Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20150427

100 years later the distinct ladies and gentlemen, the questions are the same. What are the women doing in the horrific violence is encountering . When we started in Northern Ireland, mostly women, but also with men, to say very clearly, no to all violence. We have got to stop killing each other here. We reject the use of the bomb and bullets and all the techniques of violence. We can solve our problems through peace and dialogue. We women know what a security. It is food on the table. It is a house to live in. It is access to medical care. It is enough i jobs so you can raise your children. It is take all that money that is put to the weapons of war and death and use it for a better world. That is security. That is human security. Amy today we will speak to , three Nobel Peace Prize laureates Leymah Gbowee from liberia, Mairead Maguire from ireland and Jody Williams from the United States. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Were broadcasting from the world form in the hague. At least 3700 people have been confirmed dead after saturdays devastating 7. 8magnitude earthquake in nepal. More than 6500 people have been injured and the death toll has continued to rise sharply with the full extent of the damage still largely unknown. Dozens of people are also reported dead in neighboring china and india. The earthquake was the worst to hit nepal in more than 80 years. It opened massive rifts in roads and destroyed historic structures, including the 19th century dharahara tower in the capital kathmandu, which was packed with sightseers when it collapsed. Driving rains have hit thousands who remain in the streets, afraid to go inside amid intense and repeated aftershocks. The quake triggered avalanches on mount everest, where at least 18 climbers were killed, including three americans. The aftershocks have delayed attempts by countries around the world to send aircraft, rescue personnel and other aid. In yemen, the Saudiled Coalition has resumed airstrikes targeting Houthi Rebels in the capital sanaa after announcing it was shifting toward political negotiations. The strikes came amid fierce fighting in the Southern City of taiz between Houthi Rebels and forces loyal to yemeni president Abdrabbu Mansour hadi. At least 20 civilians were reportedly killed. On friday, the United Nations said over 550 civilians have died in the violence over the past month, including 115 children. Israel has acknowledged launching an airstrike on the border with syria after it says it saw militants carrying a bomb in the israelioccupied golan heights. Meanwhile, the United States has carried out three airstrikes targeting the selfproclaimed Islamic State in syria, and 17 in iraq. In baltimore, maryland, hundreds of people paid respect to freddie gray, the 25yearold africanamerican man who died of neck injuries in police custody. [no audio] in the Central African nation of burundi, police shot and killed two protesters opposed to the president s decision to seek a third term. Authorities had banned protests related to the candidacy of president pierre nkurunziza, whose critics say violates constitutional term limits. At least five people were reported killed on sunday, at least two shot dead by police. The United Nations has urged indonesian president joko widodo to spare the lives of 10 prisoners facing execution for drug crimes. The prisoners, who come from nigeria, australia, brazil ghana, the philippines and indonesia, have been given 72 hours notice, meaning their executions by firing squad appear to be imminent. Parents and relatives of the 43 students missing in the mexican state of guerrero have marked seven months since their loved ones disappeared. Some of the parents and relatives converged on new york city after traveling across the country in caravans. On sunday, they marched to the United Nations, asking the u. N. To pressure mexico to reopen the investigation, and calling for the u. S. To stop funding mexicos drug war under plan merida. The Mexican Government has said the students were attacked by Municipal Police acting under the corrupt mayor of iguala, then turned over to drug gang members who killed and incinerated them. But mexican news reports point to a role by federal authorities. Maria de Jesus Tlatempa llo, mother of one of the missing students, spoke at sundays march. We are here today marching april 26, in support of the school. I am a mother who has a disappeared son whose name is jo we ares here askinge. For the. Support of all the american people, asking for them to stand in solidarity with us as parents because it is the only way to demand our government help us find our children and a pressure our government for mexican president communion show, and all of our leaders because theyre all involved in the forced disappearance of our children. Amy in uruguay, four former guantanamo prisoners have been protesting for days in front of the u. S. Embassy, demanding u. S. Financial and housing support. The men were imprisoned at guantanamo for 12 years, before being released and resettled in uruguay. They have vowed to continue marching and sleeping outside the embassy until the u. S. Ambassador meets with them. In japan, a man has turned himself in to police, admitting he flew a drone containing low levels of Radioactive Material onto the roof of the Prime Ministers office. Yasuo yamamoto has said he equipped the drone with sand from fukushima, site of the 2011 nuclear meltdown, as a protest against Prime Minister shinzo abes push to restart nuclear plants. In pakistan, a leading human rights activist has been shot dead in karachi. Sabeen mahmud was the director of the second floor, a Progressive Community space. She was shot while leaving the venue after hosting a talk on the disappearances of activists in balochistan, where the Pakistani Army has been waging a decadelong campaign. The event was initially set to take place in lahore, but was cancelled and relocated following threats from pakistans intelligence services. And in the United States, the forprofit Corinthian Colleges system has shut down all of its remaining 28 campuses, interrupting the educations of 16,000 current students in whats believed to be the largest Higher Education shutdown in u. S. History. Earlier this month, the u. S. Department of education unveiled a 30 million fine against the company for misrepresenting job placement rates. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. One hundred years ago this week, over 1,000 female peace activists gathered from around the world to meet here in the hague to call for an end to war. The extraordinary meeting, known as the International Congress of women, took place as world war i raged across the globe. The gathering was organized by a dutch suffragist named dr. Aletta jacobs. The event took place in the netherlands because of its neutral position during world war i. At the event jacobs, said those of us who have convened this congress of women assembled to protest against war and to suggest steps which may lead to warfare becoming an impossibility. Two future Nobel Peace Prize winners took part in the u. S. Delegation jane addams, the cofounder of hull house, and the sociologist emily balch. The event marked the formation of the Womens International league for peace and freedom or wilpf. Well, today, as wars rage on in afghanistan, iraq, syria, libya, yemen and other countries, women from around the world have gathered again here in the hague to call for peace and to mark the 100th anniversary of the Womens International league for peace and freedom. In a democracy now exclusive at the hague, we are joined by three Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Jody williams, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work with the International Campaign to ban landmines. In she helped launch the 2003, campaign to stop killer robots. Her memoir is called, my name is Jody Williams a vermont girls winding path to the Nobel Peace Prize. Leymah gbowee received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work in leading a womens Peace Movement that brought an end to the second liberian civil war in 2003. Gbowee shared the prize with fellow liberian Ellen Johnson certainly, now president and , yemennative tawakkol karman. Gbowee and sirleaf became the second and third African Women to win the prize, preceded by the late Wangari Maathai of kenya. She is the founder and president of Gbowee Peace Foundation africa based in liberia. She is the author of the book, mighty be our powers how sisterhood, prayer, and sex changed a nation at war. And Mairead Maguire is with us. She was awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 32 for her actions to help end the deep ethnic and political conflict in her native Northern Ireland. She shared the award with Betty Williams. They helped start peace people a movement committed to building a just and Peaceful Society in Northern Ireland. At the time, mairead was the youngest recipient of the peace prize. She is the author of the book, the vision of peace faith and hope in Northern Ireland. Leymah gbowee, Jody Williams Mairead Maguire are also all part of the nobel womens initiative, which was formed in 2006 to support womens groups around the world in campaigning for justice, peace and equality. We welcome to democracy now. Mairead maguire you may have been against recipient at the time of the Nobel Peace Prize but you are the first twin the peace prize of the three of you here. Talk about the significance of this meeting today. Once again, about 1000 women have gathered here at the hague. Were broadcasting from the world forum. To take on the issue of war. In these very violent times. What does this group what can groups like this accomplish . I think first off, groups like this, women and men from many countries, and their agenda is to end militarism and war and to build peace and International Law and human rights and democracy. And you know, that is 100 years ago when they gathered here at the hague and went offered nobel offered nobel was set up, over 100 years ago their agenda was amy birth his name was not very well known, who she was and how she inspired alfred nobel. And that is incredible. She was the first nobel woman over 100 years. Her agenda was cooperating together to solve the problem. The second one was abolished armies and militarism and war because theyre not working. The third one was through dialogue and negotiation through solving the problem through listening to each other and build International Law and human rights. That is the way forward today. Amy how did you use this philosophy in ireland . In Northern Ireland, with a very deep ethnic political problem. It was very complex. At the base of it all was fear and injustice. But we try to solve it through militarism, hurray militarism, and it was getting worse and worse hurray militarism and it was getting worse and worse. And in the 1970s, my sisters and three children were killed. Amy how are they killed . In a tragedy between the british army and an active service unit of the irish republican army. One of my younger sisters went walking with her four children and three of them were killed. She was dangerously ill. Amy british shoulders soldiers . And the ira. She was an expected to live. She subsequently died of her injuries. Theres a simple message no to violence and yes to peace and dialogue. We can solve our problems without violence and killing each other. Amy Leymah Gbowee, you helped in the second civil war in liberia and jailed the president Charles Taylor. Talk about how you accomplished this. Here of the three of you, you must recently won the nobel prize in 2011. What did you do in liberia . One of the things that we were able to accomplish in liberia was doing together groups that would come together to build peace. Christian muslims. If you look at the world and the order of the world today, there is a lot of religious extremism and fundamentalism. We had those kinds of issues in liberia at the time. Because while all of the different warring factions were from the different ethnic groups with religious undertones, and we knew that if we had to build peace, we needed to bring not just the women together, but women from diverse backgrounds. Different ethnic groups. In the two major religious groups, christian muslims who were able to bring those women together, to work together. I would say one of the strategies we used was the strategy of reconceptualizing a lot of the time, people used religion as a means of empowering women. If you go into the koran and even in the bible, youll find there were some great women. We use the examples of very great women to talk about how the helped to change their time. As a christian and working with christian women, we used people who were english and political issues in biblical times. Once the narrative of those women had been kind of reconceptualized, then we were able to resonate and bring them together. But not just bringing the groups together, but to protest nonviolently. 14 years of violent uprising. We started with two groups. By 2003, we had gone through almost 12 or 13 different groups. So everyones reforms to the world was bringing in more violence are bringing in more guns. And we realized that if there were changes that you happen in liberia, it had to be nonviolent. So we protested. We did sitins. We were just like invading spaces that women would not necessarily be. Amy how did president taylor responded you . When we started we had an invitation to get him to come and listen to us. People said, well, if you sent one invitation, he is going to say he didnt get it. I remember sending six invitations. One directly to his office, 13 his religious council one through his religious council 13 his wife, one through parliament, want to the president of the senate, and one through i think it was National Security persons. Six letters for one event. There was no way he could have said he did not receive the letters because we had multiple people telling us they handdelivered it. Because he did not know how to respond us, we sat and we just decided we were going to protest and demand three things immediate unconditional ceasefire dialogue, and Intervention International intervention. Three things that taylor said he wasnt going to do. Liberia was a sovereign nation and he was not going to allow foreign troops on the ground. He was a legitimate president and he wasnt going to sit with illegitimate groups. And talking with them was something he would fight until the last soldier died. So going to him with the things he was defining the world within saying, we will protest more or less, to find the world and we are defying you. You will continue and to give it to us. Finally, he at a given. Finally, here to say, i will go to the peace table. It did not end our protest. We continued until African Leaders and the rest of the world forced his arm to resign. Amy were going to take a break and wont come back, i would ask about the sex strikes that you engaged in an liberia that made an enormous difference. Were joined right now by Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mairead Maguire who won the prize in 1976, and you will also be hearing from Jody Williams who won in 1997. This is democracy now democracynow. Org, broadcasting from the world form of the hague. It is the 100th anniversary of the Womens International peace and freedom. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting live from the hague, from the world form at the hague in the netherlands. It is the 100th anniversary of the Womens International league for peace and freedom. 100 years ago, 1000 women in the midst of world war i gathered here. 1000 years later, rather, 100 years later, they have gathered again, calling for peace and very violent times. Among those who are here are four Nobel Peace Prize winners. Later in the week, we will speak to dr. Ebadi of iran. Right now were joined by the three other Nobel Laureates. Tawakkol karman was supposed to come but was unable to. But we are joined by Mairead Maguire who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976, by Jody Williams who won the prize in 1997, and by Leymah Gbowee, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. So were at the Jody Williams. Here is where Charles Taylor was tried. The first head of state in the world to be tried before an International Court modeled on the nuremberg trials, and that 50 years not for atrocities committed in your country liberia, but sierra leone. 50 years he was sentenced to. He is in prison now in london. But i want to go back to this issue of the sex strikes. One of the strategies you used to bring in and to were in liberia. When we started, i must say we werent as sophisticated as dr. King and mandelas of the world. We were few women. There were women who it done great work including the celebration we were constantly thinking on our feet, constantly trying to imagine strategies that would be effective. When we started our protest, we barely got the medias attention. Not local media and definitely not the International Media. Once we put out there, and it was a real strategy that we felt like the men in our society are really not taking a stand. They were either fighters are very silent and accepting all of the violence that was being thrown at us as a nation. So we decided to do this sex strikes it kind of propel the silent men into action. So if you had a beer buddy who was a warlord, you needed to encourage him to lay down his arms. The way we were try to do that was through pressurize the partners that we have husbands and partners who were also sometimes silent in the entire scheme of the war. Amy who came up with the idea . A friend of mine was like were going to do a sex strike. It was like, whoa, for me. One of the stereotypes about muslims as they are quiet obednt, and they do not have that kind of mine. She is the one who came up with the idea. And once we put it out there, it became a huge issue. In our community, it wasnt because sex is exotic even though it is. The people wanted to know, who were these women to even dare their husbands or their men were supposed to be empowered to say they wont give sex because of the war . The International Media wanted to know, how can you refuse sex when rape is the order of the day in your culture, in our society . So all of these lingering questions made it a very good strategy. Every time we went to do press, they wanted to know about the sex strike. Every other reason why we were in it in protest it became a media strategy for the work we were doing at the time. Amy how did the war and . When we have pressured the government, for the first time when we met him, taylor over 2000 women turned up on that day. It was one of those amazing days where you have you can come and see me, and it is probably a test because people were afraid of this man, afraid of the huge amount of guns that were in the town. And we get there but the women are staying somewhere else. They get to his palace and they say, we have instruction that if you are less than 20, you should not come in because it underestimated us. We were going to see taylor. My question to the guards were, if there are more than 20 and he was like, you can come. So standing there, just a sea of white coming down the hill. It was like, these women are really serious. Then all of a sudden, we get a call from in his office that he is not feeling well and he will see only 10 of us. I was furious. I said, if he cant come to see all of us, we will leave. And his guards were like, who is this woman . She is too militant for her own good. Finally, he agreed to come out and see all of us. We challenged him. He offered us to sit. We refused and sat on the floor. Why should we sit in a chair will we come to see you . Afterwards he said, any group of people can get to commit to going to do peace, it is the women, and a promising you that i will go to the peace table. For us, that was the challenge. We will keep the press or pressure on our country bit we also have to find the warlords and give them a position statement and go to be present. So we were keeping the pressure up for many months. One day we got tired and seized the whole hall. Locked the men and said that would not come out until we had a Peace Agreement signed. We were going into almost a third month of a Peace Process that should have lasted three weeks. After we did our locking in of the men and giving our own position, this is what we want, two weeks later, we got a Peace Agreement signed but signing the agreement was moot. We decided to go back and follow through the entire process. Amy Leymah Gbowee, how does it feel today for you to be here at the hague where president Charles Taylor was tried, now in prison for 50 years imprisoned in britain, just lost his latest appeal and your cowinner, Ellen Johnson sirleaf the president of liberia . One of the things when i look at the life and legacy of president taylor, it tells a lot about ordinary people in their ability to forgive. When liberians elected taylor, it wasnt because they were so afraid of him. They wanted to give him the opportunity to redeem himself. Instead of pursuing equality of brooklyns reconciliatory democracy, he decided to leave rather than leading. Came to the hague, was tried found guilty. There are two things. The people of sierra leone, the war in sierra leone just like in liberia, wasnt everywhere. It was horrifying, horrific on the lives of women and children. And that someone finally some big i was answering to the rest of the world. Ylor was the example for the world that we would no longer sit and allow people to come and treat their citizens with her nextdoor neighbors, on their plantation. If other leaders pretended the paying nodded pretending not to be paying attention leaders that we have today that are choosing the path of gangster ruling, they are worried. Because if it can happen at Charles Taylor, could happen to us, too. Justice in that form was served. But sadness on that verdict is that when i was growing up, we constantly saw the scale of justice in our minister of justice in liberia, had this big scale where it was balanced. They had this thing, let justice be done to all men. In my mind, and during my entire social life, i understand social justice to be balance. Taylors trial and conviction is willing good, but i feel like the scale was tilted in his favor. [indiscernible] who is giving them food . He is in prison and the u. K. He is the luxury of three meals a day. A warm bed during winter. A cool said during summer. Some of these people have both arms hacked. Who is providing meals for them . Who is taking care of their children . For that scale to be balanced, part of his loots should begin to liberia and the rest to [indiscernible] thin the scale will be balanced. That is my take. Amy Leymah Gbowee, i was walking down 125th street, harlem the other day and passing the Apollo Theater and your name was up in lights coming to the apollo june 12, i think they said. But were here right now at the hague where women have gathered about 1000 women from around the world. The africa contingent is large. 100 years ago, there werent women from africa, as they were protesting world war i. So about 1000 women are here. Among those are these women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. They had a gathering this weekend, not far from here, of the nobel womens initiative. Jody williams, youre the chair of the nobel womens initiative. What is the idea of this, what all of you Nobel Laureates female Nobel Laureates, have come . Why do we form the initiative . We recognized for a quickly was an idea, actually, ebadi, now the 114 year history of the peace prize, after all of these years, we actually had a handful of women alive who could maybe do something different. Amy 16 women female . 69. We thought we would use whatever influence and power we had by virtue of the prize to shine the spotlight on women around the world who are working for sustainable peace, with justice and equality, which is a very different vision from just east as the absence of armed conflict. For me personally, and im sure for my nobel sisters, i became joyce at having the peace prize when only came together and recognized we could use it to uplift the women who always carry the weight of conflict as men are out conducting a. Amy youre wearing a shirt that says, unarmed civilian. I think the origin was around the ferguson murder in the United States, the black man murdered by police in ferguson, missouri. Amy Michael Brown yes. And that was the genesis, but i was at an International Conference on humanitarian disarmament, which grew out of our campaign to ban landmines. I was given a gift. And this was the gift. Humanitarian disarmament is a holder for a way of looking at getting rid of weapons. It is not just the military and the politicians can decide what should and shouldnt be used, it is they have to actually follow the laws of war. Which they dont like, really. And look at weapons and look at the humanitarian impact. Meaning, how many people are you killing with these weapons over time especially . Compared to the socalled military game. So it was all of those things together. Amy lets talk strategy. In 1997, you won the Nobel Peace Prize for your work with the International Campaign to ban landmines. Talk about how you started how you formed this global fight against landmines and now almost 20 years later, youre taking on what you call killer robots. Take us on that trajectory. To me, it was very logical. First of all, i was tired by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation who had seen the carnage of landmines during vietnam. In a Sister Organization in germany. And they asked if i could try to put together a Political Coalition of nongovernmental organizations to put pressure on governments to ban personal landmines. So we started out and called at the International Campaign because it was germany and the u. S. Logic said to me, go to the organizations that in one way or another have something to do with landmines. Human rights watch had written the first reports on the humanitarian impact of landmines over time compared the vision for human rights a been involved in the reports as well. Handicap international from france that was doing massive amounts of work with amputees and prosthetics. Amy where were those of the lamines . In the world . Africa is the most mined continent. Some and central america, some in south america. Amy vietnam . Vietnam and asia, cambodia, angola is a herbal one bosnia. Anywhere that conflict internal conflict in particular is where those weapons are used. There are cheap and easy to use. You ram them in the ground, walk away and you dont care who they kill. But our strategy was to include organizations from the producer states, from the states were people were being killed. And bring them all together with a common cause, even though we were working on many other issues individually some of e common goal was getting rid of the landmines to me getting countries to donate resources for victim assistance and to get the minds out of the ground. And we found a core group of governments that share the same goals. Because as much as we could protest, and i think it was similar leymahs example, we could protest until the cows came in, but if the government doesnt by the treaties if the rebels and the governments dont negotiate a peace accord nothing happens. So we found governments that cared and we changed how people thought about weapons. We really made it not seem like an esoteric theme and the u. N. On a conference on disarmament. This is stuff that affects people in their blood and bone. Amy and really powerful psas you put out. This affects everyone. Amy blowing up children in a playground. But we brought the bombs to the u. N. I was so frustrated one day with them negotiating. They spent a whole day talking about changing the treaty, and they change a comma to a semi colon and call it work. Post furious. I said i want to pick up your table and put it in the biggest minefield and cambodia and not let you men out and not show you the safe way out until you negotiate a treaty banning these weapons. It didnt happen, so we had the most massive, creative everybody brought their own skills. We had people who came very shortly with a simulated minefield. And we put it in front of the door to the negotiating room so they had to walk through it. We had landmines survivors give them one million signatures from people around the world calling for a ban. We had a clock on the wall counting the number of victims as they droned away at negotiations but did nothing. It is all that refusal diplomats looking at the beautiful alps in geneva pretending your conversation means something. Amy when did the treaty get signed . It was in 1997 amy . Amy a few months before you won the prize. Yes. Amy did you feel like you had accomplished a tremendous amount and you could move on . No. Just like she was talking about earlier, that was just the beginning. Words on paper, terrific. Especially few are a writer. But a treaty, a law, a u. N. Resolution not implemented is fundamentally irrelevant. And i think the governments were cheering the negotiations were done, we of the treaty, they thought we would go home. Instead, we had part of our campaign ramming out a strategy planning out a strategy for the next year sang, ok, this is what this ok, this requirement of the treaty requires you to do this and this and this. And we wrote out a strategy for what this campaign was committed to doing to make sure this thing was implemented. And we handed out as the negotiations were ending. So they had no doubt that we were in it for the long haul. I think that is one thing that hardcore activism understands. It is to ally, oh, six months were going to do a new campaign to make poverty history or any of the things that are flash in the pan. You have to stay committed to the goals. Amy take that to killer robots. Half the people listening are not even going to know what youre talking about. Immediately using drones. The drone is not a killer robot. Even though it challenger conception of ethical and moral just, if anything such exists, i dont happen to think so, but the drone flights some itron honestly. It can go over thousands of miles by itself. But there is still a human being somewhere in the dronebased looking at a computer, the he or she looks at you and goes, hm she is not an appropriate messenger in the media. She doesnt talk about war is a glorious thing, therefore, the enemy. In a human being has tpush the button to blast you into eternity. Theyre making weapons now that will take the human being out of the system. Imagine the drone that has now been programmed so that once it takes off, that drone by itself flies around, decides that this whole room is a target, and blows it up. All by itself. Who is accountable . Who is a cannibal . Is it the man who programmed it . Is it Lockheed Martin who belted . Israeli can bring the drone to trial. And to make us even more concerned, there are starting to use those weapons for crowd control. I recently saw a picture of a mediumsized spiderlike drone and it has been equipped with tear gas for crowd control. Amy walking on the ground . No, flying. We have launched a campaign to stop that. In the u. S. , the lead of making them, and things we should keep the door open to them. Theres nothing wrong with drones, they say. Theres human involved in realtime killing. Amy are you also talking about robots that actually walk in the air, on the land, and in the sea. Swarms. They have a vision of swarms of killer robots planes swarms they can attack the opposition. Amy and who is controlling them . For the Radio Audience . Oh, sorry radio, i cant lift my arms to the radio. It would be the commander who decided to use the swarm and push the buttons to release amy to begin with, but not once it is flying. Not once it is flying. They dont want men amy what are you doing about it . We launched a campaign in april 2013 in london with our friend the killer robot we brought in front of parliament. And within nine months, we were able to force the governments of the world to come together in geneva and start discussing these weapons. And they thought they would fly under the radar and they would be out there before we knew what hit us. A small group of people can and do change the world. Amy we are going to break and come back to our discussion with three nobel winners. Three Nobel Peace Prize winners. Jody williams, Leymah Gbowee and Mairead Maguire. We are broadcasting live from the world forum at hague the in the netherlands. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting live from the hague, from the world format the hague. Actually, right nearby is the peace palace. This past week, the second female statue was dedicated. It was dedicated to dr. Letter james, who was one of the founders of the Womens International league for peace and freedom, called that session 100 years ago where 1000 women came in the midst of world war i, 1915, to say, no, to war. Now we are joined by three nobel peace laureates, Jody Williams won in 1997 for her campaign against landmines. Leymah gbowee is with us from liberia. She won in 2011. She was fighting the liberian civil war nonviolently, organizing throughout liberia. And Mairead Maguire is with us, who won in 1976 along with Betty Williams in Northern Ireland as they fought against the violence there. None of you are your activism has stopped. You did not go out, you laureates, on your laurels. Mairead maguire, i remember visiting Phil Berrigan in jail. You are the next person to visit him. I left, you can in, but you did not leave. I think you are arrested on the spot. Why did you refuse to leave . Phil berrigan, the wellknown plowshares activist who based on the philosophy of turning swords into plowshares, had done yet another nonviolent action against Nuclear Weapons in the United States. Ive always been inspired by the American Peace activism from when i was a very young woman because i think it took tremendous courage and Phil Berrigan is one of my heroes. At island also been to iraq and met with the Iraqi Government and people like that. We knew there were no Nuclear Weapons in iraq. And crying out for dialogue. Amy this is before the iraq war. Yes. We were coming to america to say to the diplomats into the government and to walk with the american people, these problems come before without following each other through dialogue and negotiation. So i came to america to be part of that process. But we can campaign against war and militarism but until we change our consciousness and our mindset that we really have to stop killing each other, because were technological giants. We have a great deal of knowledge. We know how to kill each other and we cant undo that knowledge. What we have to do, in our own minds, decide were not going to kill each other. Amy you also went to syria . We went to syria twice. And we went into syria with a delegation of 40 iranian peace activists. And the whole message coming out of these countries is, dont occupy us, we can solve our problems through negotiation and dialogue. It comes back to the, if you listen to news, people are in despair. Oh, my god the role is coming apart, what can we do . But there is a Wonderful World and theres a great deal happening. And the vast majority, 99 of people in the world, do not want to kill each other, have never kill each other, care for the fact that children are dying in all these countries. But tragically, we seem to be caught in this trajectory that our government take us to war amy Mairead Maguire, you also were on one of the gaza flotillas challenging the israeli blockade against gaza . Yes, i was, because i passionately believe there could bps between israel and palestine. If you have the political will to sit down with political leaders and say theres a solution to this, find it because going out and bombing women an inch and increasingly children on the ground, is horrific. It is not acceptable. But i would challenge the American Government because i think the American Government policies are totally wrong. Their approach of militarism and war and bombing countries is uncivilized, illegal, and absolutely dreadful in the 21st century. So i do believe america has a moral and ethical responsibility to the world to listen as the people in the world one piece. Everybody has a right to peace. They can do it through dialogue and negotiation and lets get these a chance. Amy is there a chance i mean you have the Obama Administration under the Obama Administration, more weapons have been sold in the world than under any previous administration. And the highest number of amount of the weapons have been sold to saudi arabia. Jody williams, youre from the u. S. Of course we can change the world. Sometimes, as Mairead Maguire says, when i look at my own country, i have been fighting the u. S. Foreign policies since vietnam, my first protest by 1970, university of vermont. But change is possible. And because i believe like maira ead, the majority of the people are sick to death of this d were starting to stand up and say, no. Were starting to challenge and not accept words out of one side of the face and the actions which are different. I never thought, unfortunately i did not drink the obama koolaid. That man fired were authorized more drone strikes in the first three modes of his administration than george w. Bush did in eight years in office. As americans, we have to accept the responsibility that we have the most militaristic nation in the world and take responsibility to stop it. Amy Leymah Gbowee of liberia, you have also taken on the issue of ebola. Talk about how you dealt with ebola and what your government was doing. Well, the government was totally unresponsive to the needs of the people. I remember when we had amy this is your sister Nobel Laureate i get so sick antiwar people say, you won the prize along with president s early. First things first, resident sirleaf is a politician and i am an activist. Nobody thought we would be having sunday brunch together. We were bound to disagree on issues because that is what happens between politicians and activists. Two, i did not win the prize because im a winner, i wanted because i stood up and spoke truth to power. If speaking truth to power will cause me to disagree with jody and the civilized world, i believe that. If we disagree, we should be able to come back together to agree on a more cordial line. Having said that amy we only have a minute, so tell us this ingenious strategy. Our government was unresponsive death because we believe in community and the power of the people, my foundation decided to put money into the hands of Community People to find their own strategy find their own solution for the ebola crisis. We did that through 150 local organizations am a prayer groups, supper groups are youth groups, womens groups and 26 local radio stations. Today, the u. N. Has said this is an effective strategy. And i would like to claimant amy can you tell us about the video clubs . One of the beautiful things that happens in community and people understand, when we give these groups of women money when on youtube, got some of the of people. We had nothing to do with it. Download some of the videos of past ebola cases in africa and other parts of the world. They made their own shock documentary. When and to the committee and used the money we had given them to hire a cinema, or we call it a local video club. They showed blockbuster movies. Amy with tickets . Blockbuster movies. It was free to go on watch the movies. These clubs were filled with people. They were doing intermission and put on a little clip about ebola. That is how the community that particular community of almost 20,000, was really able to see that. This is real. We need to stop amy they would stop the film in the middle, shut the little documentary and then go back . Then go back. People would leave not talking about the film, but talking about the shock clips. These women have put in 10 austin stations tent washings stations. People began watching their hands and taking necessary precautions. Amy what number of ebola victims now . Zero. In five or six days, were supposed to be counting down to liberia being ebolafree by the world health organization. I think the success is government is not flying in the u. S. Military. It is community engage, engage, engage community. Amy that. Five seconds for each of you to wrap up. Women of wisdom in this time of war. Mairead maguire . America is a great country. Eleanor roosevelt was one of the contributors to the universal declaration of human rhts. Yet the wonderful constitution. The revive your constitution and rededicate yourselves International Law. Be a peace maker, not a war maker. Women need to be involved in all aspects. Do one good thing every day that everyone else is good to do. Amy wee willie but at that. Leymah gbowee, Mairead Maguire and Jody Williams, thank you so much. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] llustrated magazine its americas test kitchen with your host christopher kimball, featuring test kitchen chefs Julia Collin Davison bridget lancaster, becky hays with adam ried in the equipment corner and jack bishop in the tasting lab. Discover the secrets of americas foremost food testers and tasters today on americas test kitchen. Today on americas test kitchen bridget shows chris how to make homemade italian wedding soup. Next, jack challenges chris to a tasting of chicken broth. And finally, julia reveals the secrets to the ultimate spanishstyle lentil and chorizo soup. Thats all right here on americas test kitchen. Americas test kitchen is brought to you by dcs by fisher paykel. Americas cooks rely on innovation