Michael Moore on Gaza: ‘We need to stop the slaughter’

In an exclusive interview with UpFront, filmmaker Michael Moore talks about the US involvement in the Israel-Gaza war.

During his visit to Israel following Hamas’s October 7 attacks, US President Biden warned Israel not to repeat the mistakes the US made in response to the 9/11 attacks.

But as accusations of war crimes committed by Israel continue to mount, is it doing just that? And is the US doing enough to protect civilian lives in Gaza?

Have attacks on minorities been normalised in India?

 

‘We don’t have the capacity to control mobs once they are unleashed,’ says the chair of Amnesty International India.

“We’ve always had structural violence, and we’ve always had explicit violence on Dalits, on women, on tribal people, all of that. But earlier, I thought this operated on the margins of the state. These were feudal things that happened. I think that has changed now,” Shahrukh Alam, a lawyer for India’s Supreme Court, says of attacks on minorities, including Christians and Dalits.

Is Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs a stain on his legacy?

 Marc Lamont Hill challenges the former spokesperson for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

As the Philippines kicks off its presidential campaign to replace outgoing leader Rodrigo Duterte, many human rights groups say the president’s so-called war on drugs is a stain on his legacy. Thousands have been killed in the violent crackdown on alleged drug dealers and users that was one of Duterte’s main policies since taking office in 2016.

Are we running out of time to save the Amazon rainforest?

With deforestation on the rise, scientists are raising the alarm about a looming ecological catastrophe.

The planet’s most biodiverse region is under threat and its destruction would have dire consequences for the entire planet, according to scientists and environmentalists.

COVID orphans: A pandemic within a pandemic

 

‘This is a problem already happening, and it’s getting worse and fast,’ warns Oxford professor, Lucie Cluver.

A child loses an important caregiver to the coronavirus every six seconds, says Lucie Cluver, a professor of child and family social work at Oxford University and the co-leader of the COVID-19 Emergency Parenting Response.

According to Cluver, those staggering numbers will continue to rise: “In April, there were 1.5 million children who had lost a caregiver. Now, in November, there are 5.2 million children. Within the next year, there are going to be 10 million children.”

Who will protect people displaced by climate change?

 

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi: Rich countries’ response to global migration is “to shut down, to separate, to push back”.

Climate change is fast approaching the point of no return.

From extreme heatwaves, wildfires, and drought in the western part of the United States to deadly floods in Nigeria, climate disasters are forcing people to flee from their homelands in search of safety. Estimates predict hundreds of millions will be forced to migrate by 2050.

Has ‘one country, two systems’ come to an end in Hong Kong?

 

We challenge Hong Kong Executive Council member Regina Ip on the new national security law and electoral reforms.

China has consolidated its grip on Hong Kong by imposing a sweeping national security law and overhauling the electoral system; moves critics say strip the opposition of any space for dissent.

Is Narendra Modi dismantling democracy in India?

 We challenge BJP spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam on India’s crackdown on dissent, and discuss the political and economic crisis in Lebanon.

India, long considered the world’s largest democracy, slid down the democracy scale this month, with Freedom House classifying it as “partly free”, and the V-Dem Institute calling it an “electoral autocracy” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Should Israel be investigated for possible war crimes?

 We challenge Danny Danon on why Israel opposes a war crimes probe, and debate the future of opposition protests in Russia.

In this episode of UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill asks Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations why Israel should be exempt from an International Criminal Court investigation into potential war crimes.

India farmer protests: Has PM Narendra Modi gone too far?

 

We debate the Indian Prime Minister’s overhaul of the country’s agriculture sector, and discuss Bangladesh’s Rohingya relocation plan.

In this episode of UpFront, we debate India’s new agricultural laws with Anila Singh, spokeswoman from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and Yogendra Yadav, president of the Swaraj India Party. The reforms have triggered huge protests, with farmers saying the laws will put them at the mercy of big business but the government insists it will actually benefit them.

Poland’s abortion protests: A fight for democracy? | UpFront

 

We debate Poland’s controversial abortion ruling and discuss environmental rights with activist Winona LaDuke.

Mass protests in Poland over the tightening of an already restrictive abortion law are showing no signs of easing.

Since October 22, hundreds of thousands of people have rallied across the country over the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling, and their grievances are now morphing into a broader rejection of the country’s governing conservative party.

Divided States of America?

 Richelle Carey challenges a Donald Trump surrogate on the US president’s false claims of election fraud.

In this episode of Up Front we ask former Congressman Jack Kingston why the president of the United States is repeatedly claiming, without evidence, that Democrats are “stealing” the election.

Jemele Hill: US does not deserve a white supremacist president

 Richelle Carey discusses the intersection of racism, politics and sports with journalist Jemele Hill.

US President Donald Trump’s failure to condemn white supremacy during the first presidential debate triggered renewed focus on his racist rhetoric.

Why has the coronavirus hit Iran so hard?

We ask whether US sanctions or Tehran are to blame for exacerbating COVID-19 and discuss Brazil's approach to the virus.

COVID-19: Iran's government 'didn't botch the response'

According to official figures, at least six people die every hour in Iran from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The Islamic republic has become one of the world's coronavirus epicentres, with the death toll surpassing 3,000 this week and cases topping 50,000.

As the virus spreads in Iran, the government has been criticised for its response to the crisis, particularly how it handled the situation in Qom, now the country's worst-hit city where the outbreak began. It has also been accused of playing down the number of cases. 

Coronavirus success vs failure: A tale of two strategies

We discuss South Korea's approach to containing COVID-19 and ask why the US response has been so slow.

Testing times: Why South Korea's COVID-19 strategy is working

The coronavirus continued to spread around the world this week and Italy's death toll surpassed that of China's. Governments called on citizens to self-isolate, closed borders, put cities into lockdown and shut all but essential businesses.

Amid the crisis, and despite a second wave of infections in Asian countries, South Korea continues to lead the way in containing the spread of COVID-19, with one of the lowest casualty rates in the world.

Idlib: Has the world stopped caring about Syria?

We challenge a UN official on the international response to the Idlib crisis and discuss evangelical support for Trump.

Idlib: 'A crisis on a monumental scale'

In the past three months, nearly one million people have fled advancing Syrian government forces in Idlib province near the border with Turkey. With Ankara refusing to open border crossings and millions of civilians trapped, the United Nations has warned of an impending bloodbath and a "massacre on a scale that has never been seen during this entire war".

Mark Cutts, the UN's deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, called it a "crisis on a monumental scale".

Is Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of covering up war crimes?

An ally of Myanmar's leader denies the scale of atrocities in Rakhine, and we challenge a French MP on police brutality.

Denying genocide in Myanmar: "rumours and hearsay"

In January the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state. Myanmar's government rejected the ruling, saying it was based on a "distorted picture of the situation".

According to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed and more than 700,000 have fled Rakhine state since the Myanmar military's crackdown began in 2017. Thousands of Rohingya women and girls have been raped, and around 300 villages burnt to the ground.

Are the US and Iran on the path to war?

We debate tensions between Washington and Tehran with a former Iranian diplomat and a retired US general.

In this episode of UpFront, we debate tensions between the United States and Iran with former Iranian diplomat Seyed Hossein Mousavian and former US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

And in a special interview, we ask UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard about her investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and her report that suggests Mohammed bin Salman hacked the mobile phone of billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Defending the indefensible'

We discuss Aung San Suu Kyi's appearance at the International Court of Justice with rights activist Maung Zarni.

This week Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to defend her country against accusations of genocide, in a lawsuit brought by The Gambia.

The Nobel peace laureate rejected the allegations that Myanmar's military - that for 15 years kept her under house arrest - committed genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority in her country as "incomplete and misleading".

Hong Kong and the Uighurs: How far will China go?

We discuss the Hong Kong protests and China's crackdown on Uighurs and debate US policy on illegal Israeli settlements.

Hong Kong protests: Are police using excessive force?

The US ramped up the pressure on Hong Kong this week over its handling of anti-government protests that have dragged on for months in the self-governing Chinese territory.

Congress passed two bills aimed at supporting protesters; they include measures that would allow for sanctions against officials responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong. The move infuriated China, which warned of "strong countermeasures" if US President Donald Trump signed off on the bill.