truthout--2020-10-22--Countless Disasters Have Occurred Since Last Debate. Will Trump Address Any?

How bad could tonight ’ s debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden be , really , compared to the last one ?
Remember that hot mess back in late September ?
Much of the news media , myself included , waxed ominous in the preamble about what would happen if Biden was unable to keep his cool in the face of the inevitable Trumpian onslaught .
Instead , Trump ’ s head exploded in a seemingly endless Möbius loop of rage gibberish as he thrashed about the stage like a boated swordfish .
All Joe Biden had to do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and that is largely what he did , and the polls rewarded him handsomely a few days later .
What ’ s been happening since then ?
Oh , nothing , except Trump caught COVID right after that first debate and went away for a week while they stuffed him with every anti-COVID medication available to science , and he lived , because of course he did , and now he thinks he ’ s invincible .
White House efforts to undermine the idea that the pandemic is deadly were doubled , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from red state to red state holding maskless rallies that please his ego even as they infect his base .
Meanwhile , the rats are patting their pockets wondering where they left the keys to the outboard .
Big-time Republican pollster Frank Luntz , who has been poisoning U.S. politics since the days of Ronald Reagan , just can ’ t even anymore .
“ It is the worst campaign I ’ ve ever seen , ” Luntz snarled to The Hill , “ and I ’ ve been watching them since 1980 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues .
They ’ re on the wrong message .
They ’ ve got their heads up their assess.
” No , Frank .
They have their heads up Trump ’ s ass , which has been the problem from the jump .
Some have withdrawn from that odious orifice long enough to state , anonymously of course , that Trump is doomed and it ’ s all over but the shouty tantrum .
Mitch McConnell , Ben Sasse and Susan Collins all spoke for the record when they said the hideous feces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to be a better person , but an ever-increasing number of staffers and officials have begun croaking “ Nevermore ” from atop Trump ’ s chamber door… and you better believe he ’ s keeping tabs on all these goddamn birds in his belfry .
“ If you ’ re backing away from him now , don ’ t bother coming back for a favor when he wins , ” says one whispered source .
Yeah , well , about that .
The debate tonight was thrown into temporary uncertainty a few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abruptly attacked debate moderator Kristen Welker for being biased , while demanding the entire debate be focused on foreign policy .
Attacking woman journalists is Trump ’ s ever-shabby default position , and his foreign policy debate threat soon withered once everyone simultaneously realized Trump probably couldn ’ t find the District of Columbia on a map , much less North Korea or Syria .
Besides , and not for nothing , but it was also just revealed that Trump has a secret bank account in China that he ’ s never disclosed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ got up to who knows what shenanigans while paying upwards of $ 185,000 in Chinese taxes , compared to the $ 750 in taxes he ’ s paid to the U.S… so , yeah , secret Chinese bank account ?
Is he sure he wants to do foreign policy tonight ?
Former President Obama was merciless in his withering fire on Wednesday : “ Can you imagine if I had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for re-election ?
” he asked a crowd in Philly .
“ They would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The widely spread crowd swooned , and the clip played over and over on the news .
If we know anything about Trump , it is that he hates being ridiculed , especially by Obama .
Ridicule from that guy is one of the things that got this whole ball rolling nearly 10 years ago .
Trump also allegedly wants to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray , and maybe Attorney General Bill Barr , too , because neither have used the massive influence of their offices to bring Trump the skulls of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mead from those departed vessels by the firelight of his great hall… or something .
This from the guy who promised Jason Whitlock of Outtake on Thursday that Happy Donald is just waiting on the far side of victory .
When asked if he might be kinder and/or gentler during a second term , he replied , “ I think the answer is yes .
I want the answer to be yes , but when I first came here , there was so much to do .
I didn ’ t have time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ People don ’ t like me .
But , you know , the softer side is good.
” I got nothing else .
An earthquake is going to Nashville tonight to debate an elder statesman with more than a few weak spots of his own .
For the most part , the poll numbers between Biden and Trump have not budged in months , even when explosive elements like Trump ’ s COVID diagnosis or the revelation of his tax documents have intervened .
By the numbers , Trump is losing by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ something truly remarkable to happen tonight in order to change that trajectory .
Meanwhile , there ’ s all this shit , this new shit stacked atop the yesterday shit that never quite seems to measure up to the grotesqueries of all the inevitable tomorrow shit .
A debate moderator need only hold up the front page of any major daily in the country from any given day and say to Trump , “ Dude , explain this , ” and the night would collapse into yet another festival of self-serving glop .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but this one seems safe : If Donald Trump vomits blue nuclear laser Godzilla fire on Joe Biden tonight , it might shake up the race .
Otherwise , my simpler prediction is this : Biden keeps his head down and stays loose , while Trump rages futilely against the dying of the light , and the race , come the dawn , will be pretty much exactly where it stands right now .

How bad could tonight’s debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden be, really, compared to the last one? Remember that hot mess back in late September? Much of the news media, myself included, waxed ominous in the preamble about what would happen if Biden was unable to keep his cool in the face of the inevitable Trumpian onslaught.
Instead, Trump’s head exploded in a seemingly endless Möbius loop of rage gibberish as he thrashed about the stage like a boated swordfish. All Joe Biden had to do was look at the camera and smile, and that is largely what he did, and the polls rewarded him handsomely a few days later.
What’s been happening since then? Oh, nothing, except Trump caught COVID right after that first debate and went away for a week while they stuffed him with every anti-COVID medication available to science, and he lived, because of course he did, and now he thinks he’s invincible.
White House efforts to undermine the idea that the pandemic is deadly were doubled, and doubled again, as Trump moves from red state to red state holding maskless rallies that please his ego even as they infect his base.
Meanwhile, the rats are patting their pockets wondering where they left the keys to the outboard. Big-time Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who has been poisoning U.S. politics since the days of Ronald Reagan, just can’t even anymore. “It is the worst campaign I’ve ever seen,” Luntz snarled to The Hill, “and I’ve been watching them since 1980. They’re on the wrong issues. They’re on the wrong message. They’ve got their heads up their assess.”
No, Frank. They have their heads up Trump’s ass, which has been the problem from the jump.
Some have withdrawn from that odious orifice long enough to state, anonymously of course, that Trump is doomed and it’s all over but the shouty tantrum. Mitch McConnell, Ben Sasse and Susan Collins all spoke for the record when they said the hideous feces monster in the Oval Office could maybe try to be a better person, but an ever-increasing number of staffers and officials have begun croaking “Nevermore” from atop Trump’s chamber door… and you better believe he’s keeping tabs on all these goddamn birds in his belfry. “If you’re backing away from him now, don’t bother coming back for a favor when he wins,” says one whispered source.
Yeah, well, about that.
So, yeah, secret Chinese bank account? Is Trump sure he wants to do foreign policy tonight?
The debate tonight was thrown into temporary uncertainty a few days ago when Trump and his campaign abruptly attacked debate moderator Kristen Welker for being biased, while demanding the entire debate be focused on foreign policy. Attacking woman journalists is Trump’s ever-shabby default position, and his foreign policy debate threat soon withered once everyone simultaneously realized Trump probably couldn’t find the District of Columbia on a map, much less North Korea or Syria.
Besides, and not for nothing, but it was also just revealed that Trump has a secret bank account in China that he’s never disclosed before. From that account, he got up to who knows what shenanigans while paying upwards of $185,000 in Chinese taxes, compared to the $750 in taxes he’s paid to the U.S… so, yeah, secret Chinese bank account? Is he sure he wants to do foreign policy tonight?
Former President Obama was merciless in his withering fire on Wednesday: “Can you imagine if I had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for re-election?” he asked a crowd in Philly. “They would’ve called me Beijing Barry.” The widely spread crowd swooned, and the clip played over and over on the news. If we know anything about Trump, it is that he hates being ridiculed, especially by Obama. Ridicule from that guy is one of the things that got this whole ball rolling nearly 10 years ago.
Trump also allegedly wants to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, and maybe Attorney General Bill Barr, too, because neither have used the massive influence of their offices to bring Trump the skulls of his political enemies, so he might drink mead from those departed vessels by the firelight of his great hall… or something.
This from the guy who promised Jason Whitlock of Outtake on Thursday that Happy Donald is just waiting on the far side of victory. When asked if he might be kinder and/or gentler during a second term, he replied, “I think the answer is yes. I want the answer to be yes, but when I first came here, there was so much to do. I didn’t have time to be totally and politically correct. People don’t like me. But, you know, the softer side is good.”
I got nothing else. An earthquake is going to Nashville tonight to debate an elder statesman with more than a few weak spots of his own. For the most part, the poll numbers between Biden and Trump have not budged in months, even when explosive elements like Trump’s COVID diagnosis or the revelation of his tax documents have intervened. By the numbers, Trump is losing by a solid 10 points, and would need something truly remarkable to happen tonight in order to change that trajectory.
Meanwhile, there’s all this shit, this new shit stacked atop the yesterday shit that never quite seems to measure up to the grotesqueries of all the inevitable tomorrow shit. A debate moderator need only hold up the front page of any major daily in the country from any given day and say to Trump, “Dude, explain this,” and the night would collapse into yet another festival of self-serving glop.
I’m allergic to predictions, but this one seems safe: If Donald Trump vomits blue nuclear laser Godzilla fire on Joe Biden tonight, it might shake up the race. Otherwise, my simpler prediction is this: Biden keeps his head down and stays loose, while Trump rages futilely against the dying of the light, and the race, come the dawn, will be pretty much exactly where it stands right now.
Twelve days left.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-10-22--Poll: Trump’s Reelection Rating Is Lowest for Incumbent President Since 1992

A majority of American voters don ’ t believe President Donald Trump deserves to win reelection in this year ’ s presidential race , according to a poll published this week .
The Gallup poll finds that only 43 percent of registered voters think Trump deserves a second term , while 56 percent of voters say he should not be sent back to Washington .
The 13-point net-negative rating on the question is the lowest the poll has seen , during a presidential reelection year , for an incumbent commander-in-chief seeking a second term since 1992 , when George H.W @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s also a stark dropoff for Trump from the start of this year .
Shortly after articles of impeachment were issued against the president in the House of Representatives , polls found respondents split 50-50 on whether Trump deserved to have a second term .
The split rating was an anomaly for the current president , as Gallup generally returned poor numbers for Trump on the same question when it was mentioned in polls in 2018 .
Nevertheless , the positive numbers from earlier this year suggested Trump was seeing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months ahead of November — that is , until the coronavirus pandemic struck , and American voters witnessed his disastrous response .
A Reuters/Ipsos poll from earlier this month found Trump ’ s inept handling of the virus has damaged how Americans see him as a leader .
Just 37 percent of voters approve of his management of the crisis , while 59 percent say they disapprove in the poll .
The net approval rating of negative 22 points this month is Trump ’ s lowest since the crisis began .
The deadly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as a separate Gallup poll from earlier this month demonstrated .
More than three-quarters of voters described COVID-19 as an “ extremely important ” or “ very important ” issue in that survey ( conversely , just 5 percent said it wasn ’ t important to them when considering their vote ) .
Those numbers appear to be hurting Trump ’ s chances against his main opponent in the presidential race , former Vice President Joe Biden .
According to an aggregate of polls collected by RealClearPolitics , Biden is currently leading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationally .
Trump has one last shot to make a strong appeal to the American people during the final presidential debate scheduled for Thursday evening .
His strategy , according to the president ’ s campaign advisers , is to come off as congenial in front of the cameras .
“ All Trump has to do is give people permission to vote for him , ” one adviser said to Axios .
However , in the past week , he has attacked the integrity of the moderator for the debate , NBC News @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abruptly ended an interview with venerated CBS News journalist Lesley Stahl for a segment that was set to air on “ 60 Minutes ” this Sunday .
Both actions have caused a stir , resulting in negative news headlines for the incumbent .

A majority of American voters don’t believe President Donald Trump deserves to win reelection in this year’s presidential race, according to a poll published this week.
The Gallup poll finds that only 43 percent of registered voters think Trump deserves a second term, while 56 percent of voters say he should not be sent back to Washington.
The 13-point net-negative rating on the question is the lowest the poll has seen, during a presidential reelection year, for an incumbent commander-in-chief seeking a second term since 1992, when George H.W. Bush had a 14-point net-negative rating.
It’s also a stark dropoff for Trump from the start of this year. Shortly after articles of impeachment were issued against the president in the House of Representatives, polls found respondents split 50-50 on whether Trump deserved to have a second term.
The split rating was an anomaly for the current president, as Gallup generally returned poor numbers for Trump on the same question when it was mentioned in polls in 2018. Nevertheless, the positive numbers from earlier this year suggested Trump was seeing an upswing in his chances for reelection months ahead of November — that is, until the coronavirus pandemic struck, and American voters witnessed his disastrous response.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll from earlier this month found Trump’s inept handling of the virus has damaged how Americans see him as a leader. Just 37 percent of voters approve of his management of the crisis, while 59 percent say they disapprove in the poll. The net approval rating of negative 22 points this month is Trump’s lowest since the crisis began.
The deadly pandemic is a top issue for Americans, as a separate Gallup poll from earlier this month demonstrated. More than three-quarters of voters described COVID-19 as an “extremely important” or “very important” issue in that survey (conversely, just 5 percent said it wasn’t important to them when considering their vote).
Those numbers appear to be hurting Trump’s chances against his main opponent in the presidential race, former Vice President Joe Biden. According to an aggregate of polls collected by RealClearPolitics, Biden is currently leading Trump by a margin of 7.7 points nationally.
Trump has one last shot to make a strong appeal to the American people during the final presidential debate scheduled for Thursday evening. His strategy, according to the president’s campaign advisers, is to come off as congenial in front of the cameras.
“All Trump has to do is give people permission to vote for him,” one adviser said to Axios.
However, in the past week, he has attacked the integrity of the moderator for the debate, NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker, and abruptly ended an interview with venerated CBS News journalist Lesley Stahl for a segment that was set to air on “60 Minutes” this Sunday. Both actions have caused a stir, resulting in negative news headlines for the incumbent.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-10-22--Nigerian Forces Kill 12 as Anti-Police Brutality Protests Grow

Mass protests against police brutality continue in Nigeria after security forces shot and killed 12 peaceful protesters in Lagos this week .
Video widely shared on social media shows security forces firing directly into a crowd of demonstrators in Lagos singing the country ’ s national anthem .
Authorities have imposed a curfew to clamp down on the growing demonstrations , which started as a demand to disband the notorious police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad , or SARS , but which have since grown into a wider movement against police brutality and official impunity .
“ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asking for our lives to be preserved , not to be killed arbitrarily , ” says lawyer and human rights activist Aderonke Ige , who has taken part in the protests .
We also speak with Omoyele Sowore , who says young people in the streets are also confronting other systemic issues .
“ They are fighting against police brutality , but they are also fighting against army brutality , they are fighting against unemployment , they are fighting against the incompetence and indifference of the regime that has been in power , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : A warning to our listeners and viewers : We turn now to a story that includes graphic video and accounts of state violence .
We begin today ’ s show in Nigeria , where there ’ s growing evidence to confirm security forces fired without warning on peaceful protesters Tuesday night , killing at least 12 people , as authorities imposed a curfew to clamp down on growing demonstrations against police brutality .
Video shared widely on social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ directly into a crowd of demonstrators who were singing Nigeria national anthem .
AMY GOODMAN : Amnesty International issued a report Wednesday that it was Nigeria ’ s security forces that fired on the protesters .
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued a statement that , quote , “ There is little doubt that this was a case of excessive use of force , resulting in unlawful killings with live ammunition , by Nigerian armed forces , ” she said .
Amnesty International also said it received reports that shortly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off for security cameras in the area where protesters had camped .
At least 56 people have died during two weeks of widespread demonstrations in Nigeria , including 38 on Tuesday .
The killings come two weeks after protests began against a branch of the Nigerian police known as SARS , the Special Anti-Robbery Squad , which has long been accused of committing torture , murder and extortion .
The killings have sparked outrage from Nigerians across the globe .
The soccer star Odion Ighalo , who plays for Manchester United , posted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well , for more , we go to Nigeria , where we ’ re joined by two guests .
In Abuja , the capital of Nigeria , we ’ re joined by Sowore Omoyele .
He is a Nigerian journalist , a human rights activist , and founder and publisher of Sahara Reporters .
He also ran for president in Nigeria and has been imprisoned there .
In Lagos , the most populous city in Nigeria , which is the most populous country in the African continent , we ’ re joined by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and lawyer who works with the organization Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa .
Ige has been participating in the # EndSARS protests .
We welcome you both to Democracy Now !
We ’ re going to start in Lagos , where those fatal killings happened , the fatal shootings happened , on Tuesday night .
Aderonke Ige , you ’ ve been out on the streets .
Describe what ’ s happened , and talk about the level of peaceful protest that has been going on against this police unit and police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even begin to try to describe in words the kind of barbaric action of the Nigerian government that we saw play out on Tuesday here in Lagos .
Now , these protests have been sustained , have been peaceful , have been the most — you know , a lot of people would tend to say , “ Oh , we don ’ t even know the leaders.
” It ’ s not , you know , all of that , but it has been one of the most coordinated protests or demonstrations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face or any type of leadership .
That ’ s how we have been conducting ourselves for the past two weeks .
And you could see that there was raw passion , there was energy , to just salvage the soul of our collective group , our country , Nigeria .
And a lot of young people have been at the forefront , just everybody demanding , in unity and in oneness : What are we asking for ?
We ’ re asking for justice .
We are asking for our lives to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arbitrarily by these officers of state called SARS — that ’ s Special Anti-Robbery Squad — but then , even beyond SARS , by the Nigerian police , by the Nigerian military .
It looks like everything about Nigeria is just forceful .
And especially with this government , it ’ s been totally arbitrary , has been full of impunity , and just is set up against the people .
So , that ’ s all we ’ ve been asking for .
And it ’ s been totally organized .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in fact , to the applause of everyone who has seen it .
But then , rather than the Nigerian government taking action heeding to these demands and just being responsible , what we saw was , you know , what a lot of us have been seeing over the years , which , good enough , is now coming to the full glare of the globe .
Now we have seen where government , rather than heed to the voices of its citizens , would rather turn against them , oppress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asking not to be intimidated .
So , what happened on Tuesday was the anticlimax of everything .
So , in the last two weeks , we ’ ve been on the street , just chanting , just making our voices heard , demanding what we have been asking for as usual .
But then , the government , like a thief in the night that it has always been , went out .
Now , in the early evening , around 4 or 3 p.m. , there had been messages .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officers , wearing certain uniform , tampering with the closed-circuit camera TV , you know , and saying there ’ s something suspicious going on here .
It was later we realized that they had actually gone to cut off the cameras .
Eventually , as well , they cut off the lights .
And who could have had access to the government ’ s source of light , if not government ?
So , lights were cut off .
And then , what came after was the most horrendous thing ever , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just the Nigerian military .
We saw men in soldier ’ s uniform spraying bullets , just firing live rounds at peaceful protesters who held national flags , singing the national anthem .
And how did we know this eventually ?
We are grateful for technology .
Some of us had their cameras on .
Some went on — in fact , there was one of us — DJ Switch is her name , in Nigeria here — she went live on Instagram .
And that was how most of us were able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been protesting at different points , different grounds , running shifts and just showing solidarity for one another and with one another .
But she went on live , and we were able to follow , to monitor , though it was dark because the government had cut off the lights , but we were still able to make out sounds .
We saw the injured .
We saw people dying right before our eyes .
But then it was a situation where citizens were helpless in the face of government officials who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on peaceful protesters who were just there singing the national anthem .
So , what that told us is that — because , you know , there was also this message we passed across in recent — like four days ago , we started spreading it around , because in the course of this protest — this is all the same protest — we have also seen the aggression , brutality .
Everything that we have been asking , demanding , campaigning against was also unleashed on us .
We ’ ve seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen just coming at us and so on .
So , what we told our people was , try , when you go out , to go with the national flag .
Ordinarily , when any military official sees the national flag or you ’ re singing the national anthem , they are supposed to just respect us .
It ’ s a social contract .
And that ’ s everything that symbolizes us , that gives us dignity as citizens .
But guess what .
Everything that dignifies us was desecrated that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
People were dying .
They were helpless .
They were shouting .
They were screaming .
And this went on and on .
So , that ’ s what happened on Tuesday .
But then , that was the anticlimax , that happened in Lagos .
So , the specific location where that happened in Lagos , the protest point , is at Lekki .
We call it Lekki toll gate .
So , there have been other points , like I personally have been protesting Alausa through Orile , you know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have been doing this peacefully and sensibly and in the most applaudable manner .
But then the government came , as usual , and applied force and massacred people and injured , maimed its own citizens , who were there for nothing else than to ask for their lives to be saved and not be brutalized as it has always been .
AMY GOODMAN : Aderonke Ige , we ’ re going to break and then come back .
We will hear more from you .
Aderonke Ige is a human rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will go to Nigeria ’ s capital , Abuja , where Sowore Omoyele , the Nigerian journalist and human rights activist , who ’ s been imprisoned by the Nigerian state , has also been leading protests .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : “ Zombie ” by the late , great , legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti .
His son Femi Kuti recently marked what would have been Fela ’ s birthday by leading an End SARS protest in Nigeria .
This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with Nermeen Shaikh , as we continue to talk about what ’ s happening in Africa ’ s most populous country .
A warning to listeners and viewers again : As we report on Nigeria , the coverage includes graphic video and accounts of state violence in Nigeria , where there ’ s growing evidence to confirm security forces fired without warning on peaceful protesters Tuesday night , killing at least 12 people , as authorities imposed a curfew to clamp down on growing demonstrations against police brutality .
Some witnesses posted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could be heard .
A warning : This is graphic video of state violence .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , for more , we continue in Nigeria with our two guests .
In Lagos , the human rights attorney and activist Aderonke Ige , who was out in the streets , she works with the organization Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa .
She participated in the End SARS protests .
And we now go to Abuja , Nigeria ’ s capital , where Sowore Omoyele is a Nigerian journalist , human rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reporters .
Sowore , it is great to see you .
You ’ ve been imprisoned by the Nigerian state .
Now , once again , you ’ re out on the streets .
Talk about who the SARS police are , why you were protesting , and what this continued violence against the people of Nigeria means .
OMOYELE SOWORE : Thank you so much , Amy .
And I ’ m glad to be on your show .
SARS is the Special Anti-Robbery Squad .
It was formed in 1992 apparently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was formed after the demise — not the demise , but after a unit of the Nigerian police known as the “ Kill-and-Go ” was kind of rested because they were committing the same type of atrocities in those days .
They were being used by oil companies to suppress villagers and protesters in the Niger Delta region .
So , SARS is the nephew or cousin or brother , as you can imagine , in the police force , a tactical unit that ’ s been unleashed on the young people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do the same thing the Kill-and-Go do : to kill , destroy , decimate , extort , invade .
But it started having problems recently when they started to stop young people on the street who have dreadlocks , who have their hairs colored .
And they extort them , and they arrest people with phones and ask them to unlock their phones .
They take them to ATMs to collect bribes and extortion fees .
It was crazy .
And this has been going on .
And they ’ ve been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warrants , without any reason .
And it got to a head .
Well , let me be very clear : SARS is just the alias name for the pent-up anger within the Nigerian society , where young people are fighting over unemployment , over lack of justice , lack of access to the national wealth , I mean , in terms of oil resources and other resources , and the fact that the democratic system in Nigeria has started to break down and yield no dividend for the people of Nigeria .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ see on the street here , they are fighting against police brutality , but they are also fighting against Army brutality , they are fighting against unemployment , they are fighting against the incompetence and indifference of the regime that has been in power , who , by the way , sent me to prison last year for five months simply because I organized a protest , that was supposed to take place August 5 , 2019 , in Lagos .
And they flew me to Abuja , detained me without trial for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young people are going through the same thing .
You know , people are getting detained , jailed for making social media posts on Facebook , on Twitter .
It ’ s unbelievable .
Nigeria has become a police state , practically .
And what you ’ re seeing is a response to all of these abuses that have been taking place .
And , of course , on top of that is corruption .
You know , when Nigeria was under lockdown from COVID-19 between February and now , officials were making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ naira , which is , you know , millions in dollars , from — [ inaudible ] are saying that they are failing schoolchildren who are not going to school .
So , people are hearing all of this , and social media has happened to amplify all of these abuses .
Images are coming out , as you know , live and instantaneously .
And this makes people to rise up at once .
And I tell you , I was happy to be back on the streets fighting on the side @ @ @ @ @ @ @ call to revolution .
And this is what I ’ ve always asked for , that Nigerians need to rise up against oppression and fight for their rights and have the revolution that will give them a new order and a new direction , that can restore faith once again in what they call democracy here , which has just completely been managed by morons .
So , this is where we are , Amy .
And in Abuja , where I participated , the dimension was different .
They introduced what I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own case in Abuja , they are not sending soldiers to kill protesters directly , but they ’ re moving urchins , you know , and hoodlums in government vehicles to attack protesters .
And they ’ ve injured — killed one protester in Abuja that we know of , and they ’ ve injured a lot of people .
As of last night , these urchins , being directed by the police and the secret service — I mean , the secret police in Nigeria — I don ’ t know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are going from — you know , they are doing house-to-house searches for people they say are the leaders of this uprising that ’ s happening in Nigeria .
In my own case , yesterday , they went to court to try and revoke my bail so that I could get rearrested .
But luckily for me , lawyers did a fantastic job to ward that off .
So , they are at war against the youth .
They are at war against human rights .
They are at war against the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what you ’ re seeing , is the very , very principled response to these abuses by Nigerians .
And this has never happened before .
Even during when we were fighting against the military , I ’ ve never seen such a coordinated , very disciplined set of young people who have acted peacefully .
And what they did in Lagos was to go after these young people , most of them middle-class young people who , as they were peacefully protesting , they were shooting them at close range .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that are meant for fighting terrorists and fighting the wars , against peaceful protesters at this Lekki toll gate at close range .
There ’ s never been anything like that .
What made a difference this time around was social media , that this thing was captured instantaneously and broadcast to the world .
Otherwise , they would have denied it .
As we speak , they are still denying it .
They are claiming that the casualties were false and the wounded are recovering .
And they ’ re doing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ narrative , including trying to make it an ethnic and religious issue .
But fail , they must .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : But , Omoyele , as you pointed out , these protests are not just about police violence , but about a number of other issues .
But I just want to say that a University of Leiden report in 2016 found that police violence in Nigeria is apparently among the worst in the world , if not the worst , that when police intervene in a confrontation , almost 60 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shoot and kill someone .
Could you talk about — as you said , President Buhari ’ s government was responsible for imprisoning you last year just for organizing protests .
What has his response been to these protests and the response to his decision to disband SARS ?
OMOYELE SOWORE : The reason why people did not take his decision seriously is that President Buhari is tone-deaf .
This is who he is .
This has been his character .
He was the former military dictator who had carried out killings of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supposedly , because he — that some drug carriers were sentenced , and he brought their sentences forward and sentenced them to death .
He ’ s been part of every military regime in the country that partook in abuses of human rights up ’ til 1983 , when he took over government .
And he continued it .
He clamped down on the press .
And that ’ s what he ’ s doing now , because beside just killing people , beside this whole clampdown on people , they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They have laws to criminalize people who are speaking out against the government .
That carries death penalty .
They are pushing these laws through the National Assembly .
And the National Assembly has become a rubber-stamp National Assembly in Nigeria .
So , this is not new .
This is Buhari ’ s way of doing things .
Buhari doesn ’ t believe in human rights , doesn ’ t believe in public opinion .
Buhari doesn ’ t believe in democracy .
But , unfortunately , he was packaged in 19— @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reform democrat , and came to office .
And he ’ s just continuing with his own way of doing things .
And he ’ s surrounded by people who have the same mindsets , because it suits their agenda to have a populace that can not speak , that can not discuss openly .
And it suits their agenda that they suppress everybody so that they can carry out — they can continue to carry out corruption of immense proportion .
So , Buhari came to power saying he will fight corruption @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discovered even more corruption in his government than even previous governments in the history of Nigeria .
So , this is Buhari for you .
And in rejecting his ban on SARS , people are just saying , “ Look , this is not enough.
” You know , you have the inspector general of police — they asked him to be fired .
They refused .
You had the chief of Army staff , who presumably ordered the stealings at — or , the shooting at Lekki .
The people have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for years .
You know , they refuse to remove them because they are there to protect the despot , the Nigerian despot Muhammadu Buhari .
And unfortunately , I don ’ t think the international community is doing enough .
But , hey , you know , this is what they are about , because , for them , oil coming out of Nigeria is more important than the people of Nigeria .
But the good news we have here is that people can now speak up .
They can tell their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that have helped in galvanizing public opinion internationally and locally .
And we now have a solid diaspora , too , that has become part of this struggle in a way that has never happened before in Nigeria .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : Aderonke Ige , I just — could you say — we just have a couple of minutes — what exactly are protesters calling for now ?
ADERONKE IGE : [ inaudible ] beginning , it was about End SARS at first , because of the brutality , because of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way that citizens , ordinary citizens , especially young people , were treated as common criminals , just by profiling them and stereotyping and so on .
However , it went beyond .
It became a thing of — you know , these things have been pent up over the years , years of indiscipline , lack of accountability , impunity on the part of government officials .
So it became a thing of reform the entire police .
Their modus operandi is not suitable .
They are killing people .
At the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government , especially the federal government , the criminal silence when you need their voice to be loudest .
They are totally silent , aloof in a criminal manner .
People die under your watch .
There ’ s no accountability for anything .
Even officers that are named , nothing happens to them .
There ’ s no prosecution .
No justice is being seen as been done , manifestly done .
So , people were tired .
It became a whole lot of issues .
Now , what the demands were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stands that were — even in the course of the protests , as we were protesting against brutality , people were still brutalized , arrested and so on .
And we said , “ OK , release these people already .
Then , every named victim of police injustice , of systemic injustice , we want them to be duly compensated .
We want them to get justice , just by bringing people to book and then getting a proper sanction .
We want to have that .
Then we want to manifestly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every other issue , topical issue , that we have raised.
” And we have said we want this to be done and that to be done .
For instance , we will tell you here that there ’ s a commission that is called the National Human Rights Commission .
This commission normally is supposed to oversee all human rights issues , you know , abuses and just violations and so on .
But let me tell you , even as we speak , that commission seems to be a toothless bulldog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ council .
And without a governing council , what can they do ?
There has not been a governing council since 2015 .
Those are some of the issues .
But then — so , it became a thing of even the End SARS that we are calling for , that became the hashtag for all these other holistic demands , the government was playing politics with it .
So that ’ s the reason you will see , OK , they came and said the IGP — still , as we speak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ silent .
So , let ’ s even leave him aside .
The IGP came and said — AMY GOODMAN : Could these protests bring down the government of Muhammadu Buhari ?
ADERONKE IGE : Look , anything can happen at this point , because everybody is speaking with one voice .
And that is the reason that when they tried to politicize this and say , “ Oh , it ’ s this group , is that opposition ” — no , we can ’ t all be opposition at the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on certain things that you are not doing , on the fact that the system is running on injustice , and you are choosing to politicize it .
So , even at the point that they said they were disbanding SARS , was that it means these people are not listening .
They don ’ t get the point .
We are not doing a christening ceremony .
You can ’ t disband SARS and then immediately replace it with SWAT , because SWAT is going to eventually become a worse form of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ listening .
And that is the anger of an average Nigerian .
So , yes , you are correct : This can totally unseat the government .
And this can totally lead to a kind of reform that we have been asking for , to that social revolution , intellectual revolution , people political resolution , because right now what is worse is that instead of listening to the people and engaging appropriately , you are suppressing the people .
You are oppressing the people for that .
And for how long can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact , you will see — AMY GOODMAN : Aderonke Ige , we want to thank you so much for being with us .
We are certainly going to continue to cover this .
Please be safe .
Human rights activist and lawyer , now in the streets of Lagos , Nigeria , where security forces gunned down at least a dozen people in the last few days .
And Omoyele Sowore , Nigerian journalist , human rights activist , ran for president , was imprisoned by the current Nigerian regime , speaking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ folks who want to see more of our coverage of Nigeria , you can go to our documentary Drilling and Killing : Chevron and Nigeria ’ s Oil Dictatorship .
Democracy Now !
went to Nigeria .
I covered the Niger Delta with Jeremy Scahill , and we went with Sowore Omoyele to the Niger Delta , where we were investigating the activities of an earlier SARS , called , as he said , the Kill-and-Go .
That ’ s the Kill-and-Go .
When we come back , as fighting continues in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we look at the conflict , which has already taken the lives of over 700 people .
Stay with us .

Mass protests against police brutality continue in Nigeria after security forces shot and killed 12 peaceful protesters in Lagos this week. Video widely shared on social media shows security forces firing directly into a crowd of demonstrators in Lagos singing the country’s national anthem. Authorities have imposed a curfew to clamp down on the growing demonstrations, which started as a demand to disband the notorious police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, but which have since grown into a wider movement against police brutality and official impunity. “We are asking for justice. We are asking for our lives to be preserved, not to be killed arbitrarily,” says lawyer and human rights activist Aderonke Ige, who has taken part in the protests. We also speak with Omoyele Sowore, who says young people in the streets are also confronting other systemic issues. “They are fighting against police brutality, but they are also fighting against army brutality, they are fighting against unemployment, they are fighting against the incompetence and indifference of the regime that has been in power,” he says.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: A warning to our listeners and viewers: We turn now to a story that includes graphic video and accounts of state violence. We begin today’s show in Nigeria, where there’s growing evidence to confirm security forces fired without warning on peaceful protesters Tuesday night, killing at least 12 people, as authorities imposed a curfew to clamp down on growing demonstrations against police brutality. Video shared widely on social media shows security forces in Lagos firing directly into a crowd of demonstrators who were singing Nigeria national anthem.
PROTESTERS: [singing] Arise, O compatriots,
Nigeria’s call obey
To serve our Fatherland
With love and strength and faith.
The labor of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain,
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.
AMY GOODMAN: Amnesty International issued a report Wednesday that it was Nigeria’s security forces that fired on the protesters. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued a statement that, quote, “There is little doubt that this was a case of excessive use of force, resulting in unlawful killings with live ammunition, by Nigerian armed forces,” she said. Amnesty International also said it received reports that shortly before the shootings, electricity was cut off for security cameras in the area where protesters had camped.
At least 56 people have died during two weeks of widespread demonstrations in Nigeria, including 38 on Tuesday. The killings come two weeks after protests began against a branch of the Nigerian police known as SARS, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, which has long been accused of committing torture, murder and extortion.
The killings have sparked outrage from Nigerians across the globe. The soccer star Odion Ighalo, who plays for Manchester United, posted this video online.
ODION IGHALO: I’m sad, and I’m broken. I don’t know where to start from. I’m not the kind of guy that talks about politics, but I can’t keep quiet anymore for what is going on back home in Nigeria. I will say, Nigerian government, you guys are a shame to the world for killing your own citizens, sending military to the streets to kill unharmful protesters because they are protesting for their rights. It’s uncalled for. Today, 20th of October, 2020, you people will be remembered in the history as the first government that sent military to the city to start killing their own citizens.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go to Nigeria, where we’re joined by two guests. In Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, we’re joined by Sowore Omoyele. He is a Nigerian journalist, a human rights activist, and founder and publisher of Sahara Reporters. He also ran for president in Nigeria and has been imprisoned there. In Lagos, the most populous city in Nigeria, which is the most populous country in the African continent, we’re joined by Aderonke Ige, a human rights activist and lawyer who works with the organization Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa. Ige has been participating in the #EndSARS protests.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! We’re going to start in Lagos, where those fatal killings happened, the fatal shootings happened, on Tuesday night. Aderonke Ige, you’ve been out on the streets. Describe what’s happened, and talk about the level of peaceful protest that has been going on against this police unit and police brutality in general.
ADERONKE IGE: Thank you.
I cannot even begin to try to describe in words the kind of barbaric action of the Nigerian government that we saw play out on Tuesday here in Lagos.
Now, these protests have been sustained, have been peaceful, have been the most — you know, a lot of people would tend to say, “Oh, we don’t even know the leaders.” It’s not, you know, all of that, but it has been one of the most coordinated protests or demonstrations I have ever seen, without any face or any type of leadership. That’s how we have been conducting ourselves for the past two weeks.
And you could see that there was raw passion, there was energy, to just salvage the soul of our collective group, our country, Nigeria. And a lot of young people have been at the forefront, just everybody demanding, in unity and in oneness: What are we asking for? We’re asking for justice. We are asking for our lives to be preserved, not to be killed arbitrarily by these officers of state called SARS — that’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad — but then, even beyond SARS, by the Nigerian police, by the Nigerian military. It looks like everything about Nigeria is just forceful. And especially with this government, it’s been totally arbitrary, has been full of impunity, and just is set up against the people. So, that’s all we’ve been asking for. And it’s been totally organized. And that’s why we have demonstrated, in fact, to the applause of everyone who has seen it.
But then, rather than the Nigerian government taking action heeding to these demands and just being responsible, what we saw was, you know, what a lot of us have been seeing over the years, which, good enough, is now coming to the full glare of the globe. Now we have seen where government, rather than heed to the voices of its citizens, would rather turn against them, oppress them and even further intimidate them for asking not to be intimidated.
So, what happened on Tuesday was the anticlimax of everything. So, in the last two weeks, we’ve been on the street, just chanting, just making our voices heard, demanding what we have been asking for as usual. But then, the government, like a thief in the night that it has always been, went out. Now, in the early evening, around 4 or 3 p.m., there had been messages. In fact, one of us captured some officers, wearing certain uniform, tampering with the closed-circuit camera TV, you know, and saying there’s something suspicious going on here. It was later we realized that they had actually gone to cut off the cameras. Eventually, as well, they cut off the lights. And who could have had access to the government’s source of light, if not government? So, lights were cut off.
And then, what came after was the most horrendous thing ever, most horrific. And then it was just the Nigerian military. We saw men in soldier’s uniform spraying bullets, just firing live rounds at peaceful protesters who held national flags, singing the national anthem.
And how did we know this eventually? We are grateful for technology. Some of us had their cameras on. Some went on — in fact, there was one of us — DJ Switch is her name, in Nigeria here — she went live on Instagram. And that was how most of us were able to also follow, because we have been protesting at different points, different grounds, running shifts and just showing solidarity for one another and with one another. But she went on live, and we were able to follow, to monitor, though it was dark because the government had cut off the lights, but we were still able to make out sounds. We saw the injured. We saw people dying right before our eyes.
But then it was a situation where citizens were helpless in the face of government officials who had been sent to fire live rounds on peaceful protesters who were just there singing the national anthem. So, what that told us is that — because, you know, there was also this message we passed across in recent — like four days ago, we started spreading it around, because in the course of this protest — this is all the same protest — we have also seen the aggression, brutality. Everything that we have been asking, demanding, campaigning against was also unleashed on us. We’ve seen the aggression of police we’ve seen just coming at us and so on. So, what we told our people was, try, when you go out, to go with the national flag. Ordinarily, when any military official sees the national flag or you’re singing the national anthem, they are supposed to just respect us. It’s a social contract. And that’s everything that symbolizes us, that gives us dignity as citizens.
But guess what. Everything that dignifies us was desecrated that night, from what we saw live. People were dying. They were helpless. They were shouting. They were screaming. And this went on and on. So, that’s what happened on Tuesday. But then, that was the anticlimax, that happened in Lagos.
So, the specific location where that happened in Lagos, the protest point, is at Lekki. We call it Lekki toll gate. So, there have been other points, like I personally have been protesting Alausa through Orile, you know, all of those places. And we have been doing this peacefully and sensibly and in the most applaudable manner. But then the government came, as usual, and applied force and massacred people and injured, maimed its own citizens, who were there for nothing else than to ask for their lives to be saved and not be brutalized as it has always been.
AMY GOODMAN: Aderonke Ige, we’re going to break and then come back. We will hear more from you. Aderonke Ige is a human rights activist and a lawyer. We also will go to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, where Sowore Omoyele, the Nigerian journalist and human rights activist, who’s been imprisoned by the Nigerian state, has also been leading protests. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “Zombie” by the late, great, legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. His son Femi Kuti recently marked what would have been Fela’s birthday by leading an End SARS protest in Nigeria.
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, as we continue to talk about what’s happening in Africa’s most populous country. A warning to listeners and viewers again: As we report on Nigeria, the coverage includes graphic video and accounts of state violence in Nigeria, where there’s growing evidence to confirm security forces fired without warning on peaceful protesters Tuesday night, killing at least 12 people, as authorities imposed a curfew to clamp down on growing demonstrations against police brutality. Some witnesses posted videos on social media where rapid gunfire could be heard. A warning: This is graphic video of state violence.
WITNESS: Please tell people. Please tell people. People are having to run. They’re shooting at them at the Lekki toll gate. Please tell social media.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we continue in Nigeria with our two guests. In Lagos, the human rights attorney and activist Aderonke Ige, who was out in the streets, she works with the organization Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa. She participated in the End SARS protests. And we now go to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, where Sowore Omoyele is a Nigerian journalist, human rights activist, founder and publisher of Sahara Reporters.
Sowore, it is great to see you. You’ve been imprisoned by the Nigerian state. Now, once again, you’re out on the streets. Talk about who the SARS police are, why you were protesting, and what this continued violence against the people of Nigeria means.
OMOYELE SOWORE: Thank you so much, Amy. And I’m glad to be on your show.
SARS is the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. It was formed in 1992 apparently to fight armed robbery. But it was formed after the demise — not the demise, but after a unit of the Nigerian police known as the “Kill-and-Go” was kind of rested because they were committing the same type of atrocities in those days. They were being used by oil companies to suppress villagers and protesters in the Niger Delta region. So, SARS is the nephew or cousin or brother, as you can imagine, in the police force, a tactical unit that’s been unleashed on the young people, in particular. And they have license to do the same thing the Kill-and-Go do: to kill, destroy, decimate, extort, invade.
But it started having problems recently when they started to stop young people on the street who have dreadlocks, who have their hairs colored. And they extort them, and they arrest people with phones and ask them to unlock their phones. They take them to ATMs to collect bribes and extortion fees. It was crazy. And this has been going on. And they’ve been killing people, young people, without warrants, without any reason. And it got to a head.
Well, let me be very clear: SARS is just the alias name for the pent-up anger within the Nigerian society, where young people are fighting over unemployment, over lack of justice, lack of access to the national wealth, I mean, in terms of oil resources and other resources, and the fact that the democratic system in Nigeria has started to break down and yield no dividend for the people of Nigeria.
So, all these young people you see on the street here, they are fighting against police brutality, but they are also fighting against Army brutality, they are fighting against unemployment, they are fighting against the incompetence and indifference of the regime that has been in power, who, by the way, sent me to prison last year for five months simply because I organized a protest, that was supposed to take place August 5, 2019, in Lagos. And they flew me to Abuja, detained me without trial for a long time. A lot of young people are going through the same thing. You know, people are getting detained, jailed for making social media posts on Facebook, on Twitter. It’s unbelievable. Nigeria has become a police state, practically. And what you’re seeing is a response to all of these abuses that have been taking place.
And, of course, on top of that is corruption. You know, when Nigeria was under lockdown from COVID-19 between February and now, officials were making away with billions of local currency, naira, which is, you know, millions in dollars, from — [inaudible] are saying that they are failing schoolchildren who are not going to school. So, people are hearing all of this, and social media has happened to amplify all of these abuses. Images are coming out, as you know, live and instantaneously. And this makes people to rise up at once.
And I tell you, I was happy to be back on the streets fighting on the side of all these young people in their call to revolution. And this is what I’ve always asked for, that Nigerians need to rise up against oppression and fight for their rights and have the revolution that will give them a new order and a new direction, that can restore faith once again in what they call democracy here, which has just completely been managed by morons. So, this is where we are, Amy.
And in Abuja, where I participated, the dimension was different. They introduced what I will call an informal repression. In their own case in Abuja, they are not sending soldiers to kill protesters directly, but they’re moving urchins, you know, and hoodlums in government vehicles to attack protesters. And they’ve injured — killed one protester in Abuja that we know of, and they’ve injured a lot of people. As of last night, these urchins, being directed by the police and the secret service — I mean, the secret police in Nigeria — I don’t know how to say, the DSS — are going from — you know, they are doing house-to-house searches for people they say are the leaders of this uprising that’s happening in Nigeria.
In my own case, yesterday, they went to court to try and revoke my bail so that I could get rearrested. But luckily for me, lawyers did a fantastic job to ward that off.
So, they are at war against the youth. They are at war against human rights. They are at war against the people of Nigeria. And that’s what you’re seeing, is the very, very principled response to these abuses by Nigerians. And this has never happened before. Even during when we were fighting against the military, I’ve never seen such a coordinated, very disciplined set of young people who have acted peacefully.
And what they did in Lagos was to go after these young people, most of them middle-class young people who, as they were peacefully protesting, they were shooting them at close range. They’re using war-caliber kinds of bullets, that are meant for fighting terrorists and fighting the wars, against peaceful protesters at this Lekki toll gate at close range. There’s never been anything like that.
What made a difference this time around was social media, that this thing was captured instantaneously and broadcast to the world. Otherwise, they would have denied it. As we speak, they are still denying it. They are claiming that the casualties were false and the wounded are recovering. And they’re doing all kinds of things to change the narrative, including trying to make it an ethnic and religious issue. But fail, they must.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: But, Omoyele, as you pointed out, these protests are not just about police violence, but about a number of other issues. But I just want to say that a University of Leiden report in 2016 found that police violence in Nigeria is apparently among the worst in the world, if not the worst, that when police intervene in a confrontation, almost 60% of the time someone — the police shoot and kill someone. Could you talk about — as you said, President Buhari’s government was responsible for imprisoning you last year just for organizing protests. What has his response been to these protests and the response to his decision to disband SARS?
OMOYELE SOWORE: The reason why people did not take his decision seriously is that President Buhari is tone-deaf. This is who he is. This has been his character. He was the former military dictator who had carried out killings of people, judicially at that time, supposedly, because he — that some drug carriers were sentenced, and he brought their sentences forward and sentenced them to death. He’s been part of every military regime in the country that partook in abuses of human rights up ’til 1983, when he took over government. And he continued it. He clamped down on the press.
And that’s what he’s doing now, because beside just killing people, beside this whole clampdown on people, they’re also clamping down on social media. They have laws to criminalize people who are speaking out against the government. That carries death penalty. They are pushing these laws through the National Assembly. And the National Assembly has become a rubber-stamp National Assembly in Nigeria.
So, this is not new. This is Buhari’s way of doing things. Buhari doesn’t believe in human rights, doesn’t believe in public opinion. Buhari doesn’t believe in democracy. But, unfortunately, he was packaged in 19— I mean, 2015, as a reform democrat, and came to office. And he’s just continuing with his own way of doing things. And he’s surrounded by people who have the same mindsets, because it suits their agenda to have a populace that cannot speak, that cannot discuss openly. And it suits their agenda that they suppress everybody so that they can carry out — they can continue to carry out corruption of immense proportion. So, Buhari came to power saying he will fight corruption, but, you know, we discovered even more corruption in his government than even previous governments in the history of Nigeria. So, this is Buhari for you.
And in rejecting his ban on SARS, people are just saying, “Look, this is not enough.” You know, you have the inspector general of police — they asked him to be fired. They refused. You had the chief of Army staff, who presumably ordered the stealings at — or, the shooting at Lekki. The people have been asking for this man to be removed for years. You know, they refuse to remove them because they are there to protect the despot, the Nigerian despot Muhammadu Buhari.
And unfortunately, I don’t think the international community is doing enough. But, hey, you know, this is what they are about, because, for them, oil coming out of Nigeria is more important than the people of Nigeria.
But the good news we have here is that people can now speak up. They can tell their own stories through the social media platforms, that have helped in galvanizing public opinion internationally and locally. And we now have a solid diaspora, too, that has become part of this struggle in a way that has never happened before in Nigeria.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Aderonke Ige, I just — could you say — we just have a couple of minutes — what exactly are protesters calling for now?
ADERONKE IGE: [inaudible] beginning, it was about End SARS at first, because of the brutality, because of what we saw as the indiscipline, the way that citizens, ordinary citizens, especially young people, were treated as common criminals, just by profiling them and stereotyping and so on. However, it went beyond. It became a thing of — you know, these things have been pent up over the years, years of indiscipline, lack of accountability, impunity on the part of government officials. So it became a thing of reform the entire police. Their modus operandi is not suitable. They are killing people. At the same time, the nonchalant attitude of government, especially the federal government, the criminal silence when you need their voice to be loudest. They are totally silent, aloof in a criminal manner. People die under your watch. There’s no accountability for anything. Even officers that are named, nothing happens to them. There’s no prosecution. No justice is being seen as been done, manifestly done. So, people were tired. It became a whole lot of issues.
Now, what the demands were initially, we were asking for protest stands that were — even in the course of the protests, as we were protesting against brutality, people were still brutalized, arrested and so on. And we said, “OK, release these people already. Then, every named victim of police injustice, of systemic injustice, we want them to be duly compensated. We want them to get justice, just by bringing people to book and then getting a proper sanction. We want to have that. Then we want to manifestly see that government is taking action on every other issue, topical issue, that we have raised.” And we have said we want this to be done and that to be done.
For instance, we will tell you here that there’s a commission that is called the National Human Rights Commission. This commission normally is supposed to oversee all human rights issues, you know, abuses and just violations and so on. But let me tell you, even as we speak, that commission seems to be a toothless bulldog, because there’s no governing council. And without a governing council, what can they do? There has not been a governing council since 2015. Those are some of the issues.
But then — so, it became a thing of even the End SARS that we are calling for, that became the hashtag for all these other holistic demands, the government was playing politics with it. So that’s the reason you will see, OK, they came and said the IGP — still, as we speak, General Muhammadu Buhari has been criminally silent. So, let’s even leave him aside. The IGP came and said —
AMY GOODMAN: Could these protests bring down the government of Muhammadu Buhari?
ADERONKE IGE: Look, anything can happen at this point, because everybody is speaking with one voice. And that is the reason that when they tried to politicize this and say, “Oh, it’s this group, is that opposition” — no, we can’t all be opposition at the same time. We are calling you out on certain things that you are not doing, on the fact that the system is running on injustice, and you are choosing to politicize it.
So, even at the point that they said they were disbanding SARS, was that it means these people are not listening. They don’t get the point. We are not doing a christening ceremony. You can’t disband SARS and then immediately replace it with SWAT, because SWAT is going to eventually become a worse form of SARS. So, they are not listening. And that is the anger of an average Nigerian.
So, yes, you are correct: This can totally unseat the government. And this can totally lead to a kind of reform that we have been asking for, to that social revolution, intellectual revolution, people political resolution, because right now what is worse is that instead of listening to the people and engaging appropriately, you are suppressing the people. You are oppressing the people for that. And for how long can you do that? Now, in fact, you will see —
AMY GOODMAN: Aderonke Ige, we want to thank you so much for being with us. We are certainly going to continue to cover this. Please be safe. Human rights activist and lawyer, now in the streets of Lagos, Nigeria, where security forces gunned down at least a dozen people in the last few days. And Omoyele Sowore, Nigerian journalist, human rights activist, ran for president, was imprisoned by the current Nigerian regime, speaking to us from the capital.
For folks who want to see more of our coverage of Nigeria, you can go to our documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria’s Oil Dictatorship. Democracy Now! went to Nigeria. I covered the Niger Delta with Jeremy Scahill, and we went with Sowore Omoyele to the Niger Delta, where we were investigating the activities of an earlier SARS, called, as he said, the Kill-and-Go. That’s the Kill-and-Go.
When we come back, as fighting continues in the South Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan, we look at the conflict, which has already taken the lives of over 700 people. Stay with us.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-10-22--The Government Should Pay Bars to Close for Several Months

If we really want to stem the spread of the coronavirus as winter looms and we wait for a vaccine , here ’ s an idea : The government should pay bars , many restaurants and event venues to close for some months .
That may sound radical , but it makes scientific sense and even has a political precedent .
We pay farmers not to cultivate some fields ( in theory , at least , to protect the environment ) , so why not compensate owners to shut their indoor venues ( to protect public health ) ?
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve learned a lot about this particular coronavirus and how it ’ s most likely to spread .
Drinking establishments and indoor event venues have emerged as ideal environments for transmission .
And there ’ s good scientific logic to explain that .
Viruses are not villains who go after their prey ; they ’ re passive opportunists .
Some spread through food or when left on surfaces .
Others , like this coronavirus , can be transmitted through tiny droplets that can linger in the air after an infected person coughs , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most easily indoors and particularly in crowded , poorly ventilated places .
More important , people can be infectious while their bodies are incubating this virus for a couple of days before they develop symptoms , or even if they never develop symptoms at all .
So you might go to a bar or a wedding feeling top-notch , or just maybe a little off .
Drink , kiss and dance till you drop .
Then you wake up the next morning feeling awful .
It ’ s not just a hangover .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ why this virus is exceedingly contracted at “ superspreader ” events .
( More so than the flu , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . )
A person who is shedding a good deal of the virus still feels well enough to hang out in a tight ( likely indoor ) space where people mingle boisterously with others they don ’ t know or don ’ t see often .
And they can ’ t wear masks , because they ’ re drinking .
No wonder bars are a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus is more of a “ heterogeneous ” than a homogeneous spreader , according to Bjarke Frost Nielsen , a researcher at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen .
Along with his colleague Kim Sneppen , he uses mathematical modeling to study the pattern of the spread of the virus .
That heterogeneous spread means that it tends to expand in burst-like outbreaks , often centered on a meeting place — a hot spot — rather than oozing slowly across a country .
There is some good news in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You can close down certain types of gatherings and a few types of places and tamp down the majority of the spread of the disease .
And you can carry on with the rest as pretty normal.
” Back when we knew little about the novel coronavirus , the government responded with a hammer .
The Paycheck Protection Program treated all small businesses equally , providing them with loans to shut down so long as they paid their employees .
Now we can use more delicate instruments .
Food and clothing stores — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — can function safely with masking and attention to distancing and sanitizing .
We don ’ t go to these places to chat , and we can all wear masks inside them .
Factories and assembly lines can protect workers with masking and spacing .
Schools can do the same for students .
Even movie theaters can arguably safely operate with masked patrons , quality ventilation systems and spacing between viewers or viewing groups .
They just won ’ t be able to sell as many seats .
But bars and restaurants that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ halls with dance floors ?
Most are attractive for exactly the reasons that make them such petri dishes for the coronavirus — the crowding , the drinking , the carousing with new , different people .
That ’ s why some bar and restaurant owners say they would welcome a program that compensated them to shut their doors this winter .
Peter Kurzweg , who co-owns three of what he calls “ drink forward ” establishments in Pittsburgh that used to have bustling happy hours , says that “ bars and restaurants are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they have to mitigate to a point that it ’ s not a bar or restaurant experience anymore.
” He and his partners have so far weathered the pandemic with outdoor seating on the sidewalk and in an alley .
They have taken advantage of government loan programs .
They have invested in tents and heaters and encouraged patrons to “ lean in ” to having fun outside .
But as fall turns to winter in Pittsburgh , he knows it won ’ t last .
“ I walk around saying , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coming.
’ We need to do everything we can to survive.
” Some states have allowed restaurants to open indoors at 25 % or 50 % capacity — indeed , that is permitted now in Pittsburgh .
But Kurzweg has not done so , because he doesn ’ t feel it ’ s safe .
Anyway , he added , “ No bar or restaurant can make it at that capacity — on the best days in normal years , our profit margin is 10 % .
” Some very spacious high-end restaurants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might be able to make it work .
Most can ’ t .
Bars and other venues that depend on drinks are not essential services .
We want them to survive so that in the future we can enjoy them .
So why not pay owners who can not keep their businesses afloat safely this COVID-tainted year an average of their normal monthly income to shut down for some months ?
They would keep paying their employees and help break the chain of coronavirus transmission .
Maybe we could get creative and ask @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feed Americans who are going hungry .
With bars closed , you could still drink and socialize with smaller groups of people at home or outdoors , when the weather allows it .
That may not be quite as much fun , but nothing is much fun while the coronavirus is around .

We pay farmers not to cultivate some fields, so why not compensate owners to shut their indoor venues?
If we really want to stem the spread of the coronavirus as winter looms and we wait for a vaccine, here’s an idea: The government should pay bars, many restaurants and event venues to close for some months.
That may sound radical, but it makes scientific sense and even has a political precedent. We pay farmers not to cultivate some fields (in theory, at least, to protect the environment), so why not compensate owners to shut their indoor venues (to protect public health)?
In the past nine months, we’ve learned a lot about this particular coronavirus and how it’s most likely to spread. Drinking establishments and indoor event venues have emerged as ideal environments for transmission. And there’s good scientific logic to explain that.
Viruses are not villains who go after their prey; they’re passive opportunists. Some spread through food or when left on surfaces. Others, like this coronavirus, can be transmitted through tiny droplets that can linger in the air after an infected person coughs, talks or breathes. The virus spreads most easily indoors and particularly in crowded, poorly ventilated places.
More important, people can be infectious while their bodies are incubating this virus for a couple of days before they develop symptoms, or even if they never develop symptoms at all. So you might go to a bar or a wedding feeling top-notch, or just maybe a little off. Drink, kiss and dance till you drop. Then you wake up the next morning feeling awful. It’s not just a hangover. It’s COVID-19.
That explains why this virus is exceedingly contracted at “superspreader” events. (More so than the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) A person who is shedding a good deal of the virus still feels well enough to hang out in a tight (likely indoor) space where people mingle boisterously with others they don’t know or don’t see often. And they can’t wear masks, because they’re drinking.
No wonder bars are a problem.
In scientific parlance, the coronavirus is more of a “heterogeneous” than a homogeneous spreader, according to Bjarke Frost Nielsen, a researcher at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Along with his colleague Kim Sneppen, he uses mathematical modeling to study the pattern of the spread of the virus. That heterogeneous spread means that it tends to expand in burst-like outbreaks, often centered on a meeting place — a hot spot — rather than oozing slowly across a country.
There is some good news in this finding, Nielsen told me: “You can close down certain types of gatherings and a few types of places and tamp down the majority of the spread of the disease. And you can carry on with the rest as pretty normal.”
Back when we knew little about the novel coronavirus, the government responded with a hammer. The Paycheck Protection Program treated all small businesses equally, providing them with loans to shut down so long as they paid their employees. Now we can use more delicate instruments.
Food and clothing stores — indeed, most any kind of shop — can function safely with masking and attention to distancing and sanitizing. We don’t go to these places to chat, and we can all wear masks inside them. Factories and assembly lines can protect workers with masking and spacing. Schools can do the same for students.
Even movie theaters can arguably safely operate with masked patrons, quality ventilation systems and spacing between viewers or viewing groups. They just won’t be able to sell as many seats.
But bars and restaurants that depend on packed indoor dining and concert halls with dance floors? Most are attractive for exactly the reasons that make them such petri dishes for the coronavirus — the crowding, the drinking, the carousing with new, different people.
That’s why some bar and restaurant owners say they would welcome a program that compensated them to shut their doors this winter. Peter Kurzweg, who co-owns three of what he calls “drink forward” establishments in Pittsburgh that used to have bustling happy hours, says that “bars and restaurants are unique in that to be really safe, they have to mitigate to a point that it’s not a bar or restaurant experience anymore.”
He and his partners have so far weathered the pandemic with outdoor seating on the sidewalk and in an alley. They have taken advantage of government loan programs. They have invested in tents and heaters and encouraged patrons to “lean in” to having fun outside. But as fall turns to winter in Pittsburgh, he knows it won’t last. “I walk around saying, ‘Winter is coming. Winter is coming.’ We need to do everything we can to survive.”
Some states have allowed restaurants to open indoors at 25% or 50% capacity — indeed, that is permitted now in Pittsburgh. But Kurzweg has not done so, because he doesn’t feel it’s safe. Anyway, he added, “No bar or restaurant can make it at that capacity — on the best days in normal years, our profit margin is 10%.”
Some very spacious high-end restaurants, and those in temperate climates, might be able to make it work. Most can’t.
Bars and other venues that depend on drinks are not essential services. We want them to survive so that in the future we can enjoy them. So why not pay owners who cannot keep their businesses afloat safely this COVID-tainted year an average of their normal monthly income to shut down for some months? They would keep paying their employees and help break the chain of coronavirus transmission. Maybe we could get creative and ask them to use their kitchens to help feed Americans who are going hungry.
With bars closed, you could still drink and socialize with smaller groups of people at home or outdoors, when the weather allows it. That may not be quite as much fun, but nothing is much fun while the coronavirus is around.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-10-22--Supreme Court Upholds Alabama’s Ban on Curbside Ballot Drop-Off

Offering no explanation for their ruling , the five conservative justices who hold the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Alabama state officials Wednesday night in a decision banning curbside voting in the state .
The ruling will bar counties including Democratic-leaning Montgomery and Jefferson from allowing voters with disabilities or who are at risk of severe , potentially fatal Covid-19 infections from remaining in their cars when they go to the polls to vote in person rather than voting by mail .
Sam Spital of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund , whose client , Howard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the case , called the decision an “ outrageous 5-3 ruling that puts Alabama voters at risk.
” The counties have sought for months to allow curbside voting , in which voters would hand their ballots to a poll worker to avoid having to wait in a crowded polling place and increasing their chances of being exposed to the coronavirus .
Secretary of State John Merrill , who has sought to ban the practice , applauded the Supreme Court ruling and called the decision a victory for “ election integrity and security ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” — but the five conservative justices did not explain in their ruling how election security might be threatened by a voter receiving assistance from a poll worker while remaining in their car instead of waiting in a crowd of people during a pandemic .
In her dissent on behalf of the three liberal justices , Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the Supreme Court has now flouted public health recommendations by the CDC , which has urged states to adopt curbside voting to prevent the spread of Covid-19 .
“ This is no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The Department of Justice has sanctioned curbside voting as a remedy to ADA violations , and some 28 States and the District of Columbia already permit curbside voting… The Alabama secretary of state , however , has prohibited counties from offering curbside voting , even for voters with disabilities for whom Covid–19 is disproportionately likely to be fatal .
If those vulnerable voters wish to vote in person , they must wait inside , for as long as it takes , in a crowd of fellow voters whom Alabama does not require @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noted that Merrill has never “ meaningfully ” disputed that forcing voters with disabilities and pre-existing health conditions to vote in person in the traditional manner could prove fatal this year .
The Supreme Court ruling overturned two lower federal court rulings which stated that Merrill ’ s ban on curbside voting was a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act , granting state officials a stay of those orders .
Outraged disability rights advocates said the ruling will force people with disabilities “ to choose between voting and staying alive.
” Kristen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law , noted that the conservative justices had ruled from the safety of their homes against voters who aim to protect themselves from severe Covid-19 infections .
“ Reminder : the Supreme Court is still operating remotely , ” Clarke tweeted .

The five conservative justices offered no explanation for their ruling.
Offering no explanation for their ruling, the five conservative justices who hold the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Alabama state officials Wednesday night in a decision banning curbside voting in the state.
The ruling will bar counties including Democratic-leaning Montgomery and Jefferson from allowing voters with disabilities or who are at risk of severe, potentially fatal Covid-19 infections from remaining in their cars when they go to the polls to vote in person rather than voting by mail.
Sam Spital of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, whose client, Howard Porter Jr., was a plaintiff in the case, called the decision an “outrageous 5-3 ruling that puts Alabama voters at risk.”
The conservative majority blocked a district court injunction that simply allowed Alabama counties that are willing to provide curbside voting–which is widely available throughout the country and far safer for high-risk voters–to do so. — Sam Spital (@SamSpital) October 22, 2020
This decision risks the safety of Alabama voters, especially Black voters, who are disproportionately at risk for COVID complications due to systemic discrimination. And it disrespects the district court, which considered the issues in a 197 pg opinion after 2 weeks of trial. — Sam Spital (@SamSpital) October 22, 2020
The counties have sought for months to allow curbside voting, in which voters would hand their ballots to a poll worker to avoid having to wait in a crowded polling place and increasing their chances of being exposed to the coronavirus.
Secretary of State John Merrill, who has sought to ban the practice, applauded the Supreme Court ruling and called the decision a victory for “election integrity and security” and for “the people of Alabama” — but the five conservative justices did not explain in their ruling how election security might be threatened by a voter receiving assistance from a poll worker while remaining in their car instead of waiting in a crowd of people during a pandemic.
In her dissent on behalf of the three liberal justices, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the Supreme Court has now flouted public health recommendations by the CDC, which has urged states to adopt curbside voting to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“This is no radical recommendation,” Sotomayor wrote. “The Department of Justice has sanctioned curbside voting as a remedy to ADA violations, and some 28 States and the District of Columbia already permit curbside voting… The Alabama secretary of state, however, has prohibited counties from offering curbside voting, even for voters with disabilities for whom Covid–19 is disproportionately likely to be fatal. If those vulnerable voters wish to vote in person, they must wait inside, for as long as it takes, in a crowd of fellow voters whom Alabama does not require to wear face coverings.”
Sotomayor also noted that Merrill has never “meaningfully” disputed that forcing voters with disabilities and pre-existing health conditions to vote in person in the traditional manner could prove fatal this year.
The Supreme Court ruling overturned two lower federal court rulings which stated that Merrill’s ban on curbside voting was a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, granting state officials a stay of those orders.
Outraged disability rights advocates said the ruling will force people with disabilities “to choose between voting and staying alive.”
Disabled people shouldn’t have to choose between voting and staying alive. https://t.co/5JENCNuelQ — Margaux Joffe (she/her) (@MargauxJoffe) October 22, 2020
Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, noted that the conservative justices had ruled from the safety of their homes against voters who aim to protect themselves from severe Covid-19 infections.
BREAKING: By a 5-3 vote, Supreme Court BLOCKS a lower court order that allowed voters in Alabama to cast ballots by way of curbside voting in those localities that sought to make these accommodations available. Reminder – the Supreme Court is still operating remotely. #COVID19 — Kristen Clarke 866-OUR-VOTE (@KristenClarkeJD) October 22, 2020
“Reminder: the Supreme Court is still operating remotely,” Clarke tweeted.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.