Links to today’s show transcripts:
Brazil’s Eroding Democracy: Rise of Far-Right Demagogue Follows Ouster of Dilma & Jailing of Lula
In a stunning upset that may radically alter the political landscape of Latin America, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro won 46 percent of the vote in Sunday’s presidential election in Brazil in a far more decisive victory than expected. The former Army officer has a long history of making racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments and has openly praised Brazil’s military dictatorship. He will now face Fernando Haddad of the leftist Workers’ Party in a runoff on October 28. Haddad won 29 percent of the vote Sunday. Many are warning that the future of democracy in Brazil hangs in the balance. Maria Luísa Mendonça is the director of the Network for Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil, who says Bolsonaro is a “fascist” and that his election would create “a very dangerous situation in Brazil.”
Climate Scientist: As U.N. Warns of Global Catastrophe, We Need a “Marshall Plan” for Climate Change
A new report from the United Nations’ climate panel warns humanity has only a dozen years to mitigate global warming and limit the scope of global catastrophe. Otherwise, millions will be imperiled by increasing droughts, floods, fires and poverty. The sweeping report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urges immediate and unprecedented changes to global policy in order to keep global warming at a maximum of 1.5ºC. Kevin Anderson is a Zennström professor in climate change leadership at the Centre for Environment and Development Studies at Uppsala University and chair of energy and climate change at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester in Britain. He says that the IPCC report fails to hold the world’s highest emitters accountable, and argues a “Marshall Plan” for climate change is necessary to save the planet from destruction. “About 70 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide come from about 20 percent of the world population. … When we try to address climate change and reduce our emissions by focusing on all 7.5 billion people, I think it misunderstands where the actual responsibility of emissions resides,” Anderson says. “We’re not developing policies that need to be tailored to that particular 20 percent.”
2017 Nobel Peace Laureate: Amid Talks with North Korea, It’s Time for U.S. to Abandon Nukes, Too
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang over the weekend in talks meant to further steps toward nuclear disarmament. Pompeo hailed the meeting as a success, saying both sides were “pretty close” to agreeing to details for a second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. He also told reporters Kim has agreed to let international inspectors into a North Korean missile engine test facility and nuclear testing site where the country conducted its six nuclear tests. However, Pompeo did not say whether North Korea would allow inspectors to visit a site where the country produces fuel for nuclear weapons. Beatrice Fihn is the executive director of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and speaks about the ongoing negotiations on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. nuclear stockpile and the path to an international ban on nuclear weapons. She is in New York to deliver The Nation Institute’s third annual Jonathan Schell Memorial Lecture on the Fate of the Earth tonight at The New School.
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