which in some ways as many Palestinians say , this is in some ways the worst time the occupation .
This is what normal life for many Palestinians is like all the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very extreme to be sure , but many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza was saying to Israeli Jews , now you know what it often it ’ s like .
Can ’ t move from town to town .
Can ’ t send our kids to school .
Can ’ t live a daily life .
That ’ s not necessarily every single day .
The occupation ebbs and flows in different areas depending on the particular political movement at the time , but what you see also within Israel itself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ list , the third major political party received huge amounts of support mostly from Palestinians and Arabs , but also from a growing number of Israeli Jews .
And it ’ s very clear that from the both major sides of Israeli Jewish politics , they have little to no interest in having any coalition with those , with that party .
They express contempt and deep racism for that party , Netanyahu particularly .
And I think it shows in some ways two things .
One that the Palestinian Arab population in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gaza , who might not have no votes .
And I think it ’ s important to say to viewers , just to be very clear , Israel is not a democracy if you ’ re not Jewish .
There are literally 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza roughly , who can not vote in any elections for the Israeli Knesset for a leader who will control their lives .
So to say , Israel is a democracy has always been a lie .
And it ’ s certainly a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And also I think it ’ s important for people to realize that the joint lists growing support shows a growing divide within Israeli society itself , where I think many Israeli Arabs and a growing number of Israeli Jews realized that a Zionist political movement , by definition can not and will not bring democracy to all its citizens .
It simply wants democracy for Jews only .
And although the joint list will not be in government , the joint list politically will have not huge amounts of power .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and they ’ ll continue to grow as more and more people realize that Netanyahu although he could or even his main rival Benny Gantz is basically Netanyahu in drag .
They ’ re virtually exactly the same on the key issue of the occupation .
That ’ s what really matters here , which is why the joint lists support and growing support .
It is so important .
Greg Wilpert : I wonder though , based on what you just said , if perhaps this crackdown in light of the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sense that as you said , it ’ s awakening Israelis to the conditions of occupation .
Obviously it ’ s not as serious as the occupation , but at least they ’ re getting some degree of taste of it and perhaps that might change their attitude towards it .
What do you think ?
Antony Loewenstein : If only that was true .
Look , maybe , and I guess we should talk in three or six months to see , but as Gideon Levy , the great journalist for Arabs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ column recently .
Yes , Israeli Jews and now on the lockdown , but it ’ s nothing like what Palestinians go through .
Israeli Jews and not being raided in their houses , they ’ re not being dragged from their homes , they ’ re not being shot dead in the streets for protesting .
Yes , they ’ re not being allowed to protest , but they ’ re not being shot dead for protesting .
So yes , Israeli Jews maybe have a tiny taste of what Palestinians in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But I think sadly , having lived in Jerusalem , East Jerusalem for many , many years , what you really see over time is a hardening of hearts .
And what I mean by that is that there is little to no empathy by the majority of Israeli Jews towards what is happening down the road in the occupation .
Now I ’ m not saying old Jews in Israel , I ’ m saying the majority of Jews .
And you know that because most of them don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ write about it .
Don ’ t vote in any way that reflects that they ’ re upset about it .
And the media , to it ’ s eternal shame only really reports on the West Bank and Gaza with a few notable exceptions in the context of a security threat .
There are not stories generally about what life is actually like in the occupation down the road from Israel .
So I ’ d like to think that this would maybe make Israeli Jews more reflective of the kind of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on their doorstep and therefore be more sympathetic towards them .
But the evidence so far for that is quite minimal .
And I hope that changes , but I not that optimistic .
Greg Wilpert : Now , turning to the larger picture , both your book Disaster Capitalism and Naomi Klein ’ s The Shock Doctrine , argue that disasters or shocks are unpopular policies that the government hopes to impose when people are in shock or facing disasters and can not properly resist .
Now do you think that Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coal mine and that other countries may also start surveilling the population and shutting down political dissent all in the name of fighting the coronavirus ?
Antony Loewenstein : Well , the short answer is yes .
I feel that a great deal and one of the things that I ’ m really worried about at the moment and something I ’ m looking into is Israel has perfected the art of the ethno state .
The ethno state being of course a Jewish state that dominates non Jews and to the use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but also private companies for decades .
They ’ ve mastered from their perspective an ability to control millions of Palestinians .
That technology and that ideology is now being exported globally .
Think of what India wants to do in Kashmir , Sri Lanka in the Tamil areas in the North .
China in parts of the weaker areas .
And that ’ s not all because of Israel to be sure , but Israel provides both an inspiration ideologically , but also the ease of technology and surveillance .
And the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus will at some point taper down or minimize six months , three months , a year , we don ’ t know .
Soon , it won ’ t be forever .
But the fear is that there ’ ll be an appeal by many governments to maintain either tight controls and the monitoring of civilians and citizens without reducing them .
And Israel in some ways is the model of that because Israel has done it for decades and they get away with it .
Now , yes that monitoring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ re seeing now , it ’ s inevitably turning to Israeli Jews as well .
And let ’ s be honest , after Edward Snowden ’ s revelations in 2013 .
In the US there were protests and there were minor changes through Congress .
Were there hundreds of thousands of people marching through the streets in the US opposing what was happening ?
No .
Snowden ’ s documents revealed clearly that the US had an apparatus , both Republican and Democrat , to monitor and surveil every single citizen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upset about that and they protested .
But in general , that ’ s continued .
And I would argue different and we don ’ t even really know what ’ s happening during the Trump administration in terms of that .
There ’ s been not that much reporting or leaks about what Trump has been doing in terms of messily ramping up internal state surveillance .
So I ’ m really concerned as someone who ’ s written for a decade now about disaster capitalism , apart from the obvious examples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hand sanitizer and face mask , which is terrible and that should be condemned .
But the bigger picture here is what this means longer term .
The States that are very keen not just to make money from it , but this one real quick example .
The NSO group , which is an Israeli surveillance company that was used by Saudi Arabia to monitor friends of Jamal Khashoggi recently , last couple of years .
It ’ s a surveillance company which is populated by former Israeli military .
They ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help so they say , fight the coronavirus .
Now this technology may well be helpful .
We don ’ t know at this stage , but my point is that you have this really worrying blending of the surveillance state and surveillance companies with people who claim to be helping those in society .
And yes , we need to fight the coronavirus and stop it or at least massively arrest its increase .
But I ’ m really concerned that there are going to be a lot of private companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , technology companies , utilizing this opportunity to say to a state we can help keep out unwanted people .
That could be high walls or borders or surveillance .
And we ’ re seeing that in much of Europe now as well for that matter .
So the fear is that many governments that are utilizing this technology , I call these Israelification almost of the world .
And although there ’ s push back against that in certain places , it ’ s not a given that it ’ ll happen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot more discussion and push back against it because otherwise it becomes business as normal and that is not the society I think that most people want to live in .
Greg Wilpert : Well on that note , unfortunately , we ’ re going to have to leave it there .
I was speaking to Antony Loewenstein journalist and author of the book Disaster Capitalism .
Thanks again , Antony , for having joined us today .
Antony Loewenstein : Thanks for having me , Greg , Greg Wilpert : And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Network .

Nowhere has the coronavirus pandemic been used more cynically to shut down political debate and the right to protest than in Israel. The Israeli government’s state of emergency goes even further than Naomi Klein’s darkest predictions.
Story Transcript
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Greg Wilpert: It’s The Real News Network, I’m Greg Wilpert in Arlington, Virginia. Recently, thousands of Israelis posted the cover of Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine on their social media accounts without further comment. They were doing so because they had sensed that the book is a warning and that it’s becoming a reality before their very eyes. The crisis has shocked the population and this now allows the Israeli government to push forward with draconic and undemocratic policies.
All over the world, we are seeing how governments are declaring states of emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic and are undertaking extreme measures to stop the spread of the virus. However, other than perhaps China, no country in the world has gone as far as Israel in clamping down on civil liberties. First, prime minister Netanyahu closed the courts a few days before he was supposed to appear in court himself to face charges of corruption.
Then, as the opposition tried to elect a new chairman of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, the ruling coalition that no longer has a majority decided to shut down the Knesset. Next and most alarming, the government used an executive order to grant unlimited powers of surveillance to the secret police, tracking the phones of every person in Israel at all times, supposedly to keep track of infected people and to prevent them from spreading the disease and to punish them if they break the curfew.
And finally, when thousands of Israelis wanted to protest these measures, the right to assembly was denied. Even a convoy of cars, in which everyone sits in their own car and does not interact with others, was forbidden. Here’s how prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the measures last week.
Benjamin Netany…: [foreign language 00:01:42]. The government will approve tonight executive orders for a state of emergency to allow the use of digital measures to fight the coronavirus. These measures will help us very much to find the location of the virus and the location of the sick people and thus stop the spread of the virus. We discussed it yesterday at the cabinet meeting for six hours.
[foreign language 00:02:06]. Me, and I must say, almost all… No, all the ministers. We wanted to ensure a meticulous supervision of this measure to prevent misuse. The legal council accepted our request and this evening we shall authorize the use of digital tools for a limited time of 30 days. Israel is a democracy. It must keep the balance between individual rights and the collective needs and we are doing that.
Greg Wilpert: Joining me now to discuss how governments are taking advantage of the pandemic is Antony Loewenstein. He is an independent journalist and author of the book, Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe. Thanks for joining us again, Antony.
Antony Loewenstein: Thanks for having me.
Greg Wilpert: So, many countries that the coronavirus has hit, has hit them actually much harder than Israel, but they have not implemented such extreme measures as Israel. And so Israeli government officials argue that it’s precisely because of these extreme measures that Israel hasn’t been hit so hard. However, there are many countries that slowed down the spread of the virus without taking such extreme measures. So the question is why Israel of all countries is reacting in such an extreme way to the coronavirus. What do you think?
Antony Loewenstein: Well there’s a few reasons. I was living in Jerusalem until just recently. So I saw the beginning of this pandemic, but I left thankfully before it really accelerated or the shutdown happened, the lockdown. I think what you’re seeing in Israel really is almost an inevitability. What I mean by that is for two reasons. One, Israel is a country that has spent decades occupying, monitoring, surveilling millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and in Israel proper and that now is coming home to roost.
What I mean by that is that they are using their technology which traditionally has been used on Palestinians, now on all citizens, which obviously includes Palestinians but also Israeli Jews. And it also of course is coming at a time where there’s no actual government in Israel and Netanyahu claims to be prime minister, but in fact he hasn’t won three elections. It has not been a legitimate government in Israel for close to 18 months. This is the reality in Israel and a weak and divided opposition. So the use and the and the technology and the ability of the Shin Bet, the internal security services to monitor all citizens, which I have to say is being claimed as a temporary measure should worry us deeply because these measures may well be loosened in time. We don’t know, but the fact is we should not be trusting A the Israeli government or the Israeli security services historically have been known to very aggressively monitor and surveil Palestinians.
So the danger, which clearly is relevant to many other countries is, if you allow your government or your state to massively surveil and monitor the other, whether it’s Palestinians, all Muslims, whoever it may be. That technology will inevitably used on ourselves. And I think about Edward Snowden here when he talked about, he’s released in about seven years ago and he was saying that yes, the US massively surveils the world. But they also surveil the Americans because that technology inevitably is used on our own. That’s what’s happening in Israel today.
Greg Wilpert: Israeli member of parliament, Ahmad Tibi once said with regard to Israel’s Jewish population that Israel is a democratic state and regard towards Arab population, Israel is a Jewish state. Now we are seeing the last democratic protections of the Jewish population of Israel crumbling as well. What do you think this means for the Arab Palestinians population under Israeli control, which is nearly 7 million people? Are they being affected in the same way?
Antony Loewenstein: Well even more so. I mean obviously Gaza which has been under Israeli blockade now for much more than a decade has just recently seen two cases of the coronavirus and notably more will come and the health system has been collapsed for years, so that’s a real potential catastrophe on Israel’s doorstep. The West Bank has essentially been locked down. The West Bank is on the complete Israeli control, military control. Bethlehem and many other cities are under complete lock down. People can’t move in and out, which in some ways as many Palestinians say, this is in some ways the worst time the occupation. This is what normal life for many Palestinians is like all the time. Now obviously now it’s very extreme to be sure, but many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza was saying to Israeli Jews, now you know what it often it’s like. Can’t move from town to town. Can’t send our kids to school. Can’t live a daily life.
That’s not necessarily every single day. The occupation ebbs and flows in different areas depending on the particular political movement at the time, but what you see also within Israel itself where the recent election, the joint list, the third major political party received huge amounts of support mostly from Palestinians and Arabs, but also from a growing number of Israeli Jews. And it’s very clear that from the both major sides of Israeli Jewish politics, they have little to no interest in having any coalition with those, with that party. They express contempt and deep racism for that party, Netanyahu particularly. And I think it shows in some ways two things. One that the Palestinian Arab population in Israel proper and the West Bank and Gaza, who might not have no votes. And I think it’s important to say to viewers, just to be very clear, Israel is not a democracy if you’re not Jewish.
There are literally 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza roughly, who cannot vote in any elections for the Israeli Knesset for a leader who will control their lives. So to say, Israel is a democracy has always been a lie. And it’s certainly a democracy if you are Jewish of sorts. And also I think it’s important for people to realize that the joint lists growing support shows a growing divide within Israeli society itself, where I think many Israeli Arabs and a growing number of Israeli Jews realized that a Zionist political movement, by definition cannot and will not bring democracy to all its citizens. It simply wants democracy for Jews only.
And although the joint list will not be in government, the joint list politically will have not huge amounts of power. Symbolically, it’s unbelievably powerful and they’ll continue to grow as more and more people realize that Netanyahu although he could or even his main rival Benny Gantz is basically Netanyahu in drag. They’re virtually exactly the same on the key issue of the occupation. That’s what really matters here, which is why the joint lists support and growing support. It is so important.
Greg Wilpert: I wonder though, based on what you just said, if perhaps this crackdown in light of the coronavirus might produce a silver lining in the sense that as you said, it’s awakening Israelis to the conditions of occupation. Obviously it’s not as serious as the occupation, but at least they’re getting some degree of taste of it and perhaps that might change their attitude towards it. What do you think?
Antony Loewenstein: If only that was true. Look, maybe, and I guess we should talk in three or six months to see, but as Gideon Levy, the great journalist for Arabs. The Israeli newspaper said in a column recently. Yes, Israeli Jews and now on the lockdown, but it’s nothing like what Palestinians go through. Israeli Jews and not being raided in their houses, they’re not being dragged from their homes, they’re not being shot dead in the streets for protesting. Yes, they’re not being allowed to protest, but they’re not being shot dead for protesting. So yes, Israeli Jews maybe have a tiny taste of what Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza goes through. But I think sadly, having lived in Jerusalem, East Jerusalem for many, many years, what you really see over time is a hardening of hearts. And what I mean by that is that there is little to no empathy by the majority of Israeli Jews towards what is happening down the road in the occupation.
Now I’m not saying old Jews in Israel, I’m saying the majority of Jews. And you know that because most of them don’t talk about it. Don’t write about it. Don’t vote in any way that reflects that they’re upset about it. And the media, to it’s eternal shame only really reports on the West Bank and Gaza with a few notable exceptions in the context of a security threat. There are not stories generally about what life is actually like in the occupation down the road from Israel. So I’d like to think that this would maybe make Israeli Jews more reflective of the kind of regime they’ve created for Arabs on their doorstep and therefore be more sympathetic towards them. But the evidence so far for that is quite minimal. And I hope that changes, but I not that optimistic.
Greg Wilpert: Now, turning to the larger picture, both your book Disaster Capitalism and Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, argue that disasters or shocks are unpopular policies that the government hopes to impose when people are in shock or facing disasters and cannot properly resist. Now do you think that Israel is perhaps the proverbial canary in the coal mine and that other countries may also start surveilling the population and shutting down political dissent all in the name of fighting the coronavirus?
Antony Loewenstein: Well, the short answer is yes. I feel that a great deal and one of the things that I’m really worried about at the moment and something I’m looking into is Israel has perfected the art of the ethno state. The ethno state being of course a Jewish state that dominates non Jews and to the use of technology and surveillance often through public but also private companies for decades. They’ve mastered from their perspective an ability to control millions of Palestinians. That technology and that ideology is now being exported globally. Think of what India wants to do in Kashmir, Sri Lanka in the Tamil areas in the North. China in parts of the weaker areas. And that’s not all because of Israel to be sure, but Israel provides both an inspiration ideologically, but also the ease of technology and surveillance. And the fear that I have is that although the coronavirus will at some point taper down or minimize six months, three months, a year, we don’t know. Soon, it won’t be forever.
But the fear is that there’ll be an appeal by many governments to maintain either tight controls and the monitoring of civilians and citizens without reducing them. And Israel in some ways is the model of that because Israel has done it for decades and they get away with it. Now, yes that monitoring is principally of Palestinians. But as we’re seeing now, it’s inevitably turning to Israeli Jews as well. And let’s be honest, after Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013. In the US there were protests and there were minor changes through Congress. Were there hundreds of thousands of people marching through the streets in the US opposing what was happening? No. Snowden’s documents revealed clearly that the US had an apparatus, both Republican and Democrat, to monitor and surveil every single citizen. And yes, some people were upset about that and they protested. But in general, that’s continued. And I would argue different and we don’t even really know what’s happening during the Trump administration in terms of that. There’s been not that much reporting or leaks about what Trump has been doing in terms of messily ramping up internal state surveillance.
So I’m really concerned as someone who’s written for a decade now about disaster capitalism, apart from the obvious examples of people trying to charge more for hand sanitizer and face mask, which is terrible and that should be condemned. But the bigger picture here is what this means longer term. The States that are very keen not just to make money from it, but this one real quick example. The NSO group, which is an Israeli surveillance company that was used by Saudi Arabia to monitor friends of Jamal Khashoggi recently, last couple of years. It’s a surveillance company which is populated by former Israeli military. They’ve been announcing the last while technology to help so they say, fight the coronavirus. Now this technology may well be helpful. We don’t know at this stage, but my point is that you have this really worrying blending of the surveillance state and surveillance companies with people who claim to be helping those in society.
And yes, we need to fight the coronavirus and stop it or at least massively arrest its increase. But I’m really concerned that there are going to be a lot of private companies, private military companies, surveillance companies, technology companies, utilizing this opportunity to say to a state we can help keep out unwanted people. That could be high walls or borders or surveillance. And we’re seeing that in much of Europe now as well for that matter. So the fear is that many governments that are utilizing this technology, I call these Israelification almost of the world. And although there’s push back against that in certain places, it’s not a given that it’ll happen. I think there needs to be a lot more discussion and push back against it because otherwise it becomes business as normal and that is not the society I think that most people want to live in.
Greg Wilpert: Well on that note, unfortunately, we’re going to have to leave it there. I was speaking to Antony Loewenstein journalist and author of the book Disaster Capitalism. Thanks again, Antony, for having joined us today.
Antony Loewenstein: Thanks for having me, Greg,
Greg Wilpert: And thank you for joining The Real News Network.
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Studio: Will Arenas
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therealnews--2020-03-25--Nurses Protest Lack Of Personal Protective Equipment In COVID-19 Pandemic

Nurses staged protests at hospitals across California on March 24 demanding personal protective equipment ( PPE ) necessary to keep them safe from contracting and spreading COVID-19 .
They chanted “ What do we want ?
PPE !
When do we want it ?
Now !
” outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center , ABC7 News reported .
“ We have not been getting the proper equipment and proper training in order to safely take care of our patients , ” registered nurse Diane McClure told Fox40 in Sacramento outside of South Sacramento Medical Center .
“ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is going to spread even more because this is not happening.
” Amid the growing pandemic , medical professionals across the country are experiencing a severe shortage of N95 respirators , isolation gowns , isolation masks , surgical masks , and eye protection , on top of the insufficient supply of tests for the novel coronavirus .
Several medical workers spoke to The Real News on the condition of anonymity to offer their insight into the growing crisis .
“ We are running out of protective equipment .
You want us to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but if we get sick , how are we going to do that ?
” warned a Baltimore nurse at an outpatient center that serves around 200 patients with compromised immune systems each day .
“ If I get sick and I spread it to [ my patients ] , they ’ re all gon na die.
” An ER doctor at a large community hospital on the East Coast said , “ We ’ re 100 % not testing everybody that we would like to and 100 % like not catching even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ physician at a hospital that serves at-risk patients said , “ I think the most important thing is making sure that we have enough personal protective equipment kind of going forward , because that ’ s the only thing that you can do to protect yourself , so that you don ’ t get people sick.
” A growing number of medical professional associations are urging the Trump administration to use the Defense Production Act ( DPA ) to direct private industry to produce PPE .
President Donald Trump invoked the act on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ direct any industry to produce PPE .
“ As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the country , these supplies are urgently needed to care for our patients and communities , ” the heads of the American Hospital Association ( AHA ) , American Medical Association ( AMA ) and American Nurses Association ( ANA ) wrote in a March 21 letter to the president .
On March 22 , President Donald Trump rejected calls to implement the DPA despite previously saying it would be used to kickstart production of PPE .
“ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationalizing our business , ” Trump said .
FEMA made the first use of the act a week later to obtain testing kits and masks .
The DPA does not nationalize businesses .
Rather , it directs industry to produce equipment required for national security .
Local groups have begun producing PPE , and over the last week , the federal government has announced the release of one million N95 masks from reserves .
“ Even with an infusion of supplies from the strategic stockpile and other federal resources , there will not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to respond to the projected COVID-19 outbreak , “ the joint letter reads .
National Nurses United , the country ’ s largest nurses union , said 250,000 people signed their online petition urging Congress to take immediate action to ensure healthcare workers are provided with necessary PPE .
“ It is outrageous for the CDC to tell hospitals that nurses and other health care workers don ’ t need the maximum protective gear to prevent them from getting sick during this pandemic , ” said Bonnie Castillo , RN , executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is why it is imperative for Congress to act immediately to include HR 6139—without any weakening amendments—in the third COVID-19 stimulus.
” HR 6139 was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott ( D-VA ) and Senator Tammy Duckworth ( D-IL ) .
The bill would mandate health workers immediately receive necessary protective gear .
Over 32,000 people signed a similar online petition from the American College of Emergency Physicians , which states , “ We are receiving reports of workarounds that many of our physicians have had to resort to , such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of each day and hanging them up at home to dry .
While taken out of necessity , such workarounds compromise the protection that PPE is designed to provide.
” The shortage of equipment is due to rampant hoarding of medical supplies , which authorities are cracking down on , and a decrease in imports from China , according to the Associated Press .

Nurses staged protests at hospitals across California on March 24 demanding personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to keep them safe from contracting and spreading COVID-19. They chanted “What do we want? PPE! When do we want it? Now!” outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, ABC7 News reported.
“We have not been getting the proper equipment and proper training in order to safely take care of our patients,” registered nurse Diane McClure told Fox40 in Sacramento outside of South Sacramento Medical Center. “We’re very afraid that the disease is going to spread even more because this is not happening.”
Amid the growing pandemic, medical professionals across the country are experiencing a severe shortage of N95 respirators, isolation gowns, isolation masks, surgical masks, and eye protection, on top of the insufficient supply of tests for the novel coronavirus. Several medical workers spoke to The Real News on the condition of anonymity to offer their insight into the growing crisis.
“We are running out of protective equipment. You want us to take care of all of these people, but if we get sick, how are we going to do that?” warned a Baltimore nurse at an outpatient center that serves around 200 patients with compromised immune systems each day. “If I get sick and I spread it to [my patients], they’re all gonna die.”
An ER doctor at a large community hospital on the East Coast said, “We’re 100% not testing everybody that we would like to and 100% like not catching even the majority of milder infections.”
A physician at a hospital that serves at-risk patients said, “I think the most important thing is making sure that we have enough personal protective equipment kind of going forward, because that’s the only thing that you can do to protect yourself, so that you don’t get people sick.”
A growing number of medical professional associations are urging the Trump administration to use the Defense Production Act (DPA) to direct private industry to produce PPE. President Donald Trump invoked the act on March 18, but did not himself direct any industry to produce PPE.
“As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the country, these supplies are urgently needed to care for our patients and communities,” the heads of the American Hospital Association (AHA), American Medical Association (AMA) and American Nurses Association (ANA) wrote in a March 21 letter to the president.
On March 22, President Donald Trump rejected calls to implement the DPA despite previously saying it would be used to kickstart production of PPE. “We’re a country not based on nationalizing our business,” Trump said.
FEMA made the first use of the act a week later to obtain testing kits and masks.
The DPA does not nationalize businesses. Rather, it directs industry to produce equipment required for national security. Local groups have begun producing PPE, and over the last week, the federal government has announced the release of one million N95 masks from reserves.
“Even with an infusion of supplies from the strategic stockpile and other federal resources, there will not be enough medical supplies, including ventilators, to respond to the projected COVID-19 outbreak,“ the joint letter reads.
National Nurses United, the country’s largest nurses union, said 250,000 people signed their online petition urging Congress to take immediate action to ensure healthcare workers are provided with necessary PPE.
“It is outrageous for the CDC to tell hospitals that nurses and other health care workers don’t need the maximum protective gear to prevent them from getting sick during this pandemic,” said Bonnie Castillo, RN, executive director of National Nurses United. “This is why it is imperative for Congress to act immediately to include HR 6139—without any weakening amendments—in the third COVID-19 stimulus.” HR 6139 was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). The bill would mandate health workers immediately receive necessary protective gear.
Over 32,000 people signed a similar online petition from the American College of Emergency Physicians, which states, “We are receiving reports of workarounds that many of our physicians have had to resort to, such as spraying their masks with bleach at the end of each day and hanging them up at home to dry. While taken out of necessity, such workarounds compromise the protection that PPE is designed to provide.”
The shortage of equipment is due to rampant hoarding of medical supplies, which authorities are cracking down on, and a decrease in imports from China, according to the Associated Press.
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therealnews--2020-03-25--Teach For America: Fueling Educational Gaps In California

This is a rush transcript and may contain errors .
It will be updated .
Kim Brown : Welcome to the Real News .
I ’ m Kim Brown .
America is facing a nationwide teacher shortage with the expected shortfall to reach 200,000 by the year 2025 .
Now organizations like Teach for America claim to have a solution .
They take recent college graduates , offer them a brief training , then dispatches them to some of the most challenged school systems .
However , are children truly thriving under the instruction of novices ?
One assembly person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failed as a result .
And today we ’ re joined with Cristina Garcia , she represents the community of Bell Gardens in Los Angeles County .
Twice now she has introduced bills in the state legislature to effectively ban Teach from America from California schools , unsuccessful both times .
However , she remains undeterred and she ’ s here today to tell us why she ’ s not backing down .
Assembly Woman Garcia , thank you so much for being here .
Cristina Garcia : Thank you for having me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we jump into our conversation , I have to ask , how are you and your constituents fairing amidst a shelter in place order in California ?
Cristina Garcia : You know , I represent half a million working class constituents , there ’ s a lot of anxiety about jobs , lack of jobs , unemployment insurance out there right now .
So we all want to do what ’ s best to protect ourselves , our families , and our community .
We ’ re a pretty tight knit community , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of stress since I think most of us are hunkering down .
The streets are pretty quiet around my community , but we have a lot of constituent calls coming in with a lot of anxiety .
A lot of need for resources .
Kim Brown : Absolutely .
Well , we certainly have our thoughts with really everybody around the world during this challenging time , during the pandemic .
But to get into our conversation about Teach for America , not specifically about that , but why you think organizations like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for California students ?
So let ’ s talk about your bill .
AB-221 says that school systems in California , which receive federal funding should not be offering contracts to organizations like Teach for America .
And I believe an amended version of the bill went on to say that for school systems for whom 40 % of the students come from low income communities , those teachers from organizations like TFA should be outright banned unless they offer a commitment of five years or more .
Can you explain your bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yes , definitely .
I want to start off by reminding folks .
I was a math classroom teacher for 13 years in low income schools .
I was one of those students also and I represent a district where every single one of my schools is title one or low income .
We know research tells us that an experienced teacher is the best ways to close the educational gap .
My first hand experience tells me that as well .
I went in with little experience and I over the years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also know that these students have a lot of other barriers that we need to help them overcome .
So it doesn ’ t make sense to me that we ’ re going to send our least experience , our least trained teachers into our most vulnerable classrooms .
If we really want to close our educational gap , we need to stop this false solution to our teacher shortages out there .
We need to actually start recruiting teachers that are qualified , paying them adequately , and having the resources to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : So your bill passed the educational committee , but you pulled it from the floor for a full vote .
Why was that ?
Cristina Garcia : Well , we had a strong lobby from a lot of billionaires out there who I think are comfortable with the idea of privatizing education , or experimenting on our poor black and brown students .
Against my voice and the voice of other former Teach for America teachers who also talk about how this is such a bad experience for them and the students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of the day , my colleagues didn ’ t have the courage to stand up and do what was right , we didn ’ t have the votes , and so I decided that we had to take a pause and re-strategize and figure out how we were going to elevate the voice for these students who don ’ t have a paid lobby out there .
Kim Brown : Some of your colleagues express trepidation for supporting this bill because they said there was not enough data to support your claim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and I keep saying TFA , it ’ s not just TFA , but TFA is the main one , probably one of the larger ones .
What data supports what you say that these first-time instructors are actually failing children more than they are helping them ?
Cristina Garcia : We don ’ t have specific data .
Unfortunately here in California , each school district tracks however they want to track and a lot of times they ’ re not tracking any of this information .
A lot of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have repeated national surveys and research that shows us that the best way to close the educational gap is having a qualified teacher .
So this year we have a new bill that is out there trying to track the data .
We ’ re tracking data about where are these teachers being in placed , what kind of training do they have , are they in credential programs , how long are they staying at these sites , and how are their students performing compared to the rest of the students at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confident that when the data comes back , we will have the same results that we expect .
That these students are not performing , that these teachers are leaving after three years and we continue to perpetuate the cycle of having inexperienced teachers in a classroom and a constant turnover .
That just creates a lot of instability for these school sites .
Kim Brown : Amidst a teacher shortage , is it wise for school systems to be turning down help , or is it more of the case all money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Garcia : All money ain ’ t good money I would say definitely is the case here .
I think if you ’ re really serious about closing the gap that we have out there , the achievement gap with our students , our colors , we can ’ t keep accepting these false solutions .
We do have a clear teacher shortage , but the solution is not to put people in there who only have 18 hours of training , but to recruit individuals who have the training , who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and then to give them the support they need in the classroom .
So I just think that these are false solutions that allow us to ignore what we really need to do , and those tough choices that need to be made .
Kim Brown : Last school year , there were roughly 700 Teach for America educators dispatched throughout California , in the Bay area , in San Diego , and Los Angeles in the Central Coast Valley .
But from what I ’ m able to discern is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of them being put in higher income school districts .
They ’ re not a lot of Teach for America educators being put in Calabasas for example .
Is this an income inequality thing where students who are low income are receiving the least trained people for their primary education , whereas higher income communities are not dealing with that ?
Cristina Garcia : Definitely I feel this false lead doesn ’ t just have income inequality , but it has racism in it .
These teachers are only placed on low income @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In California those are schools of color , those are schools of immigrants , those are low income communities .
So our most vulnerable students are getting our least qualified teachers .
Just logically , this doesn ’ t make any sense , do we really valued these students ?
Or are we comfortable with treating two classes of students out of here , the haves and the have nots ?
So I ’ ve asked that question as these programs are so great , if these teachers are so great , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and upper class communities ?
Why are they only good enough for my students from my community ?
I think right now we are all dealing with this pandemic , a lot of us are hunkered though at home , parents are struggling with homeschooling .
I ’ m seeing all kinds of names out there , all kinds of videos asking for help .
They ’ re just struggling , they ’ re seeing how hard it is to teach one or two children .
Now imagine teaching 30 of them at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once .
How do they really expect that a 22-year-old with only 18 hours of training somehow is going to be able to manage a classroom with any group of students ?
Much less students with such a unique needs in these communities .
So for me these policies are both about economic injustice but also about racism at the same time .
People don ’ t want to have those uncomfortable conversations .
But I think if we are really going to close the educational gaps , we need to call it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dealing with this differently .
Kim Brown : I think a lot of parents are understanding the value of teachers , especially as school systems are closed around the country .
Lastly Assembly Woman Garcia , I wanted to ask because you said that you are a former teacher yourself and in April of 2019 you pinned an op-ed in , I believe it was the San Diego Union Tribune , where you talked about your own shortcomings as a new teacher and how some of the students that you instructed early on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ served just because of inexperience .
As you mentioned earlier , we know that student success is directly tied to teacher preparedness and teacher expertise .
What can you share with us about your own experiences as a teacher , and how the difference between having someone who is educated specifically for instruction versus someone who may have had a bachelor ’ s degree in a completely other field and was only offered a short amount of training ?
What can we talk about in experiences as it relates to this profession ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be clear .
You ’ re walking… I was probably , if my college would have allowed Teach for America , I might have applied and I was their prime candidate .
I was a young woman of color , I was a good student , I loved the idea of being of service and helping our most vulnerable communities .
I had a lot of empathy , culturally I understood these communities , but I was not qualified .
I walked in with limited training , not through Teach for America , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I didn ’ t know how to do discipline .
I didn ’ t know how to think about the different ways students thought , we ’ re thinking about and learning about math .
I learned about it one way , the way that was traditionally taught and it worked for me , but clearly it doesn ’ t work for most students out there .
So I didn ’ t know about pedagogy , I didn ’ t know about , listen honey , I was figuring that out every day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failure .
So I think a lot of well-intentioned , young individuals go into the school and maybe think they want to be in it , but leave .
Because at some point you get tired of feeling like a failure regularly .
I got lucky that I got some great mentors along the way .
I got enrolled in a credential program and quickly was able to take charge of at least having basic discipline so I could deliver my lessons .
But I think it took me about a good solid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that I thought I was a really good teacher .
I think as I left teaching to join the assembly , I would say I was a pretty great teacher .
But I was constantly working at my craft , constantly working on how to help students get through their math anxiety out there .
Even the concept of math anxiety and why students have it , that ’ s something that I didn ’ t know about until I was in the classroom and I was trying to figure out why are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m talking about ?
Kim Brown : Lastly , Assembly Woman , I know I said lastly for the last question , but do you plan on re-introducing your bill again in the future ?
Cristina Garcia : I do .
I am committed to this .
I am committed to being a voice for these students , both because I was that student , I was that teacher , and I now represent a community of low income students .
I want to make sure that my experience in the classroom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that have left over the legislature .
So I ’ m committed to work on this on the long haul and continue to be a voice and continue to elevate issue , and I hope more of my peers join me in this fight .
Kim Brown : All right , we ’ re going to leave it right there .
We ’ ve been speaking with Assembly Woman Christina Garcia .
She represents the community of Bell Gardens in Los Angeles County .
She intends to reintroduce her bill that would effectively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which puts inexperienced teachers , educators in front of the most challenged students who come from low income communities .
Assembly Woman , thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us .
Cristina Garcia : Thank you .
I appreciate it as well .
Kim Brown : And thank you for watching the Real News Network .

Student success is tied to teacher expertise, yet TFA only trains its members for five weeks before placing them in schools. One lawmaker says these programs need to be banned from classrooms if California wants to close its education gap.
Story Transcript
This is a rush transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Kim Brown: Welcome to the Real News. I’m Kim Brown. America is facing a nationwide teacher shortage with the expected shortfall to reach 200,000 by the year 2025.
Now organizations like Teach for America claim to have a solution. They take recent college graduates, offer them a brief training, then dispatches them to some of the most challenged school systems. However, are children truly thriving under the instruction of novices? One assembly person in California says that kids are being failed as a result. And today we’re joined with Cristina Garcia, she represents the community of Bell Gardens in Los Angeles County. Twice now she has introduced bills in the state legislature to effectively ban Teach from America from California schools, unsuccessful both times. However, she remains undeterred and she’s here today to tell us why she’s not backing down. Assembly Woman Garcia, thank you so much for being here.
Cristina Garcia: Thank you for having me.
Kim Brown: Well, before we jump into our conversation, I have to ask, how are you and your constituents fairing amidst a shelter in place order in California?
Cristina Garcia: You know, I represent half a million working class constituents, there’s a lot of anxiety about jobs, lack of jobs, unemployment insurance out there right now. So we all want to do what’s best to protect ourselves, our families, and our community.
We’re a pretty tight knit community, but there’s been a lot of stress since I think most of us are hunkering down. The streets are pretty quiet around my community, but we have a lot of constituent calls coming in with a lot of anxiety. A lot of need for resources.
Kim Brown: Absolutely. Well, we certainly have our thoughts with really everybody around the world during this challenging time, during the pandemic. But to get into our conversation about Teach for America, not specifically about that, but why you think organizations like Teach for America aren’t good for California students?
So let’s talk about your bill. AB-221 says that school systems in California, which receive federal funding should not be offering contracts to organizations like Teach for America. And I believe an amended version of the bill went on to say that for school systems for whom 40% of the students come from low income communities, those teachers from organizations like TFA should be outright banned unless they offer a commitment of five years or more. Can you explain your bill to us please?
Cristina Garcia: Yes, definitely. I want to start off by reminding folks. I was a math classroom teacher for 13 years in low income schools. I was one of those students also and I represent a district where every single one of my schools is title one or low income. We know research tells us that an experienced teacher is the best ways to close the educational gap. My first hand experience tells me that as well. I went in with little experience and I over the years got better for my job.
We also know that these students have a lot of other barriers that we need to help them overcome. So it doesn’t make sense to me that we’re going to send our least experience, our least trained teachers into our most vulnerable classrooms. If we really want to close our educational gap, we need to stop this false solution to our teacher shortages out there. We need to actually start recruiting teachers that are qualified, paying them adequately, and having the resources to help them be successful.
Kim Brown: So your bill passed the educational committee, but you pulled it from the floor for a full vote. Why was that?
Cristina Garcia: Well, we had a strong lobby from a lot of billionaires out there who I think are comfortable with the idea of privatizing education, or experimenting on our poor black and brown students. Against my voice and the voice of other former Teach for America teachers who also talk about how this is such a bad experience for them and the students that they taught.
So at the end of the day, my colleagues didn’t have the courage to stand up and do what was right, we didn’t have the votes, and so I decided that we had to take a pause and re-strategize and figure out how we were going to elevate the voice for these students who don’t have a paid lobby out there.
Kim Brown: Some of your colleagues express trepidation for supporting this bill because they said there was not enough data to support your claim. Do you have proof that groups, and I keep saying TFA, it’s not just TFA, but TFA is the main one, probably one of the larger ones. What data supports what you say that these first-time instructors are actually failing children more than they are helping them?
Cristina Garcia: We don’t have specific data. Unfortunately here in California, each school district tracks however they want to track and a lot of times they’re not tracking any of this information. A lot of it has been anecdotal, but we do have repeated national surveys and research that shows us that the best way to close the educational gap is having a qualified teacher.
So this year we have a new bill that is out there trying to track the data. We’re tracking data about where are these teachers being in placed, what kind of training do they have, are they in credential programs, how long are they staying at these sites, and how are their students performing compared to the rest of the students at the school site?
So we are confident that when the data comes back, we will have the same results that we expect. That these students are not performing, that these teachers are leaving after three years and we continue to perpetuate the cycle of having inexperienced teachers in a classroom and a constant turnover. That just creates a lot of instability for these school sites.
Kim Brown: Amidst a teacher shortage, is it wise for school systems to be turning down help, or is it more of the case all money ain’t good money?
Cristina Garcia: All money ain’t good money I would say definitely is the case here. I think if you’re really serious about closing the gap that we have out there, the achievement gap with our students, our colors, we can’t keep accepting these false solutions. We do have a clear teacher shortage, but the solution is not to put people in there who only have 18 hours of training, but to recruit individuals who have the training, who have the expertise to help the student cells, and then to give them the support they need in the classroom. So I just think that these are false solutions that allow us to ignore what we really need to do, and those tough choices that need to be made.
Kim Brown: Last school year, there were roughly 700 Teach for America educators dispatched throughout California, in the Bay area, in San Diego, and Los Angeles in the Central Coast Valley. But from what I’m able to discern is that we’re not seeing a lot of them being put in higher income school districts. They’re not a lot of Teach for America educators being put in Calabasas for example. Is this an income inequality thing where students who are low income are receiving the least trained people for their primary education, whereas higher income communities are not dealing with that?
Cristina Garcia: Definitely I feel this false lead doesn’t just have income inequality, but it has racism in it. These teachers are only placed on low income schools, in our most vulnerable schools. In California those are schools of color, those are schools of immigrants, those are low income communities.
So our most vulnerable students are getting our least qualified teachers. Just logically, this doesn’t make any sense, do we really valued these students? Or are we comfortable with treating two classes of students out of here, the haves and the have nots?
So I’ve asked that question as these programs are so great, if these teachers are so great, why are they not in our middle and upper class communities? Why are they only good enough for my students from my community? I think right now we are all dealing with this pandemic, a lot of us are hunkered though at home, parents are struggling with homeschooling. I’m seeing all kinds of names out there, all kinds of videos asking for help. They’re just struggling, they’re seeing how hard it is to teach one or two children.
Now imagine teaching 30 of them at once, or 40 of them at once. How do they really expect that a 22-year-old with only 18 hours of training somehow is going to be able to manage a classroom with any group of students? Much less students with such a unique needs in these communities. So for me these policies are both about economic injustice but also about racism at the same time.
People don’t want to have those uncomfortable conversations. But I think if we are really going to close the educational gaps, we need to call it what it is and when you start dealing with this differently.
Kim Brown: I think a lot of parents are understanding the value of teachers, especially as school systems are closed around the country.
Lastly Assembly Woman Garcia, I wanted to ask because you said that you are a former teacher yourself and in April of 2019 you pinned an op-ed in, I believe it was the San Diego Union Tribune, where you talked about your own shortcomings as a new teacher and how some of the students that you instructed early on in your teaching career were not best served just because of inexperience.
As you mentioned earlier, we know that student success is directly tied to teacher preparedness and teacher expertise. What can you share with us about your own experiences as a teacher, and how the difference between having someone who is educated specifically for instruction versus someone who may have had a bachelor’s degree in a completely other field and was only offered a short amount of training? What can we talk about in experiences as it relates to this profession?
Cristina Garcia: Yeah, let me be clear. You’re walking… I was probably, if my college would have allowed Teach for America, I might have applied and I was their prime candidate. I was a young woman of color, I was a good student, I loved the idea of being of service and helping our most vulnerable communities. I had a lot of empathy, culturally I understood these communities, but I was not qualified. I walked in with limited training, not through Teach for America, but through an emergency credential program and I didn’t know how to do discipline. I didn’t know how to think about the different ways students thought, we’re thinking about and learning about math. I learned about it one way, the way that was traditionally taught and it worked for me, but clearly it doesn’t work for most students out there. So I didn’t know about pedagogy, I didn’t know about, listen honey, I was figuring that out every day and every day you feel like a failure.
So I think a lot of well-intentioned, young individuals go into the school and maybe think they want to be in it, but leave. Because at some point you get tired of feeling like a failure regularly. I got lucky that I got some great mentors along the way. I got enrolled in a credential program and quickly was able to take charge of at least having basic discipline so I could deliver my lessons.
But I think it took me about a good solid seven years to get to the point that I thought I was a really good teacher. I think as I left teaching to join the assembly, I would say I was a pretty great teacher. But I was constantly working at my craft, constantly working on how to help students get through their math anxiety out there. Even the concept of math anxiety and why students have it, that’s something that I didn’t know about until I was in the classroom and I was trying to figure out why are these students still afraid of anything I’m talking about?
Kim Brown: Lastly, Assembly Woman, I know I said lastly for the last question, but do you plan on re-introducing your bill again in the future?
Cristina Garcia: I do. I am committed to this. I am committed to being a voice for these students, both because I was that student, I was that teacher, and I now represent a community of low income students. I want to make sure that my experience in the classroom brings some policy change in the years that have left over the legislature. So I’m committed to work on this on the long haul and continue to be a voice and continue to elevate issue, and I hope more of my peers join me in this fight.
Kim Brown: All right, we’re going to leave it right there. We’ve been speaking with Assembly Woman Christina Garcia. She represents the community of Bell Gardens in Los Angeles County. She intends to reintroduce her bill that would effectively ban organizations like Teach for America, which puts inexperienced teachers, educators in front of the most challenged students who come from low income communities. Assembly Woman, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.
Cristina Garcia: Thank you. I appreciate it as well.
Kim Brown: And thank you for watching the Real News Network.
Production: Genevieve Montinar, Bababtunde Ogunfolaju
Studio: Bababtunde Ogunfolaju
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therealnews--2020-03-25--Will Maryland Join Other States In Releasing Prisoners Due To COVID-19?

Jaisal Noor : Welcome to The Real News , I ’ m Jaisal Noor .
It ’ s been called a powder keg .
COVID-19 has highlighted the dangerous conditions faced by the over 2 million people behind bars in the United States that puts them at risk for infection .
Inmates and correctional officers across the country have already tested positive for the novel Coronavirus .
Advocates have demanded the release of prisoners for their own safety and several states and localities have already taken action .
On Friday , rep Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Senator Elizabeth Warren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump calling on him to reduce the federal prison population in order to combat the pandemic .
In Maryland thus far , governor Larry Hogan , who has earned wide praise for his response to COVID-19 has resisted calls from a growing number of advocates to expedite parole hearings , release elderly patients , and those at risk among a host of other demands .
Well , now joining us to discuss this is one of those signatories to the letter to governor Hogan .
Alexander Girgis is a current MD-PhD trainee at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hopkins Incarceration Health Justice Collectives .
Thank you so much for joining us .
Alexander Girgi… : Thank you .
Good to be here .
Jaisal Noor : So right off the bat , I think it ’ s important to note , I ’ m just reading a headline here , Maryland leads the nation in incarcerating young Black men .
Talk about your demands to governor Larry Hogan .
Alexander Girgi… : So we ’ re making a number of demands , but the common theme among all of them is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor ’ s office place a priority on existing parole and probation procedures for the subpopulation of incarcerated individuals who have been determined by existing guidelines to be most at risk from morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 .
So that would be people who are over 60 , people with chronic health conditions like heart and lung disease , or diabetes , or immunocompromised .
We ’ re asking several demands that are ultimately aimed at moving at least a subset of those individuals out of the prison system to reduce their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like expediting parole procedures for those populations , declaring parole and commutation or release proceedings as emergency procedures .
So those can be kind of triaged or expedited in the system .
And we want the governor ’ s office to expedite geriatric and medical parole hearings .
And the ultimate goal of all these things , I think we have to understand , as you mentioned , the prison system is a potential powder keg for problems related to COVID-19 .
Whenever you have a gathering of people in a closed space @ @ @ @ @ @ @ always a potential for transmission of disease .
It doesn ’ t matter who you are , whether you ’ re incarcerated or not .
But the differences is of course incarcerated populations have less of a voice when it comes to advocating for their own rights in that respect .
And so they have been , I think , sadly overlooked when it comes to responding to this epidemic so far .
And we need to act quickly to avoid a really rapid spread of the outbreak in these populations .
Jaisal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ populations are already subjected to disease and outbreaks already .
Before the Coronavirus pandemic hit , we already know these populations are at risk .
Talk more about why it ’ s important that action be taken .
And it ’ s important to note that states across the country and cities have taken action and in many cases , it ’ s been too late to avoid outbreaks , but they ’ re beginning to take action .
So far , governor Larry Hogan has not taken action .
Alexander Girgi… : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point .
I mean , unfortunately , due to systemic inequities and access to care and other factors , the incarcerated population does tend to be less healthy than the non-incarcerated population .
And there are larger incidences of communicable illness including hepatitis and HIV and tuberculosis in incarcerated populations .
And there ’ s no reason to believe that something that ’ s fairly contagious like COVID-19 could be prevented with current prison protocols .
I mean , how do you feed large amounts of people in potentially shared dining halls or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same correctional staff monitoring a large number of prisoners ?
There ’ s just a huge potential for spread .
I think you raise a good point in that other municipalities and other states across the country have recognized this is a potential problem .
In New York City , mayor Bill de Blasio has emphasized expedited parole and release proceedings for 200 prisoners that were deemed vulnerable .
They released 23 of them on Sunday as kind of part of that initiative .
So people do appreciate that this is a growing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor Hogan ’ s response on a number of fronts in Maryland has been positive as far as closing restaurants , bars , and non-essential businesses as of yesterday .
The prison population has been overlooked .
And I think part of the reason for that is kind of the cultural perception of , who are prisoners ?
And I think unfortunately , for some of the political system or in society , we viewed incarcerated individuals as nothing more than potential agents to commit crime .
And if you view it that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to keeping people incarcerated .
But when you view them not only as people who have the potential to spread disease as anyone else , but also people who are human and suffer as a consequence of these health problems , then you realize that there really are some cons to keeping people incarcerated .
I think there are a number of arguments to be made from the moral standpoint as well as the financial standpoint .
I don ’ t have data on Maryland prison systems per se , but at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ per day per inmate to incarcerate someone .
And so I think that there ’ s a number of arguments to be made to governor Hogan at both mitigating the cost of incarceration by releasing people and also avoiding the cost of healthcare for individuals who fall ill .
I think he said- Jaisal Noor : I think in Maryland , it ’ s something like $ 30,000 or $ 40,000 a year .
So it costs less to put someone through college than lock them up .
Can you talk about what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are incarcerated in Maryland so far ?
Has anything been done ?
Alexander Girgi… : Yeah .
Well , certainly .
I mean , in response to this pandemic , to my knowledge , there has been no real action taken by the Maryland prison systems .
And I think the concern has been raised by a number of individuals .
But I think most public institutions and especially prisons which take care of a marginalized population , I think there ’ s a lot of inertia to really enacting change .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expedited proceedings of any nature that have happened as a result of this outbreak .
Jaisal Noor : And finally , I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about the lessons COVID-19 has taught us about mass incarceration in the United States .
We lock up more people per capita than anyone in the world .
It doesn ’ t keep us safer .
And now we ’ re learning that we don ’ t have to necessarily to be doing this .
Talk about what we ’ ve seen here .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ stuff that many of us already know if you ’ ve listened to formerly incarcerated , if you listened to former police and prison guard officials , they ’ ve been saying this for decades , obviously .
But do you think this could help spur some broader change in how America deals with mass incarceration ?
Alexander Girgi… : I am hopeful that this will spur a change in attitudes and how we view mass incarceration .
I think that it ’ s clear that mass incarceration is a huge problem in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in that with inequities , particularly in access to healthcare , mental health resources and a multitude of other things that a prison sentence is not just a prison sentence , that in some cases , it can be a death sentence or guaranteeing that you may not find employment in the future .
Just long lasting repercussions beyond the scope of that sentence .
And I think that particularly in this instance , we have a situation in which mass incarceration is not only harming incarcerated individuals , but by potentially propagating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re harming everyone .
You ’ re harming society as a whole if you can not control this outbreak .
And so hopefully , that will motivate people who are not just incarcerated , but beyond the incarcerated population into really strongly considering reform in prison systems and especially in prison healthcare , which has been just a long topic , which merits its own discussion for how under resourced it is .
Jaisal Noor : Well , we want to thank you so much for joining us .
And keep us posted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ll love to have you back on if there ’ s developments on this story .
Thank you so much .
Jaisal Noor : Thank you for joining us at The Real News Network .

Jaisal Noor: Welcome to The Real News, I’m Jaisal Noor. It’s been called a powder keg. COVID-19 has highlighted the dangerous conditions faced by the over 2 million people behind bars in the United States that puts them at risk for infection. Inmates and correctional officers across the country have already tested positive for the novel Coronavirus. Advocates have demanded the release of prisoners for their own safety and several states and localities have already taken action. On Friday, rep Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter to president Trump calling on him to reduce the federal prison population in order to combat the pandemic. In Maryland thus far, governor Larry Hogan, who has earned wide praise for his response to COVID-19 has resisted calls from a growing number of advocates to expedite parole hearings, release elderly patients, and those at risk among a host of other demands. Well, now joining us to discuss this is one of those signatories to the letter to governor Hogan. Alexander Girgis is a current MD-PhD trainee at Johns Hopkins University and part of the Hopkins Incarceration Health Justice Collectives. Thank you so much for joining us.
Alexander Girgi…: Thank you. Good to be here.
Jaisal Noor: So right off the bat, I think it’s important to note, I’m just reading a headline here, Maryland leads the nation in incarcerating young Black men. Talk about your demands to governor Larry Hogan.
Alexander Girgi…: So we’re making a number of demands, but the common theme among all of them is that we’re asking that the governor’s office place a priority on existing parole and probation procedures for the subpopulation of incarcerated individuals who have been determined by existing guidelines to be most at risk from morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19. So that would be people who are over 60, people with chronic health conditions like heart and lung disease, or diabetes, or immunocompromised. We’re asking several demands that are ultimately aimed at moving at least a subset of those individuals out of the prison system to reduce their exposure. So that would be things like expediting parole procedures for those populations, declaring parole and commutation or release proceedings as emergency procedures. So those can be kind of triaged or expedited in the system. And we want the governor’s office to expedite geriatric and medical parole hearings.
And the ultimate goal of all these things, I think we have to understand, as you mentioned, the prison system is a potential powder keg for problems related to COVID-19. Whenever you have a gathering of people in a closed space with shared resources, there’s always a potential for transmission of disease. It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you’re incarcerated or not. But the differences is of course incarcerated populations have less of a voice when it comes to advocating for their own rights in that respect. And so they have been, I think, sadly overlooked when it comes to responding to this epidemic so far. And we need to act quickly to avoid a really rapid spread of the outbreak in these populations.
Jaisal Noor: So we understand that these populations are already subjected to disease and outbreaks already. Before the Coronavirus pandemic hit, we already know these populations are at risk. Talk more about why it’s important that action be taken. And it’s important to note that states across the country and cities have taken action and in many cases, it’s been too late to avoid outbreaks, but they’re beginning to take action. So far, governor Larry Hogan has not taken action.
Alexander Girgi…: Yeah. That’s a great point. I mean, unfortunately, due to systemic inequities and access to care and other factors, the incarcerated population does tend to be less healthy than the non-incarcerated population. And there are larger incidences of communicable illness including hepatitis and HIV and tuberculosis in incarcerated populations. And there’s no reason to believe that something that’s fairly contagious like COVID-19 could be prevented with current prison protocols. I mean, how do you feed large amounts of people in potentially shared dining halls or shared hygiene facilities? Or have the same correctional staff monitoring a large number of prisoners? There’s just a huge potential for spread.
I think you raise a good point in that other municipalities and other states across the country have recognized this is a potential problem. In New York City, mayor Bill de Blasio has emphasized expedited parole and release proceedings for 200 prisoners that were deemed vulnerable. They released 23 of them on Sunday as kind of part of that initiative. So people do appreciate that this is a growing problem. But so far, although governor Hogan’s response on a number of fronts in Maryland has been positive as far as closing restaurants, bars, and non-essential businesses as of yesterday. The prison population has been overlooked. And I think part of the reason for that is kind of the cultural perception of, who are prisoners? And I think unfortunately, for some of the political system or in society, we viewed incarcerated individuals as nothing more than potential agents to commit crime.
And if you view it that way, then there is no downside to keeping people incarcerated. But when you view them not only as people who have the potential to spread disease as anyone else, but also people who are human and suffer as a consequence of these health problems, then you realize that there really are some cons to keeping people incarcerated. I think there are a number of arguments to be made from the moral standpoint as well as the financial standpoint. I don’t have data on Maryland prison systems per se, but at the federal level, it costs $99 per day per inmate to incarcerate someone. And so I think that there’s a number of arguments to be made to governor Hogan at both mitigating the cost of incarceration by releasing people and also avoiding the cost of healthcare for individuals who fall ill. I think he said-
Jaisal Noor: I think in Maryland, it’s something like $30,000 or $40,000 a year. So it costs less to put someone through college than lock them up. Can you talk about what exactly has been done for people that are incarcerated in Maryland so far? Has anything been done?
Alexander Girgi…: Yeah. Well, certainly. I mean, in response to this pandemic, to my knowledge, there has been no real action taken by the Maryland prison systems. And I think the concern has been raised by a number of individuals. But I think most public institutions and especially prisons which take care of a marginalized population, I think there’s a lot of inertia to really enacting change. So I’m not aware of any expedited proceedings of any nature that have happened as a result of this outbreak.
Jaisal Noor: And finally, I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about the lessons COVID-19 has taught us about mass incarceration in the United States. We lock up more people per capita than anyone in the world. It doesn’t keep us safer. And now we’re learning that we don’t have to necessarily to be doing this. Talk about what we’ve seen here. And I mean, this is the stuff that many of us already know if you’ve listened to formerly incarcerated, if you listened to former police and prison guard officials, they’ve been saying this for decades, obviously. But do you think this could help spur some broader change in how America deals with mass incarceration?
Alexander Girgi…: I am hopeful that this will spur a change in attitudes and how we view mass incarceration. I think that it’s clear that mass incarceration is a huge problem in creating long lasting effects on those individuals in that with inequities, particularly in access to healthcare, mental health resources and a multitude of other things that a prison sentence is not just a prison sentence, that in some cases, it can be a death sentence or guaranteeing that you may not find employment in the future. Just long lasting repercussions beyond the scope of that sentence. And I think that particularly in this instance, we have a situation in which mass incarceration is not only harming incarcerated individuals, but by potentially propagating the spread of disease, you’re harming everyone. You’re harming society as a whole if you cannot control this outbreak. And so hopefully, that will motivate people who are not just incarcerated, but beyond the incarcerated population into really strongly considering reform in prison systems and especially in prison healthcare, which has been just a long topic, which merits its own discussion for how under resourced it is.
Jaisal Noor: Well, we want to thank you so much for joining us. And keep us posted on how this develops and if… We’ll love to have you back on if there’s developments on this story. Thank you so much.
Alexander Girgi…: Thank you.
Jaisal Noor: Thank you for joining us at The Real News Network.


therealnews--2020-03-26--Palestine Is Occupied, Segregated, And About To Face COVID-19

Welcome to the Real News , I ’ m Taya Graham .
Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy says that as more and more communities face movement restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus , maybe they will get a taste of what Palestinians experience every day living under Israeli military occupation .
But for Palestinians , living under restrictions day to day hasn ’ t made it easier to cope with the new , intensified measures to contain COVID-19 .
Instead , Palestinians are realizing that the combination of occupation and coronavirus is torturous .
The Gaza Strip ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus until recently .
But the first cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in the besieged Gaza Strip , and doctors warn of a humanitarian catastrophe in a small dense area lacking in medicine and health facilities .
The Palestinian Authority asked the Israeli government to release 11.5 million dollars which the Israeli government has been withholding .
Back in February 2019 the Israeli government started to deduct money the Palestinian Authority gives to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails from the taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Palestinian Authority must support them , thereby subsidizing the Israeli occupation , and removing money from the Authority ’ s budget .
The Palestinian Authority is now appealing to Israel to release those funds in order to help them deal with the spread of COVID-19 , offer treatment to people who become sick , and establish effective quarantine areas .
It is , of course , also in the interest of Israel that the Palestinian Authority contain the virus effectively , but the Israeli government refused and continues to hold on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Soboh the Gaza director of the World Health Organization warned about how lack of resources could exacerbate the pandemic .
Meanwhile , the Israeli government doesn ’ t want the coronavirus outbreak to undermine its efforts to deal with its own housing shortage .
Businesses are closed all over Israel , but not construction sites , where workers must still show up to work despite the risk of infection and keep on building houses .
Most construction workers on those sites are Palestinians coming from the West Bank .
Fearing that workers traveling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accelerate the spread of the disease , Israeli Minister of Defense Naftali Bennet ordered that Palestinian workers must remain in Israel for at least two weeks and be separated from their families and their social circles if they want to keep their jobs .
This creates a serious dilemma for workers : should they take on a dangerous job at low pay to help provide for their family who they will not even be allowed to see ?
Construction worker Ibrahim Abu Safiya had trouble breathing , so his Israeli employer suspected that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was physically thrown out of Israel through the checkpoint and left feverish on the ground without medical help or someone to accompany him .
He eventually tested negative for COVID-19 .
“ All citizens who return from abroad should be in quarantine for 14 days in centres in their cities .
Fifth , banks will work in emergency an situation , bank employees should show their work cards .
Sixth , Palestinian workers are not allowed to go to settlements at all .
Seventh , we request Israel to provide human conditions for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( in Israel ) .
” There are still over five thousand Palestinians held as political prisoners in Israeli jails .
Four have recently reported symptoms of infection , and the Israeli secret police interrogator who questioned them was diagnosed with the coronavirus .
Under these conditions , all Palestinian prisoners are at a very high risk of the disease .
Sahar Francis , director of the Addameer Palestinian prisoners right ’ s organization , spoke to the Real News .

Israel’s military control of Gaza and the West Bank has only grown more brutal during the pandemic. Workers are held in quarantine, prisoners have been infected, and Israel is withholding money that could be used to help contain the outbreak.
Story Transcript
Welcome to the Real News, I’m Taya Graham.
Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy says that as more and more communities face movement restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus, maybe they will get a taste of what Palestinians experience every day living under Israeli military occupation.
But for Palestinians, living under restrictions day to day hasn’t made it easier to cope with the new, intensified measures to contain COVID-19. Instead, Palestinians are realizing that the combination of occupation and coronavirus is torturous.
The Gaza Strip’s heavily controlled border offered some protection from the virus until recently. But the first cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in the besieged Gaza Strip, and doctors warn of a humanitarian catastrophe in a small dense area lacking in medicine and health facilities.
The Palestinian Authority asked the Israeli government to release 11.5 million dollars which the Israeli government has been withholding. Back in February 2019 the Israeli government started to deduct money the Palestinian Authority gives to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails from the taxes that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. These prisoners do not receive sufficient food and the Palestinian Authority must support them, thereby subsidizing the Israeli occupation, and removing money from the Authority’s budget.
The Palestinian Authority is now appealing to Israel to release those funds in order to help them deal with the spread of COVID-19, offer treatment to people who become sick, and establish effective quarantine areas. It is, of course, also in the interest of Israel that the Palestinian Authority contain the virus effectively, but the Israeli government refused and continues to hold on to the stolen money.
Abdul Nasser Soboh the Gaza director of the World Health Organization warned about how lack of resources could exacerbate the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government doesn’t want the coronavirus outbreak to undermine its efforts to deal with its own housing shortage. Businesses are closed all over Israel, but not construction sites, where workers must still show up to work despite the risk of infection and keep on building houses. Most construction workers on those sites are Palestinians coming from the West Bank.
Fearing that workers traveling between the West Bank and Israel will accelerate the spread of the disease, Israeli Minister of Defense Naftali Bennet ordered that Palestinian workers must remain in Israel for at least two weeks and be separated from their families and their social circles if they want to keep their jobs. This creates a serious dilemma for workers: should they take on a dangerous job at low pay to help provide for their family who they will not even be allowed to see?
Construction worker Ibrahim Abu Safiya had trouble breathing, so his Israeli employer suspected that he was infected with COVID-19. He was physically thrown out of Israel through the checkpoint and left feverish on the ground without medical help or someone to accompany him. He eventually tested negative for COVID-19.
Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammed Shtaya made this public announcement:
“All citizens who return from abroad should be in quarantine for 14 days in centres in their cities. Fifth, banks will work in emergency an situation, bank employees should show their work cards. Sixth, Palestinian workers are not allowed to go to settlements at all. Seventh, we request Israel to provide human conditions for workers who sleep in their work places (in Israel).”
There are still over five thousand Palestinians held as political prisoners in Israeli jails. Four have recently reported symptoms of infection, and the Israeli secret police interrogator who questioned them was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Under these conditions, all Palestinian prisoners are at a very high risk of the disease. Sahar Francis, director of the Addameer Palestinian prisoners right’s organization, spoke to the Real News.
For The Real News Network, I’m Taya Graham.
Production: Shir Hever
Post-Production: Oscar León
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