the one nation speakers rally. first, brazil postelection heading to a runoff. the leading candidate will become the first woman to lead brazil. all that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. bank of america has joined j.p. morgan chase in suspending foreclosures in 23 states following relevant -- revelations that employees and lenders had approved thousands of foreclosure affidavits and other documents without proper vetting. in massachusetts, an employee admitted she signed as many as 8000 foreclosure documents and typically did not read any of them because of the high volume. attorneys general in california, colorado, connecticut, and illinois have launched investigations into what seemed to be widespread fraud. it is unknown how many hom owners lost their homes due to foreclosure fraud. banks are expected to seize a record 1.2 million homes this year, a 12-fold increase since 2005. in washington, d.c., reunions and scores of labor organizations gathered for the one nation rally. the focus was jobs, justice, education, and peace. speakers included the rev. allan sharpton. >> we need jobs. we bailed out the banks, the insurance companies. now it is time to bail out the american people. >> we will have more on the rally after headlines. protests are continuing in europe after planned budget cuts and sweeping economic reforms. in france, hundreds of thousands marched on saturday, calling for the president to drop plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. iraq seems one step closer to forming a government seven months after parliamentary elections were held. backers of moqtada al-sadr arkansas threw their weight behind prime minister alabama maliki. it is still unclear whether maliki has enough support to form a new government as sunni politicians are threatening to boycott. in brazil, a presidential runoff vote sent later this month after no candidate earn 50% of the election. lula's hand-picked successor dilma rousseff won 46% of the vote. we will have more on what that means. historian wellesley college is uncovering evidence that u.s. government researchers deliberately infected hundreds of guatemalans with syphilis and the diarrhea in the 1940's, in an experiment. details of the study were uncovered by a medical historian. on friday, pj crowley ofhe state department said the obama administration had apologized to the guatemalan government. >> yesterday, the president called the president of columbia to show the shock of this research, and apologize on behalf of the american people. during the course of the conversation, guatemalans was invited fully in the merit -- investigation. >> in pakistan, armed men have set on fire 20 oil tankers carrying supplies for nato troops in afghanistan. it was the third such strike since friday. last week, the pakistani government blocked a supply route after a helicopter attack mistakenly killed three pakistani troops. meanwhile, "the wall street journal" as reported that the u.s. government has started to loan helicopters to aid. a record number of cia drone strikes were launche in september. wired.com has revealed a shell company run by black water has run part of a 10-year $5 billion contract to provide security services to diplomatic missions around the world. and the news blog, upshot has revealed the army has used local cbs television affiliates in georgia and north carolina as training posts for some of its psychological training personnel. active duty soldiers working at the stations, as part of the army's training with industry program, the psyops soldiers learned broadcasting and communications expertise that they can use to influence the motives and ultimately behavior of foreign audiences. three ecuadorean police kernels are under criminal investigation for rebellion and attempted assassination following last week's revolt against rafael correa. on saturday, the president attended the funeral for one of five people killed in last week's unrest. >> the 24-year-old student went through 6000 people to rescue the president. they met him with bullets, tear gas, snipers on a rooftop. how can you call that being police? the police themselves should be the ones to arrest the worst elements. if they had any dignity, they would surrender their weapons, uniforms, badges. they do not deserve to be called police. >> palestinians set fire to a mosque this morning south of bethlehem. a fire damaged parts of the mosque and destroyed about a dozen coppery some of the koran. local fire -- officials say that the fire was caused as protest to the settlement buildi. on saturday, palestinian officials suspended talks with israel and left. >> the palestinian leadership holds responsible for obstructing the negotiations and the political process and the working the political efforts of the american administration,he quartet, and entire international community. likewise, the palestinian leadership confirms the resumption of negotiations requires tangible steps to prove they are serious at the forefront of them, a freeze on settlements, without condition or exceptions. >> two israeli soldiers have been used as using a nine-year old palestinian boy as a human shield by forcing him to search for suspected booby traps in 2009. an attorney said the soldiers are being skate goaded by the israeli military. >> these two are the ones that pay the price for the mistakes of senior people. >> the indicted nations has issued a long-awaited report documented atrocities in the war on the democratic republic of congo that left 5 million people dead. part of the report accuses the rwanda military of war crimes and possibly even genocide. the report said remontant troops and allies killed tens of thousands of members of the hutu ethnic group. the un high commissioner for human rights. >> because the law of war forbids the killings of civilians, it points to crimes against humanity, and in some instances, may amount to genocide. the report makes clear it is only a court of law that can determine what crimes have been suspected of having been committed. >> the rwandan government protested the release of the report and threatened to withdraw from the peacekeeping mission in darfur. rwanda's foreign affairs minister. >> it is a report that is destabilizing for the region. we have seven countries named in the report. none of us have been contacted, none of us were given a chance to respond to accusations. we are accused by anonymous people. >> in political news, new york republican gubernatorial candidate carl paladino is coming under criticism for receiving $3 million in tax breaks by promising new jobs in the buffalo area. according to an investigation, he created only 25 jobs. to justify tax breaks, he sold vacant lots that he owned to himself and then claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in real property investment. he is a multimillionaire real- estate investor backed by the tea party. the rupert murdoch-owned media giant news corp. has donated another million dollars to a business coalition campaigning against democrats in the election. the donation to the chamber of commerce comes two months after making a $1 million donation to the republican governors association. cnn has fired rick sanchez after calling jon stewart is aa bigot. born in cuba, he was one of the most high-profile the team of journalists on television. from pacifica, this is democracy now! in brazil, 135 million voters cast ballots sunday on a closely watched presidential election. dilma rousseff has succeed president de silva and -- but failed to win the 50% of votes to claim an outright victory. if she wins, she will be the first woman to lead brazil. for the last five years, she has served as the chief of staff. in the 1960's, she was involved in the struggle with the brazilian dictatship. she spoke on sunday night after the results were announced. >> i will face the second round with a lot of strength and energy. on the second round, i will have the opportunity to further detail my proposals. present my projects to eradicate misery and develop the country. >> her main rival is the former mayor of sao paulo. he previously served as state governor and health minister. he won praise for defying the pharmaceutical lobby to market inexpensive generic drugs and free anti-aids medicine. in 2002, he lost the presidential election in a runoff with the law. with 90% of the votes counted, rousseff has won 47% of the vote. the two will face each other in a runoff vote later this month. the green party candidate won 19% of the votes. we are joined on the line now by a professor of the school of arts and communications at the university of sao paulo. joining us in new york is a teacher of latin american history at new york university. his most recent book is called "fordlandia." welcome to democracy now! explain who dilma rousseff it is, and the significance of the election yesterday? >> hello, good to have you with us. >> good to be here. dilma is 63 years old. she was born to a bulgarian father and brazilian mother. she started politics while a student during the dictatorship. she represents the current president movement, who is very popular, but can not run for a third term in a row. so he has strongly campaign for her. she is a tough woman, would be the first brazilian woman to be president. this is actually -- there was another woman, due to her high number of boats yesterday, introduced something new in the election. it will turn to the election in the runoff. distil but is a interesting woman, too. she comes from a very poor background in the northern state in then, where she became a leader. we have a very interesting setting here where two women play a very important role. >> could you talk more about dilma rousseff's will during the brazilian military dictatorship, and what happened? >> she was the member of a short-lived revolutionary organization that populated in brazil during the dictatorship in the late 1960's. she was a university student. it was an organization involved in bank grubbing in order to continue on the -- operations. she was captured in 1970, imprisoned for three years. then she came out and began to work with other social movements to lead brazil to this transition in democracy. >> what was the brazilian democracy -- dictatorship? >> there was a coup in 1968, which was part of a march mar radical right-wing agenda. that ran from 1968 until 1980. there was a coalition of social organizations that eventually coalesced behind the worker's party, people like the law, rank-and-file workers like dil ma. >> da silva, who will not be part of the runoff, born in the amazon, green party activist. >> this is the most populous country in latin america. one of the strongest growing economies in the world, and 70% of the population voted for a former marxist guerrilla war for an afro-brazilian who broke with the worker's party to run on the green party ticket. it would be interesting to know if -- comparing it with germany, for instance -- the green party receiving 20% of the vote. that is a remarkable turnout. >> you are talking about 130 million voters. ester, dilma rousseff will now run against the sec to set up. do you think that she got $0.20 -- 20% of the vote and will not run in the runoff, where will her vote go? >> that is the question everyone is asking today. that is why it is interesting two women have important roles. she has the chance to decide who is going to win in the runoff. it is probably that her party will support -- but she will remain neutral, so it is hard to say what will happen. he is also an economist who was a militant in the anti-ta dictatorship. he was a member of the student union when the military took over. he went to chilly and then came back with amnesty and became a deputy and senator, and then minister of health. then he was the mayor of sao paulo, the governor of the state of sao paulo. he is the oldest candidate, 67 years old. he was a member of the democrats. if he makes an alliance with marina, he has a chance. if not, it is hard to say that he will have more than yesterday. >> could you talk about the role of the mst, the landless movement in brazil? i know that they have an uneasy alliance with lula. >> as a social movement, they have an easy political parties. they always have their own agenda, but they have an important role in pushing brazil to have a more democratic, agrarian structure. although we are now in a good economic situation, and although poverty has decreased in the last 20 years, we are still and the unequal country. the main challenge for the next president is to move ahead and change the structure of the country. i think the reason marina has surprised with her 20% is because she has a discourse of structural change. >> esther hamburger, you have an interesting system in brazil. voters have to vote. people between age of 18 and 70, not voting can result in a small fine, making it almost impossible to get a passport or a government job. talking about 135 million voters, unlike in the u.s., people vote. >> yes, and they like to vote. they talk about the election a lot. the election was the main subjects all weekend, and even today. not only on the media, but people talk about it. it is mandatory to vote, but the fine is pretty low. so it is not that big of a deal, but people like to vote, they know they have a chance to say something, to change something. >> i am wondering if you know this, gregg, in that america for a wise, if there is mandatory voting. if you end up getting more progressive candidates, progressive people tend not to go. >> yes and no. peru does something similar. i do not think venezuela does. bolivia does. the fine is low in brazil. i think there was 85% turnout. i would say that 15% was probably from the poor, social base of the workers party. in the next round, they would probably vote for dilma. >> critical issues in brazil right now? >> what is remarkable is the overlap of gender. this speaks to the success of president lula, leaving brazil a stronger country. not only were these two women of the left, the opposition candidate was not on the right, he was a social democrat. you mentioned in your introduction is challenged to international pharmaceutical regimes, and in a lot of ways, the government ahead of president bill the put into place a lot of social spending. he ran in the shadow of the true heir of lula, although that did not really work. finance interest rates has been his focus. lula has kept them fairly high, despite the recession, as a way to stimulate. for the most part, he has been quite orthodox, keeping the bond markets d international bankers happy. it represents an industrial sector in brazil that wants lower interest rates. domestically, he would also be willing to impose some sort of the liberal reform on labour, which dilma would not do. the workers' party would not go for that kind of reform. it is in foreign policy where you see the biggest difference. this comes back to something that happened just last week, the attempted coup in ecuador. lula left not only brazil stronger but that in america stronger. more specifically, south american solidarity. dilma promises to carry on with that. lula has protected bolivia, ecuador from brazilian economic interests, where as some others may be more willing to go after the smaller countries in the periphery. a lot of that stuff -- not to take credit away from lula -- because he did increase spending, and started a lot of big programs, but he has had two terms to take credit for it. and he should. >> ecuador. what has been talked about as an attempted coup. now police kernels are being brought up on attempted assassination. what is your assessment? >> it is early. the government has made a lot of, i think, accurate accusations that it was not just a spontaneous social protest against austerity. it was too coordinated. it happened so suddenly and it was completely organized. there are some that are dissatisfied with korea and the military. certainly, with the past president gutierrez, who claims to be populist, but is more of an exile in brazil. he called for rafael correa to step down. there is some evidence that he has been behind some of the destabilization. he seemed to have managed the upper hand, and now he is rolling back the state of emergency. it is early to see how it will shake out. correa has had more contentious relationships with social movements compared with other countries. he is not organically linked, in some ways, the way that morales is in bolivia, environmental, social movements. it will be interesting to see how this plays out. >> we will leave it there. thank you for being with us. "fordlandia" was a pulitzer prize nominee. also thank you to esther hamburger from the university of sao paulo. thank you for joining us. when we come back, protests in washington, d.c. we will hear from, among others, harry belafonte. >> more than 100,000 people gathered at the lincoln memorial on saturday to rally for a progressive causes. labor unions, gay rights, including other organizations gathered for the one nation rally. the focus of the day w jobs, justice, and education for all. the rallies on to said that they also hoped to demonstrate that they, not the tea party, represented the nation's majority. the gathering ftured more than four hours of speeches, poetry, and music. we want to bring you some clips of harry belafonte. he began talking about dr. king part --'s march on washington 47 years ago. >> in 1963, martin luther king jr. stood on the steps of this memorial and declared that this nation should come together and embraced its ideals. he said that we should rally together and overcome in justice and racism, and that all citizens should not only have the right to vote, but that we should exercise that right and make america a whole -- america whole. that is why we are here today. but we also had to attend to other grievances. in his "i have a dream" speech, he said america would soon come to realize that the law that we were in at the time, that this nation waged in vietnam, was not only unconscionable, but on winnable. 58,000 americans died in that cruel adventure. over 2 million in the knees and cambodians perished. now today, almost half a century later, as we gather at this place where dr. king parade for the soul of these great nations, tens of thousands of citizens from all walks of life, have come here today to rekindle his dream and once again hope, all america will soon come to the realization that the wars that we waged today in faraway lands are immoral, unconscionable, and unwinnable. [applause] the central intelligence agency in its official report tells us that the enemy we pursued in afghanistan and pakistan, al qaeda, delaware, nonetheless, 50 people. do we really think sending hundreds of thousands of young american men and women to kill innocent civilians, women and children, and antagonizing the tens of millions of people in the whole region somehow makes us secure? does this make any sense? the president's decision to escalate the war in that region alone costs the nation $33 billion. that sum of money could not only create 600,000 jobs, here in america, but would even leave us a few billion to start rebuilding our schools, roads, hospitals, and affordable housing. it could also help to rebuild the lives of the thousands of returning, wounded veterans. dr. king loved this nation. he saw, as all of us have today, that this great nation should not be allowed to perish. his vision was also the vision of abraham lincoln, who understood the evil of slavery and abolishing that eagle saved america. although slavery may have been abolished, crippling poison of racism still persists in the -- and the struggle continues. we have the largest prison population in the world, and as we industrialize, we rob hundreds of thousands of workers of the jobs that they need, the wages that are rightfully theirs. the pride of women there's no bounds. their oppression refuses to yield as rape, domestic violence, sex slaves, teenage pregnancy abounds. but perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our constitution. as the vanguard of this insidious attack is the tea party. this band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous end. this gathering here today is america's wake-up call. the call to democracy is at last stirring again. citizens are coming together to say freedom does not sleep. it may have been lulled in the moment into lethargy, but it is fully awake now. we, the people, are its engine. we must awaken the apathetic, cynical, the angry douerss who sesee their future as a perpetul hopelessness, and show them that our greatest weapon is to vote, and it is the answer to much that the lines us. on november 2, in the millions, we must overburden our voting booths by voting against those who would see the nation become a totalitarian state. [applause] americans know that dr. king's dream is not dead. let us vote on november 2 jobs, jobs, jobs, peace, justice, human rights, for our children, and the future of america. and let us put an end to war. peace is a necessary justice. it is necessary for hope. it is necessary for our future. i love you all, god bless america. >> legendary singer, actor, activist harry belafonte addressing the rally in washington, d.c. the founder of the children defense fund also spoke. >> everything our nation and all of us need to know about life can be learned from now was a ark, according to an anonymous writer. lesson one, do not miss the boat. if we do not participate, we will miss the boat to compete in our globalizing world because we are now preparing a majority of our children for the future. the greatest threat to america's national security comes from no enemy without, but from our failure to invest in and educate all of our children. every 11 seconds of the school day, a child drops out. a majority of children of all racial and income groups, and over 80% of black and hispanic children cannot read or compute at grade levels in fourth, h, or twelfth grade if they have not are were dropped out. we need to correct courses right now. all of us, parents, educators, community, religious, political leaders, need to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem. god did not make two glasses of children. everyone deserves a quality education. lesson two. we are all in the same boat, which is the message of today's inclusive and positive rally. many americans may not like, or think they have any self interest in assuring a fair playing field for other people's children, especially poor and minority children's. but black, hispanic, and other minority children will be a majority of our child population in 2023. is it not better to ensure that they are there, make sure that our social security and medicare systems and productive work force are in place, rather than us supporting them because we have neglected them? our country, state spending on average three times more per person than for public schools. i cannot think of the dumber investment policy. we have to change it. lesson three. plan ahead. it was not raining when noah built the ark. tomorrow is today. children only have one childhood. they need to be healthy now. they need quality, early childhood health care. they need first grade schools with first-rate teachers, and they need to know that there is a good paying job after college in their future. we must plan ahead and resist this quick fix, for-profit driven culture. it has gotten us into trouble. lesson four. do not listen to the critics and naysayers. just do the job that needs to be done to educate our children. if you do not want to be criticized, do not say anything or do anything. stand up and fight for our children, all of them. lesson 5. for safety's sake, travel in pairs. better still, travel with your brothers and sisters and community leaders. we have got to turn back those who hijacked dr. king's words but subvert his call t poverty, excess of militarism, excessive individualism that is killing our children. particularly now, we must make sure that we end those massive tax giveaways to the richest 2% when 15.5 million children are languishing in poverty. lesson six. remember the ark was built by amateurs, but the titanic was built by professionals. use your citizen power. your vote. rescue us from that group of powerful but greedy individuals to jeopardize all of our lives for individual gain. feel your own power, use your own power. do not rely on experts. last lesson. build your future, build our children's future, our nation's future on high ground. let us leave our nation and world better than we found it, more just, more hopeful, more peaceful, more productive, more unified. this may be the first time that our children and grandchildren will be worse off than their parents and grandparents, unless we correct course with the urgency that you are witnessing today. let me end with a brief prayer. god, we have pushed so many of our children into the tumultuous sea of life. in the small and leaky boats without survival gear and compass. please forgive us and help our children to forgive us. and help us now to build that transforming movement, to give all of your children the anchors of faith and love, the rotor of hope, the sales of health and education, and the panels of family and community, to keep them safe and strong, when life's sea gets worse. >> marion wright edelman, speaking at the one nation working together rally in washington, d.c. we will come back to richard trumka of the afl-cio, and get some criticism of the rally from danny schechter. >> this is democracy now!, decracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are in washington for the one nation rally. colin wetted of gallaudet university, who is a student who is hard of hearing. after being introduced to rally organizer deepak bhargava, he delivered his speech through an interpreter. >> i am deaf, i was raised in a deaf community, and i go to get into it university. this call -- the school does not view this ability as a culture. i consider myself deaf, but not disabled. i will not rest until all disabled people can feel like i do. because they, too, are not disabled. with one nation working together, leading the way, we can accomplish that. commitment to education means making colleges affordable without having lots of debt. increased access to higher education by having decreased of portability's -- depending on the resources of loans. and making sure that people have equal access to affordable resources and high quality resources and public education throughout their life, from elementary school through college. >> labor unions were also one of the key organizers. among the speakers, richard trumka, president of the afl- cio. he is a former coal miner. >> hello, america. you look like one nation, one beautiful nation. i am so glad that you got to hear from the hard-working men and women who have come here from across the nation. there is nothing that we cannot do when we stand together, side by side, shoulder to shoulder. you see, there is no power greater than what you see around here today in our nation's capital. if you watch too much tv, you might think we are a nation full of hate, that we have turned against the values that have made our country great. but, no, that is not america. america is hereoday. america is freedom of religion. america gave us dr. king, president clinton, and their spirit lives in me and you. america is one nation, and we signify that nation. [applause] but never forget, behind the voices of fear and hatred are the forces of greed. the money powers that put us in the economic mess we are in today. so we have a lot of work to do to repair the damage that breed did to our country. brothers and sisters, we come together today because american needs jobs, good jobs, jobs that will support families, all families. jobs tt will give our young people opportunities, not obstacles. jobs that will allow people to retire with dignity. jobs that provide the means to support small businesses, like the one own mind and ortiz, who came all the way from weblog colorado to tell us we need an economy that works for web -- main street, so that small businesses can innovate and move forward. we are gathered here today to say that we believe in america, and it is time for america to believe in each and every one of us. [applause] it is going to take something big to get america growing again. if we are going to build our dreams, turn them into reality, then we have to be bold. we have to rebuild our schools, roads, bridges. we have to compete and win in the world economy with investment in world-class energy, high-speed rail, green technology, so that we can not only by climate change, but create good jobs. and we have to ensure working men and women have the freedom to make every job a good job, and by joining together in a union to bargain for a better life. [applause] that is the american dream. theromise that if you work hard, you can have a good life, earn a living wage, and a future for your children. that is what we can do, as a nation. brothers and sisters, i want you to make a promise today. promise that you will not let anyone divide us or turn us against each other. promise that you will make your voices heard for good jobs, justice, and education, today and on election day. because we believe in america, in this one nation. our best days are ahead, not behind us. it is time for you to stand together, fight together, and we will bring together, and we will not let anyone stand in our way. god bless you. >> richard trumka, head of the afl-cio, addressing the one nation rally. organizers estimated 175,000 people came out in front of the mall. we are joined now by an investigative film journalist, danny schechter. rally.ended saturday's you wrote an interesting piece on your blog. talk about the effectiveness of it, the context in labor protests are around the world. >> it was deja vu all over for me, as i was there when dr. king spoke. it was invigorating, a lot of inspirational speakers, appeals to get out the vote. but what was missing was one of two things. educating the audience. they had a television audience, speaking not only to themselves but to america. they missed an opportunity, i believe, to offer their analysis to the american people, w do not get it in the media, specifically, what wall street has been doing to our country. this was the week that all the big banks stopped for closing in 23 states because they had been illegally taking people's homes. that was not even mentioned. there was no appeal to these home owners. little appeal to unemployed and young people who have been unable to get jobs, which is a core constituency. very little offered about what to do about this, except for voting in november. these people who are supposedly trying to do the right thing, it is problematic. we know how badly they have done. even the democrats are saying, even if you do not like us, we are better than the other guys. where is the strategy, the plan for the future, the vision of how to bring these people together and keep them together? that was sort of missing. in a way, it became more of an event, a movie, and that was kind of disappointing in the end. what did we accomplish? i am not sure. >> as i spoke to people on the mall, i had a different sense from the people on the grass, and the people speaking by the lincoln memorial. it was about how terrible they were not to criticize the administration, -- careful they were not to criticize the administration. people, i think, on the mall, who came from all over -- more than 100,000 people -- were more critical than the message from the stage. >> even if they love president obama -- why larry summers, why the economic program that has failed, why not help for unemployed people? why did you go half way with the stimulus when so much more was needed? why the wars in afghanistan and iraq, the threat of war with iran, which is costing us trillions that should be available to invest in our economy? none of those questioned were being raised. it was as if there was an internal rate are it with every speaker. go so far but no further. that is why harry belafonte's speech was significant. he spoke from his heart his -- and his lifetime experiences. the other speakers were good and inspirational, but they did not cut very deep. those people watching from home, what were they coming away with? this is my frustration. i offer my film to the organizers and said, let's work it -- let's educate people to come and support this. michael moran has proposed to index of wall street criminals. >> the democrats will not take this on right now. this rally was not opposing the administration or democrats. >> you do not have to oppose them, you can kick them in the but a little bit. if there is pressure on the right and no pressure on the left, then nothing will be taken seriously. the administration feels like they can take people like us, largely, for granted. they do not need to be accountable for the people who work for them. it is not a question of being an opposition to obama. he is under attack from various quarters. there is nothing he n do to please any of them. he is a socialist, communist, he is a martian. the facts are immaterial. the people who want to see this administration push forward a progressive agenda have to do more than rally on the mall. they have to organize, build support for a program for change. that has been missing. >> there had been criticism of wall street in that way, not much discussion of the war. >> the challenges, contradictions -- >> although harry belafonte did talk about it. $33 billion that could pay for green jobs in the country. >> he mentioned the military budget, but did not really explain it. rhetoric -- our language, we assume when we use a buzz word, that people know what it means. i think you need to explain it. the media is not covering these issues thoroughly, and w have to educate the base, as well as motivate the base. >> i want to thank you for being with us, danny schechter. democracy now! is looking fo