Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20141015

Tested positive for ebola after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan. We will speak with the copresident of the countrys Largest Nurses Union, national saysurses united, who hospitals have failed to protect workers from the virus. Dallas nurses told them they had to use medical tape to secure openings in their garments, were read they were exposed as they. Ared for a patient protests continued in the southern mexican state of guerrero over the disappearance of 43 students who have been missing for more than two weeks following a Police Ambushed. They will move heaven and earth to find them. We are going to do whatever it takes to find them and we will not rest until we do. We will go to mexico. All that and more coming up. Democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The World Health Organization says 9000 people have now contracted ebola virus. Mostly in west africa with a death rate of 70 . On tuesday, assistant directed general bruce were estimated there could be 10,000 new cases in the coming month. It is 8009 hundred 14 cases is the number today. We will go over 9000 this week. This trend, the number of reported deaths, our 4447 as of this morning. We anticipate the number of cases occurring per week by the time will be somewhere between 5000 and 10,000 the week. It could be higher, could be lower. It will be somewhere in that ballpark. Second Texas Health Care worker has tested positive for ebola in the u. S. After treating the first person diagnosed with the disease here on u. S. Soil. Positiver follows a diagnosis of nina pham, he said to be in good condition. Both treated Thomas Duncan last week. Largec has identified a group of workers involved in his care who may be at risk. The nations Largest Nurses Union, National Nurses united, has accused hospitals of failing to protect workers from the virus. Tuesday, the cdc acknowledges shouldve reacted sooner to the duncan case, saying it could have prevented infections. They also announce the establishment of new units to respond to ebola cases. Today, we will establish a Cdc Ebola Response Team for any hospital anywhere in the country that has a confirmed case of ebola. We will put a team on the ground within hours with some of the world leading experts in how to take care of and protect Health Care Workers from the ebola infection. We will speak with the covice president of the Largest Nurses Union in the u. S. The United Nations continues to warn of a worsening crisis for iraqi civilians displaced by isis advances in iraq. A spokesperson said that 180,000 people had fled one town. After the capture of the town over the weekend, we estimate that 180,000 people have fled from that town. This is located just 180 kilometers from baghdad. The citys residents are mostly sunni but it was also home refuge to a large number of displaced people who fled there from other parts of and bar province. It is an absolute tragedy to see these people uprooted and the iraq that was once home to such people beingy of segregated and pushed away and lumped together. On tuesday, president obama fromith governor ministers various nations. Peeking at Andrews Air Force base, he said the defensive offensive against isis will be a long one. One thing that has emerged from discussions both before i came in during my visit here, is that this will be a longterm campaign. There are not which fixes involved. As with any military effort, there will be days of progress and there are going to be periods of setback, but our coalition is united behind this longterm effort. The Obama Administration says it continues to hold talks with turkey and hosting u. S. Troops in the fight against isis. Susan rice has said turkey would provide its military bases, a claim the turkish government then denied. The White House Press secretary said the talks are ongoing. This issue of military bases in turkey continues to be discussed tween american and turkish officials. At this point there is no formal agreement on that front . This is something that we can continue to discuss. Obama administration has pressured turkey to take a more active role against isis while turkey has requested a buffer zone along the border with syria. The Turkish Military says it acted in retaliation to pkk attacks. The strikes of the first flight, turkey against the pkk, since the truce was reached in 2012. The u. S. Supreme court has overturned key antichoice restrictions that have gutted Abortion Access in texas. A decision by a federal Appeals Court allowed hospitalstyle building requirements to go into effect, shuttering all but eight abortion facilities in texas, which previously had more than 40. Providers reported a massive spike in phone calls and wait times for abortions as women were faced with long travel times to the nearest provider. According to advocates, tuesdays rulings mean thatdays ruling means some locations will be able to open up. The center for reproductive rights said a federal Appeals Court has restored texas is controversial voter id law days after he was struck down. A judge overturned the law last week calling it an unconstitutional poll tax that discriminates against voters of color. On tuesday, a threejudge panel said texas could enforce the law because dropping it would cause confusion. The panel did not rule on whether the law should permanently stand. In hong kong, police in riot gear have launched a crackdown on prodemocracy activists who have been protesting for weeks to demand ridder political freedom. Police used rubber spray and batons arresting 45 people. The protests have been further galvanized by video footage from a local tv broadcaster that shows a group of Plainclothes Police dragging a man behind a building and then beating and kicking him. Hong kongs security chief says the officers have been temporarily removed from current duties. Protesters are vowing to defy the crackdown and continue their call for free elections without intervention from china. In nigeria, demonstrators mark six months and the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by boko haram. On tuesday, dozens of people with the bring back our Girls Campaign rally in the capital. Citizens and we had written the president that week ago, defying him that we were coming to see him, to inquire why our girls are not yet back. It is no longer about dates about what is going on, which we never get any way. There here today to demand immediate and urgent return of our girls. We are angry nigerians. It has taken too long. 183 days today. Sixmonth. An American Military contractor has been killed and another wounded in riyadh, saudi arabia. The two are employees of the subsidiary northrop grumman. The government says it has arrested a suspect who formerly worked with the to the ends. In washington, state Department Spokesperson jen percent the sack he has issued a travel advisory to americans in saudi arabia. We have to adjust our posture when incidences occur. We will take appropriate steps to ensure that all u. S. Mission personnel are safe. We typically issue our embassy is issuing a memo to u. S. Citizens. Says the busht administration concealed the discovery of chemical weapons in iraq that had been developed with u. S. Support in the 1990s and then denied medical care to the Wounded Soldiers involved. 5000troops secretly found chemical warheads, shells, or bombs after the 2003 invasion. All of the weaponry predated 1991, just a year after Saddam Hussein stopped eating a u. S. Ally and incipient of a which help to build his arsenal. At least 17 americans and six iraqi troops were wounded in their handling of the munitions in six separate incidences. The weapons existence was kept from the troops entering those areas and officials deny the victims the care they needed. One soldier talked about his Health Problems as a result of chemical exposure. Residual blisters, trouble breathing. I have a constant headache. I havent not had a headache since 2008. The only thing i can think of his politics. It does not jive with the story they wanted. In addition to raising new questions about the neglect of soldiers health and the bush administrations false pretext for going to war, the disclosure also carries implications for the ongoing crisis in iraq. The Islamic State now controls most of the territory where the chemical weapons were found. Sayissouri, Police Ballistic evidence shows a man fatally shot by police opened fire first. An offduty officer killed Vonderitt Myers after approaching a group that he was standing with on the street. Myer family insists he was unarmed, but only a sandwich. The missouri Highway Patrol says residue tests and ballistic evidence supports the officers claim that myers fired at least three times before the officers shot back. The killing has sparked new protests as demonstrators rally for justice two months after the Fatal Shooting of michael brown. A top labor leader and champion for Public Education in chicago has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Karen lewis, the president of the chicago teachers union, has led the struggle against School Closures and privatization of chicago culminating in a teachers strike that made National Headlines two years ago. Her medical condition will prevent her from running against chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel in next years mayoral elections, a move she had been strongly considering. A recent poll had placed lewis ahead of emmanuel by nine points. In a statement, a spokesperson said the 61yearold union leader has been a longtime advocate of Chicago Public schools and was held up by many as a National Figure in the fight against the privatization of public schools. She has come up against emanuel on numerous occasions, most notably in september 2012, during the future strikes. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. On juan gonzalez. Welcome to our listeners and viewers around the country and world. We begin by looking at the spread of ebola worldwide, and here in the u. S. On tuesday, the World Health Organization said nearly 9000 people have now contracted the virus, mostly in west africa, and now has a death rate of 70 . They estimated there could be up to 10,000 new cases per week in the coming months, up from a current 1000. This morning, authorities announced a second Health Care Worker at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital has tested positive for the disease after caring for patient Thomas Eric Duncan in dallas. What ithas identified calls a large group of other workers involved in duncans care who could be at risk. This comes as the countrys Largest Nurses Union, National Nurses united, say hospitals have failed to protect workers from the virus. In a Conference Call tuesday, the unions president said nurses at the dallas hospital described how they had to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments and were worried that their necks and heads were aposed as they cared for patient with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting. Burger outlined how the hospital lacked the proper protocol to handle ebola cases. When mr. Thomas eric duncan first came into the hospital, he arrived with a temperature that was tested with an elevated temperature but was sent home. On his return visit to the hospital, he was brought in by ambulance under suspicion from amongst his family he had ebola. Mr. Duncan was left for several hours not in isolation in an area where other patients were present. Subsequently, a Nurse Supervisor arrived and demanded that he be moved to an Isolation Unit. Yet, face resistance from other hospital authorities. Lab specimens from mr. Duncan were sent through the hospital to system without being specifically sealed and handdelivered. The result is that the entire to system, which all the lab saps specimens are sent, was potentially contaminated. There was no advance preparedness on what to do with the patient. There was no protocol, no system. The nurses were asked to call the Infectious Disease department. The Infectious Disease department did not have clear policies to provide either. Initial nurses who interacted with mr. Duncan wore generic gallons used in contact drop isolation front and back, three pairs of gloves with notetaking around the wrist, surgical masks 95 facee option of an n shield. Some supervisors said that even the n95 masks were not necessarily. That was National Nurses united copresident deborah burger. They conducted a survey of 2000 workers in 46 states and found more than 70 said they were not given adequate training about ebola. More than a third said their hospitals lacked supplies and face shields and fluidresistant gowns. Today the union has organized a National Telephone conference timefor 3 00 p. M. Eastern with more than 6400 nurses already registered to participate. Announcedday, the cdc it is setting up an Ebola Response team for hospitals with ebola patients. This is director Thomas Friedman. Bestarting today, we will establishing a Cdc Ebola Response Team for any hospital anywhere in the country that has a confirmed case of ebola. We will put a team on the ground within hours with some of the world leading experts in how to take care of and attacked Health Care Workers from ebola infection. We go to boston where we are joined by Karen Higgins, copresident of National Nurses united. She works as an intensive care unit nurse in boston. N, you are also covering this. Todays column in the new york we are not ready. I participated in the call that was held by National Nurses united late yesterday some of involveds who had been in the dallas hospital where duncan died. They were not identified because the union said they did not want any repercussions on them, and only communicated by email to the union members, but they participated in the phone call and there was an astounding litany of lapses at the hospital that these nurses claim. I am glad that we have Karen Higgins here, the copresident of National Nurses united. About could talk to us how the unions decision to have the press conference and to bring these front line caregivers, to have their voices heard in the National Debate and the press coverage of what is going on with ebola. Themthink we need to bring forward and im glad that they did. I know it was not easy for them to do it because across the country as we heard from dallas we are ready, we can take any patient that comes in. Then the fingerpointing that the nurse must have broken protocol in this is why it had been. No, you were not and are not prepared to take these patients. There is a higherlevel of what these patients require or care as far as protective equipment and training and we did not do it. The concern we have is, dallas hospital,eated in any and especially the vast majority of hospitals in this country who will continue to say they are ready and will put us into the same situation unless we take this on and make sure that everybody is trained in getting the best equipment we can possibly give them. After news emerged that nina pham had contracted ebola, Thomas Friedman said the transmission was the result of a breach in protocol. Occurrednot know what in the care of the index patient, the original patient in dallas. But at some point there was a breach in protocol, and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection. Friedman later apologized for suggesting the nurse was at fault. We have not heard anything from the doctors there. Karen higgins, can you respond . Isunfortunately, everybody trying to not respond, out of fear more than anything. He was wrong to make that statement. It is a system problem, but it is a system that will be a problem unless we do something more to give us a standard of practice. This can be contained. Atlanta contained it. They have not had a breach in any other protocols, no spread of disease. We know it can be done if it is done right. The problem is, as we are ready in every hospital, no they are not. Morenk you will hear even tonight when people are talking about it, a do not feel they are ready, do not have the equipment, and on top of it, i need to be trained. I dont need an email, i dont need a videotape or a memo. I need oneonone training and i need to know when we are removing and putting on this equipment, we are doing it safely, but also that i have the equipment that keeps me safe. That is not only for nurses but for all employees that need to have contact with a patient. Commentder if you could on some of the allegations from the nurses and what actually happened in the days when Thomas Eric Duncan was at the texas hospital. They talk about the fact that he came in an ambulance, the second time with his family, saying they believed he had ebola and was kept in the waiting room for hours, with other patients. Nursehen a supervisor said that he needed to be isolated, she met some pushback. They talked about people coming in and out of the Isolation Unit without proper protection. They mention the specimens for mr. Duncan were sent through the tube system of the hospital to the labs rather than being properly sealed and delivered handdelivered to the lab, which could contaminate the tube system of the hospital. Also, you mentioned the training. They say the only training that was offered to them prior to this was a voluntary training. It was largely just a seminar just like any other seminar that they are given at the hospital. The importance of these lapses in what now seems to be the spread of the virus to at least two Health Workers and maybe more. It was a perfect storm. The hospital says we are ready for infection. We are ready for infection, just not this kind of infection. Ebola, not ready for ready for the precautions that are needed to isolate these patients. Restricting, and we are angry. We have put everybody at risk when we do not do everything right. They did not do things right. They did not do the proper training, which is the biggest piece of it. If you train the nurses, Health Care Workers, not only to pinpoint that somebody has the disease, but that you can isolate them and put them on precautions and do everything , takingibly can precaution to take care of the patient, this would not have happened. We are hearing from nurses across the country that it would be the same scenario, that they are not doing enough training, that there is a level of Infectious Disease that we have always trained for, but not to this level. If we are going to see the possibility of another patient with ebola in another hospital, we need to be able to take care of that patient b on level that we have our normal training at. We need a standard of practice so that we know, from this point on, in every hospital, and not just accept the fact that they say we are prepared. We need to mandate they have a certain level of care, equipment that is the safest we can use. But also that we are invested in oneonone training, that we are doing it oneonone and we are repeating the training, that we are doing everything we possibly can not only to protect the patient, but to make sure this never happens again and then somebody else gets infected inside of a hospital because they were taking care of somebody. To turn to comments made by marla weston, the ceo of the National Nurses united. We know the process of putting on the protective equipment, taking off the protective equipment is really detailed and must be done rigorously each and every time. I think its important for us to understand exactly what happened. Did something go wrong, is the protocol need to be modified . Until we know what happened, it is hard to know how to fully protect themselves. Your response, Karen Higgins . People were waiting to hear what went on. Most nurses are not surprised at what went on, that they did not have the proper equipment, that there was no training. I appreciate cdc stepping up and saying they would bring people in if someone is diagnosed with ebola. But again, that is not enough. We need to be on top of it before that. Cdc can be there in a few hours but there is a few hours where someone needs to be picked up when there is a concern, then they need to be isolated. All of this should already be going into effect for cdc arrives. Then it would be helpful to have cdc help them progress from there. You still need to be prepared for someone coming in. Country,itals in the may be other than the atlanta and a few others, we are not nearly prepared to take on this issue. We need to step our game up and mandate that you do the right thing, you do what needs to be done and you provide equipment and education. We can isolate this. We know it can be done, we have seen it done in atlanta. We have seen it done in nebraska. Has treated a few ebola patients and have had no Health Care Workers come down with it and the workers are fine. We need everyone to make a commitment and for cdc to take a stand that we are following up on the same kind of protocols as far as equipment and the training. It is true. Taking it off and putting it on. What they recommend is not only having good equipment but also when theyse with them are dressing and undressing to make sure that they are safe. We have to go to great, but we will come back. Karen higgins is with the National Nurses united. She works in boston. Back in a minute. [ ] democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Although the rate of ebola infections have so done in some locations, others say it would be premature to read that as access and predictions are that there could be 10,000 new cases a week by december. S is we anticipate a number of cases occurring in that time to be somewhere between 1000 and 10,000 a week. It could be higher or lower but will be somewhere in the ballpark. Taking all the different pieces of the responses that are planned, everything from the Treatment Centers to the people deployments to the community engagements, trying to make sure we have the capacity in place by that time so that we can ensure 70 of cases can be properly ofaged or isolated and 70 burials can be done safely by then. For more we are joined in washington, d. C. By lawrence gostin. He is a faculty director at the still with us in boston is Karen Higgins, copresident of National Nurses united. Professor gostin, talk about the global scene right now and also what is happening in the United States. It seems we are paying much more attention to the global scene because of what is happening in the United States. I think we have to really remember that the main tragedy is going on in west africa. It was an avoidable tragedy, it is a humanitarian disaster. Just think about what the world will Health Organization said. To handle, in a rudimentary way, 70 of cases. That is its top level. And that is just unacceptable. We are now well over half a year into this epidemic, almost coming to nearly a year if you go back to the first in asked case indexed case. The International Community is only now mobilizing. I appreciate everything the United States has done, and they have stepped up. President obama sent the lee terry assets in, the rest of the world needs to do more, but nonetheless, we have let this and let thisontrol become a tragedy and are only now mobilizing it when it is on our front doorstep. We are better than that, we need to do better. So i would really like to see us if we want to be safe here in the United States, we have to attack this at its source in west africa and we need to try to get it epidemic under control first and foremost. About that response, all the publicity now about the u. S. Troops being sent to west africa build some Treatment Centers, but none of those are operational, only talking about maybe 1700 total bed capacity in the centers they are hoping to build. Do you think it is time to dispatch major ships to be offshore from these countries so they can handle a greater volume of patients as they are stricken . I do. You have to remember, folder the second time in history of the United Nations, the Un Security Council called a health threat. S was the first. So you have a Un Security Council mandate for all countries in the world with united dates, should be the european union, australia, canada all of our allies. This is an International Humanitarian and health crisis. It threatens the stability of the region politically, economically, and of course, human Health Matters most. Yes, we should be mobilizing much more. We shouldve have done it earlier, we should do it now. In korane a Specialist Team and issues like that. What do you think about the discussions, the airport that are setting up to see if people have temperatures. I was just listening to Congress Member sessions of texas who was saying that he wants to stop all flights coming in from west africa from the affected countries, letting u. S. Citizens come in but not anyone else. Idea, and such a bad in many ways, it is very meanspirited. First of all, it will not make the u. S. Safer, it will make us less safe. Here is why. First of all, if you cut flights, it means aid workers will find it difficult getting. O and from the affected region the countries themselves will experience economic hardship, commercial hardship. Food prices will go up. Ultimately, the epidemic will spin further out of control, will make these countries more the higher the reservoir of infections in west risk wethe greater the have here in the United States, canada, the european union. That is just basic math. If you have a lot of people infected in a part of the world and we live in a modern, globalized world, you cannot put a cellophane wrapper around the whole region and expect to keep germs out. It does not work that way. And so we think we are trying to save ourselves but actually we are putting ourselves at greater risk, and we are also doing something that is deeply against the americans. , which is exacerbating the hardships of people who are undergoing unbelievable suffering at the moment. I believe we are better than that. Thati hate about this is health is not a democrat or republican issue. It is not party politics. You do not play games with this. What we do is we send all of our assets that are available to help bring this under control. If we do that, it will help us at home. I also want to Say Something about Infection Control because we have been talking about there are two lessons that we can learn. Health workersat are always on the front lines of the greatest risk. We knew that with sars. It was all the Health Workers and greatest risk and now that is happening with ebola. And it is not just happening in the u. S. In west africa, they have lost several hundred doctors and nurses, and they can ill afford to do that. The other lesson we have learned is that we can do this. Not only in atlanta and other places in the United States, but doctors without borders, who are operating in her rent is conditions on the ground in west africa, have not had any infections there. If you have really good equipment, really good training, and you only put your best trained people at work with a systems approach, clear protocols, there is no reason for any Health Worker to become ill. Want to bring Sharon Higgins back into the conversation, copresident of National Nurses united. I wanted to ask you about the role of the cdc in this crisis. The executive director of your union, at yesterdays press conference, specifically raised the fact that the cdc has no control over these individual hospitals. Systemprivatize hospital under which we operate here in the u. S. , the cdc can only offer guidelines and it is up to individual hospitals whether they will enforce those guidelines, practice those guidelines, and the cdc said yesterday after your press conference, that they have no plans to investigate what happened at that is health presbyterian, that it was the responsibility of the local department of health. Unfortunately, i think she is right as far as what powers the cdc has. The interesting part is that when you are looking up any type of what you do for infections, the place that is is what cdcd to recommends. Cdc then make a recommendation, guidelines, and that it falls apart. What you do with it at the individual hospital every hospital is pretty much individual, that is where it starts to fall apart. Saying, if we are everyone is looking to cdc for direction, they need to come out with not only guidelines, but a standard of care, which everyone will be following. Then the followup will be with the Public Health apartments in the states to make sure that these hospitals are, in fact, doing this. The teaching has to be a huge part of this. One of the ways you learn about how we go from here is for hospitals to admit what they have done wrong. If you could describe the Conference Call you are on yesterday, who was on and listening but not speaking . I mentioned earlier, the workers were in dallas on the Conference Call where the Union Leaders were in oakland at their national headquarters. There are no nurses unions in dallas that represent the workers these are nonunionized workers who are exposed to the possibility of being fired because they are talking about the situation. As reporters asked questions, the nurses emailed their responses. And in the union read their responses to the reporters. This is because of the fear that many employees have, that they might be retaliated against for talking about these issues, talking about the lapses of their own institution. That is true. This hospital has been saying from day one of the protocols were there and everything was good, protocols were fine. And that you have the nurses and Health Care Workers come out and say, no, it was not. A lot of changing of information, not enough equipment, not the right quick it. I think they are absolutely right, their fear of being retaliated. This is the problem here they all say they are ready. We do not need another dallas in another state if another patient shows up. The issue ofin, these vaccines and the lack of investment in Public Health, something we are feeling the blowback on right now. Nih says they are now developing a vaccine. It sounds like this has been possible for a long time but private corporations this is usually their purview they knew there was not allowed to be made profitlies. This is why there were so few vaccines available. Can you talk about the , andtance of Public Health are vaccines possible in dealing with ebola . The problem is, most of our innovation is driven by the Power Private sector. From their point of view, ebola was not a predictable disease, and those that got it work too poor to pay for it. So there has been a lack of investment. Not only were there not enough doses of zmapp, but they were not even tested. Vaccines andy now other things going through clinical testing. We really just do not have those things on the ground. Want to make a quick comment we call ourselves the most advanced Health System in the world, but what do we mean by that . I think what we mean by that is that we have the best of the best of the world, but we also have a highly variable system. So many different hospitals, so many different emergency rooms, over 3500 local health authorities. We have got such different standards about what we can do. What we need to do, as karen said, is up our game, be more uniform, and have systems in place for the kind of equipment and training at every institution, so this does not happen again. Writingwashington post in response to the medical crisis, cuba is responding by sending 165 Health Workers to sierra leone, a disproportionately large number of people from a tiny island nation. Is cuba an example for the u. S. . Always sends a lot of Health Workers to humanitarian crises. I think we need to do more of that ourselves. I have to say this. Our military in when very few others have. A heck of need to do a lot more, but the rest of the world needs to do more. They have just been sitting back and letting this epidemic get out of control, even after Un Security Council. I would venture to say that i would like the Security Council to come back and pass a binding resolution that would actually set markers for the kinds of resources that are needed to bring this under control. If we do that, we will really show a seriousness of this. And i think we can do this. Larry gostin, thank you for being with us. Will link to details on the website about the National Nurses united Conference Call today at 3 00 p. M. Thousandsinted out, have signed up for this Conference Call from around the country. Nurse higgins, thank you for being with us. Karen higgins, copresident of the National Nurses united. When we come back, we go to mexico. What has happened to these cores of students, who we have not seen for weeks after a Police Ambush . Stay with us. [ ] in the southern mexican state of guerrero, protests continue over the disappearance of 43 students who have been missing for more than two weeks. The students are from a rural. Eachers college they had gone to the small city to gather funds when Police Ambushed their buses. Six were killed in the initial series of attacks. More than 20 police had been detained and accused of collaborating with a drug gang. Fears over the students fate have escalated following the discovery of 10 mass graves but the mexican attorney general said dna tests showed none of the 20th of august tested so far belong to the missing students. What i can say is that the first mass grave we found, the very first one from where we are already results, i can say the remains do not match the dna of the families of the missing students. The discovery of these mass graves confirm the level of danger of this group that operates in the region. On tuesday, authorities said the leader of the drug gang, which is suspected in the students disappearance, killed himself after a battle with police. Disappearance has sparked mass protests across mexico and around the world. Last week, parents of the victims traveled to mexico city where they joined tens of thousands calling for officials to work harder to find the students. The mother of a missing student said authorities would do more if it was their child missing. Andhey will move heaven earth to find them. This is what we will do. We will do what it takes to find them and will not rest until we do. Protesters have called for the student to be returned alive. In mexico city, students have launched a strike. Demonstrators said a government building on fire. I on sunday, police opened fire on a van dont with students traveling back from acapulco, hitting and injuring a German Exchange student. For more we are joined by two guests. First we go to mexico city where we are joined by a human rights activist, student organizer, law student at etaham. Talk about what has happened in mexico. Good morning. There are 43eard, students missing after shooting by local policeman. These students were politically involved in their communities, so that makes us think this is political. You were speaking about the drug dealers being involved in this, and that is where we would like to intervene in the discussion. We think this is more complicated. You have to understand the state of the guerrero, how there are guerrillas on the one side and paramilitary people, like civilians, trained and organized by the military, also involved in one ends up being the government in these places. It is really complicated what happened. Andssume this is political we want these students to appear again. Can you talk about these rural schools and the conflicts they often have with local authorities, the history of conflicts with some of them . This school in particular, rural teachers colleges, where students come from peasant families and villagers from around the area, rather poor people who go here to be teachers because it gives them a stable job opportunity. These are kids who are good at school and want to teach their communities. Most of them are also taught as bilingual indigenous and spanish teachers, which is interesting. Are politically organize and have been so for many years. Camef the main leaders from this school. Since then, they have been really organized. There is a big federation of these schools who claim they are socialists. They do extreme measures in the way that they do politics. They have been pushed to that because they come from really difficult communities. The government is constantly trying to criminalize them, constantly trying to take away the funds from these schools. In 2011, to schools from this school were murdered by policeman. The students, their reaction is to fight back somehow and also to teach in their schools political knowledge. Not only do they become teachers but also social fighters. In addition to malaria, we ,re joined by Tanalis Padilla sociology professor at dartmouth college. She is a visiting professor from london. She is currently writing a book called rural resistance in the land of zapata. Can you put this in a larger context for us, professor . Yes, thank you. The political, social history of these schools is significant for 20th century mexico. They stem from the social reforms implemented in the 19 dirtys that resulted from the revolution that took place from 1910 to 1920, and was one of the few avenues where peasants could have an education. In one sense, it was validating the agrarian experience because at these schools, students were encouraged to cultivate the land and have all sorts of cooperative projects, while at the same time receiving an education. So for decades, these schools have fought to preserve the spirit of these social reforms. After the 1930s, they have been, as the larry noted, either abandoned or outwardly attack. The extent they are radical comes up political organizing, it must be understood to the extent under which the state has abandoned its commitment to education, which under the constitution it is supposed to have. This constitutes part of that larger social program of Public Education and commitment to the countryside. The question of the proliferation of these drug cartels and gangs in not only the north of mexico but in other rural areas in mexico, the impact that has had on conflicts with students . Thesenk these last latest attacks, basically are the logical combination of, on the one hand, criminalization of these schools in which students are constantly seen not as students but a clinical agitators. That is the best case. Sometimes they are just seen as kids who want to destroy public property and sabotage social order. That is the way they are portrayed in the media. Ae fact that this creates narrative under which they can be attacked under impunity, whether it is the government or criminal organizations. This particular attack reflects the logical combination of the decades of criminalization of these cools and estimate is situation in which the current government it is hard to tell where the state begins in drug cartels and. The role of police . The role of police is significant. Historically, when students mount any sort of social mobilization here, to just demand simple things like food for the schools, an increase in scholarships, protection of infrastructure, they are instantly seen as criminals and the police is charged with attacking them. This often involves attacking them to contain them. In this particular mobilization, it is significant to see it was the police who first shot at them, who first detained these students. And then it looks like handed them over to a criminal organization. Do you believe the students are still alive . It is very hard to tell, honestly. The fact that dna showed that they were not those in these mass graves, to a certain extent, gives us hope. On the other hand, the sheer amount of days that have passed and not turning up, to me, points to a bit of a tragic end. Not to mention, in the context of this, this