As the United Nations says nearly 1 million Syrians are living under siege and the last remaining hospitals in eastern Aleppo have been destroyed, Nermeen Shaikh spoke with Syrian analyst Bassam Haddad and gets an update from a physician in touch with medical personnel in Aleppo. Dr. Zaher Sahloul is founder of the American Relief Coalition for Syria and senior adviser and former president of the Syrian American Medical Society. He has visited Aleppo five times since the war began.
Shaikh also interviewed Katherine Franke, director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law at Columbia University. Her recent piece for the Los Angeles Review of Books is headlined “Making White Supremacy Respectable. Again.”
Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, speaks about President-elect Donald Trump’s potential foreign policy positions, how he could expand Obama’s surveillance state and authorization of military force and reactivate the registry for immigrants from majority-Muslim countries, known as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, or NSEERS.
Today’s show also features an update from Wayne Wilansky, the father of 21-year-old activist Sophia Wilansky, who was injured during the standoff at Standing Rock in North Dakota. Sophia has been undergoing a series of surgeries after reportedly being hit by a concussion grenade during the police attack against water protectors protesting the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota Sunday night. The Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council says 300 people were hurt in the attack, with injuries including hypothermia from being sprayed by water cannons in subfreezing temperatures, seizures, loss of consciousness, and impaired vision as a result of being shot by a rubber bullet in the face. “President Obama has to step in there and stop this,” says Wayne Wilansky. “They’re drilling now, even though they don’t have a permit.”
Finally today: As much of the United States prepares to mark Thanksgiving this weekend, many Native Americans will gather in Plymouth to commemorate the 47th National Day of Mourning. This year is dedicated to water protectors at Standing Rock and to the struggle for recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.
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