Is anyone here a member of QAnon?
I mean, if you are, I-- No, I just-- I was--
'Cause I was gonna ask you about this-this story
that's-that's blowing up today.
Hundreds of QAnon supporters showed up to the place where
JFK was assassinated, because they believe that JFK Jr.
is gonna show up, like, from the dead,
and announce that Trump is now president.
And the people actually came there, and they were like,
"We're ready and we're waiting."
And, like, everyone online was roasting them, were like,
"This is trash. This is stupid."
I-I-- Actually, I watched that and I was like,
"I-I think I want to join QAnon.
Not for, like, the things they believe in,
but just for, like, the communal aspect,
it seems like, you know?
They get people out. Everyone's hanging around together,
you know. It must be, like, a cool place
to meet very interesting people.
I'm sure there's, like, very, very interesting people
you could meet there, you know.
Also, can we all agree on something:
if a dead person comes back from the dead--
like, if anyone comes back from the dead
and they say anything, we have to, like, agree with it.
Like, if someone comes back from the dead and they say,
"Trump is president" or anyone's president,
we have to go with them because they came back from the dead.
It's not in the Constitution, but it should be.
like, I don't know about you guys,
I'm going with the dead person.
Do you know what I mean?
That's even, like, a thing, like, from the Bible.
Jesus was alive, people were like, "Eh."
Then he came back from the dead. Until that day
we were all like, "Yo, yo, yo, yo, my man."
Whatever that guy says.
If you come back-- 'Cause anyone can, like, tell you shit.
If someone comes back from the dead...
Tupac comes back now-- anything he says, I'm doing it.
-♪ ♪ -ANNOUNCER: Coming to you from the heart
of Times Square in New York City, the only city in America,
it's The Daily Show.
Tonight: you're all out of order,
T-Swift is shifting elections,
and Vanessa Nakate.
This is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Hey! What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to The Daily Show. I am Trevor Noah.
Let's jump straight into today's headlines.
♪ ♪
We kick things off with abortion--
ah, a great topic for any first date.
Last May, Texas tried to ban abortion in a new way.
They didn't outlaw it, but they made it possible
to sue anybody who gave or helped someone
get an abortion, right?
And then, if you win, you would get at least $10,000.
So, for example, if I drove someone
to an abortion clinic in Texas, anybody can sue me for $10,000,
Anybody on earth-- you, my seventh-grade girlfriend,
Brad Pitt-- anybody.
Snitches get riches.
And the reason Texas structured the law this way
is so that the Supreme Court couldn't overturn it.
But yesterday, the Supreme Court looked at this case anyway,
and they didn't sound too happy with Texas
getting cute like this.
NEWSWOMAN: Today, as protestors rallied
outside the Supreme Court, inside, for the first time,
a majority of justices signaled
they are not comfortable with the new Texas law.
Conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett
today questioned whether that loophole should be closed.
NEWSWOMAN 2: Kavanaugh theorized that a left-leaning state
could offer a one million-dollar bounty against
those who sell an assault rifle, like an AR-15,
then claim it wasn't using state power because
only private parties could bring the suits.
Uh-oh. Looks like the conservative justices
are gonna have to choose what they care more about:
guns or fetuses?
(sharp inhale)
This is tough.
That is, unless--
What if women gave birth...
to guns?! That's it!
We just make women give birth to guns!
Then everybody wins!
I will say, this really shows you
how bullshit this law is, right?
Because banning abortion has been the goal for conservatives
for over, what, four decades now?
But even they aren't willing to do it like this.
Like, it would be like a lonely guy
finally losing his virginity,
but only because he fell into the gorilla pit at the zoo.
It's not what he wanted. It's what he wanted,
but not what he wanted.
And the justices are right.
This law could lead to a future where everyone
is just suing each other all the time.
And let's be honest-- there are already too many lawsuits
in America.
I mean, America had to make Jerry Springer a judge.
Yeah, Jerry Springer.
He has a court show now. Yeah, they were like,
"Who's that guy who used, uh,
"to have conjoined twins slap each other on TV?
"Yeah, give him a robe. He's a judge now.
We need more judges. We need more judges."
All right, but let's move on to a story about cryptocurrency.
You know, it's like if money got into vaping.
Everyone has heard of Bitcoin. Of course.
But did you know that there are thousands of other digital coins
out there?
Why?
Because anyone can make a cryptocurrency.
You, my seventh grade girlfriend,
Brad Pitt-- anybody.
All you need is a computer
and the willingness to bore your friends to death at parties.
Anyway, the other day,
an exciting new cryptocurrency came out called Squid
that-that the creator said was inspired by Squid Game,
which is another thing that people do.
They give their money a name based on a TV show or a meme,
and then people who like that thing buy the coin,
which, let's be honest, is the stupidest way
to invest in something.
Because what if the thing that you're a fan of
becomes unpopular?
I mean, trust me,
that's how I got stuck with $10,000 worth of Cuomo Coin,
and now I can't touch it.
But so many people wanted Squid coins
that the price of each coin shot up to nearly $3,000,
which is when all the people selling it
took all that money and disappeared.
That Squid Game cryptocurrency we've been talking about
on the program, looks like it was part of a scam.
What happened is called a rug pull.
The coin's creators, they just abandoned the project
by exchanging the coin for cash.
They walked away with $3.3 million,
or every dollar ever invested in Squid coin.
They left 40,000 investors holding the bag
after the crash.
It was a scam. Case closed.
Oh, man, I feel bad for these people.
I mean, not-not too bad,
because did they not see the show?
Were these people like, "Wow!
"These nice Squid Games people are offering me easy money!
What could go wrong?"
I mean, this is one advantage that real money has
over crypto money, because the government
can't just cash out and leave.
You know? You'll never see Biden hopping on Air Force One, like,
"Ha-ha, I converted all the dollars to yen.
"Sayonara, Jack.
"Come on. Let's get out of here, man.
I did a little malarkey. Ha."
If you want to invest your money smartly,
let me give you some advice.
What you need to do is go to a bar near Wall Street
at around 5:00,
hide in the bathroom
and then you see what professional investors
are saying.
That's how I ended up investing
in a little thing called cocaine.
Made a lot of money doing that.
All right, and, finally, let's talk about space travel.
One day, it'll be as glamorous and romantic
as it is in science fiction.
We'll fly past stars in beautiful ships
and fight with laser swords
and make out with our sisters.
But we didn't know that she was our sister at the time,
which makes it all right.
But, right now, that future is light-years away.
NEWSWOMAN: SpaceX is faced with another engineering problem.
This time, in the bathroom.
A leaky toilet is the latest issue
on board the SpaceX Dragon capsule,
which means everyone on board
won't have a toilet during their journey.
The four astronauts will have to rely on backup undergarments.
I think they mean diapers.
Officials did not say how long the crew
would be without an inoperable toilet.
You know, it's pretty humbling that,
no matter what technological advances we come up with,
we've still got to deal with our poop.
Which, let's be honest, is gonna be really embarrassing
if we ever meet aliens.
"Greetings, earthling.
"Would you like to know the mysteries of the u...
(sniffing)
"I'm-I'm sorry, did...
did you just defecate in your pants?"
"Yeah, man, sorry about that, dude.
"It was a really long flight.
"And I'm wearing diapers though, so it's cool.
Tell me about those secrets."
"You know what? We just remembered
"we have a thing in another galaxy.
"See you around, maybe.
Don't come back here."
But, you know, when we think about it,
what is so embarrassing about diapers? Huh?
I... Like, I honestly think that diapers are underrated.
Like, if diapers didn't already exist,
and someone introduced them now
as a hot new technology, in 2021, be honest.
People would be excited about them.
Guys, what if I told you, you never had to worry
about finding a bathroom ever again,
because you would always be carrying one with you?
Huh? You'd make a killing on Shark Tank.
Barbara, I know you take dumps, so...
All right, that's all the time we have for the headlines.
Let's move on to our main story.
Today is election day in America,
and there are local races all around the country.
New York city is electing a new mayor,
Minneapolis is voting on whether to remake its police force,
Hollywood is voting on whether Kim
and Pete Davidson should be a thing.
But right now, the political world is watching
the governors' race in Virginia,
where the Democrat, Terry McAuliffe,
is running neck-and-neck with Republican Glenn Youngkin.
And Virginia has been a pretty solid blue state for years now,
which means that if Democrats lose,
they might have to rethink their strategy
of promising a lot of popular services
and then not delivering on any of them.
But this year, there's one unexpected voting bloc
in Virginia that could decide the entire race.
And Desi Lydic has more.
LYDIC: Covering the news is exhilarating.
You travel the country, meet interesting people,
and find real stories.
But then one day, you realize
it's a (bleep) Tuesday in November again.
Well, it's election day again.
(groaning)
Got it.
It's election day again 'cause it's...
I can't.
It's election day again.
(retching)
(bleep) you, Virginia!
-(yelling) -As a journalist, I'm honored
to be covering this sacred process.
Oh. (bleep)
Again, I feel super chill about it.
I'm good.
It's election day again,
and we've got another close race on our hands.
So you better start clenching those butt cheeks.
Early voting's already underway
in the Virginia gubernatorial race,
with the latest polling showing Democratic governor
Terry McAuliffe effectively in a dead heat.
NEWSWOMAN: Politico writing,
"If Terry McAuliffe doesn't pull out a win,
"Democrats are privately predicting a collapse
on Capitol Hill."
LYDIC: Wait. Virginia could go red?
For a state that went blue
by 450,000 votes in the last election,
this was a story worth keeping down the vomit.
I sat down with Geoffrey Skelley from FiveThirtyEight
to help me make sense of this.
Sorry about the mess. Elections, am I right?
Why is this race, in particular, so close?
-Isn't Virginia blue? -Yeah.
So, Virginia is... has been democratic leaning
over the last few years, uh,
but President Biden is now, uh, somewhat unpopular.
And I think voters are responding to that.
And so the electoral environment is better for Republicans.
So they've got a close race in Virginia.
Who do you think will actually decide this race?
Young voters are really important,
uh, because they are basically the Democratic-leaning group.
But one little interesting thing McAuliffe has done
is run campaign ads attacking Glenn Youngkin,
because he was CEO of The Carlyle Group,
which was involved in the purchase
of Taylor Swift's master recordings.
And so they've been using this to try to get young people
to pay attention to the race because there are a lot
of young people out there-- you know, 18 to 34-year-olds--
who really like Taylor Swift.
NEWSWOMAN: Virginia Democrat candidate for governor,
Terry McAuliffe, recruiting Taylor Swift fans.
McAuliffe reportedly linking his opponent
to music executive Scooter Braun,
who infamously bought Swift's
master recordings back in 2019.
After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright,
my entire catalogue was sold
to Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings
in a deal that I'm told was funded by The Carlyle Group.
NEWSMAN: One of the targeted ads reading,
"Did you know that Republican candidate for governor
Glenn Youngkin helped buy Taylor Swift's masters
out from under her?"
You got to be shitting me.
Taylor Swift fans vote?
I think that's what the McAuliffe campaign is-is hoping.
If the Swifties are backing McAuliffe,
what group of fans are backing Youngkin?
Chet Hanks fans? Chet Heads?
Well, we don't have any polling
on-on different, you know, fan groups
of-of musical artists.
Thought you were FiveThirtyEight.
-What the (bleep)? -Yeah, it's...
It's a real... It's a real niche...
Could we be underestimating the Swifties?
I think I'd be careful
about giving them too much weight,
but there are a lot of young people
who like Taylor Swift.
Uh, we know that's true.
LYDIC: Could Taylor Swift fans be the key to the Virginia race?
To find out, I had to dive deep into their fandom,
no matter how many of her albums I had to buy
on the show's credit card.
♪ ♪
Oh, sorry.
This just happened to me without my approval or consent.
Shame on him.
Wow! Wow!
Finally, after becoming fluent in all things Taylor,
I gathered a group of her fans in Virginia
to see how angry they were with candidate Youngkin.
Are you all true fans? Are you true Swifties?
Did you buy signed Fearless albums?
Taylor version?
I actually do have it, and I can pull it up.
I also have every single Taylor record
on vinyl right next to me if we want to go that far.
Yeah. The two most important dates in November
is November 2nd, which is Election Day,
and November 12th, which is Red.
SALMA: Yeah, I'm taking off work for Election Day
just in case the lines are too long.
Are you also taking off work
for Taylor's release of Red?
Oh, 100%. I need to get through all the emotions
of all the songs on that album.
I'm taking off work, and my therapist
is not getting the day off.
LYDIC: While I respect this generation's
clear dedication to mental health,
could this new base of voters
actually tip the scales in Virginia?
I'm originally from Texas,
and the last three years in college, I voted in Texas.
But I just knew that I couldn't, um, just sit by
and watch as Youngkin took Virginia.
And so that's when I decided to change my voter registration.
Wow. Okay, so, you just changed your registration.
This is dedication.
I was in a weird college era, as well,
where I was kind of voting in my home state,
uh, but now I am voting in Virginia
because of this issue.
LYDIC: I couldn't help but pity these young girls.
There are so many important issues,
but all they care about
is Taylor Swift's master recordings.
It's not really about the masters,
but, I mean, just a couple days ago,
Youngkin came out and said, you know, he loves everyone,
and when asked if that includes, uh, LGBTQ people,
he said no.
Are there other issues that you care about?
I'm very passionate about gun violence prevention.
Climate change is going to be the biggest issue of our time,
so those policies are super important.
I'm an environmental engineer, so this is life-changing.
What would you say to boomers like my Aunt Sheila
who say 14-year-old girls should stay out of politics
and stop stealing my sleeping pills, Desi?
I think that's such a weird stereotype
of Taylor Swift fans because we're not 14 anymore.
We are adults. We pay taxes, and we vote.
Yeah, do you want to see my thesis paper
about congressional legislation? 'Cause I can show you that.
Don't underestimate Swifties. (chuckles)
All right. Take it easy, Molly. Geez.
I don't want any snake comments on my Insta.
Yes, they are fans of Taylor Swift,
and yes, they are in their 20s.
Maybe they can make a difference in this upcoming election.
No matter what happens,
at least now I'll have some great music to cry to
just in time for next election Tuesday.
Thank you so much for that, Desi.
All right, when we come back,
The Daily Show will be on trial.
You don't want to miss it.
Welcome back to The Daily Show.
There are a lot of major court cases happening right now.
And you know what, we decided
that we're gonna take them to trial
in our brand-new segment Court Court.
♪ ♪
Order! Order in the court.
I call this court session to, uh... session.
Counselors Desi Lydic and Roy Wood Jr.,
are you ready to present your arguments?
Yes, your honor. I look forward to
a rigorous debate that will make my opposing counsel
look like the little bitch he is.
Uh, let the record show, your honor,
that I'm honored-- I'm honored to appear before this court.
And also they keyed her car in the parking lot.
-Yeah. -Excellent!
Our first case is about the rioters who stormed the Capitol
on January 6.
Some of them are going on trial right now, and they have
interesting ideas about who should be representing them.
NEWSMAN: At least five people charged in the riot
at the U.S. Capitol have chosen to defend themselves in court.
In doing so, they're brushing aside federal judges'
repeated warnings about the risks
of trying to navigate their high-stakes cases
without a lawyer.
NEWSMAN 2: While representing himself in a bond hearing,
a January 6 riot defendant named Brandon Fellows
admitted to two more felonies,
strengthening the case against him.
Alan Hostetter, accused of being affiliated
with the Three Percenters
facing 20 years in prison on just the conspiracy charge,
wants to be his own lawyer.
They're gonna have to see it themselves-- yeah,
the election was stolen, the government was overthrown,
and Alan was-was right about COVID, the lockdowns,
the masking, the vaccines, so...
case closed. Sorry, folks.
Wow, riveting testimony.
That is the most stirring self-defense
a man has ever recorded in his mom's basement.
Counselors, should the Capitol rioters represent themselves?
Make your case.
Of course they should, your honor.
American citizens have every right to defend themselves.
I myself have gotten out of three parking tickets
using the classic "waterworks defense."
It's where you pee yourself and they let you go.
Not to mention, by not getting lawyers,
they're sparing us from catching COVID.
Because, let's be honest-- these guys
don't believe in vaccines. Some of them
-don't even believe in haircuts. -WOOD: Hell no.
Hell no. Your Honor,
they shouldn't be defending themselves.
Look, representing yourself is a terrible, terrible idea.
Especially-- especially if we're talking about these guys.
Okay? That one guy admitted to two extra felonies,
Two extra felonies!
What does he think? He think he some sort of loyalty program,
where you do enough felonies and then the next one's free?
These people are dumber than people who think
they can do their own home repairs.
You think you can grout your own backsplash--
you think you can do it--
but, six hours later, your kitchen is flooded
and your child is grouted to the ceiling
-and child services is... -All right, all right,
all right, all right.
No children on the ceiling.
I'm ready to rule.
The court finds
that the rioters...
should not represent themselves in court.
-Damn it. -Yes. Right.
They will be represented instead by Roy.
Ha-ha. Yes.
Wait, what? Huh?
Yep. That's it. All right, all right.
Let's hear our next case.
The criminal fraud trial resumes today
for Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
NEWSWOMAN: She's accused of lying to investors
about her medical testing company,
saying that its blood testing devices could identify diseases
and that she was making hundreds of millions of dollars.
A third juror, Jill, has now been dismissed
from the Elizabeth Holmes trial
after being caught playing sudoku during testimony.
A court transcript revealed
that the juror had been playing sudoku
for at least seven days during testimony.
When the judge questioned the juror,
they confirmed they were playing the game
but were still, they say, listening the entire time.
Holmes' trial now seven weeks in
and is now down to two alternates.
A juror playing sudoku?
That would never happen in my courtroom!
Because we...
give out Nintendo Switches.
Mario sent me a-a case of these
to thank me for letting him off
for stomping on all those ducks.
Counselors, should jurors be allowed to play sudoku
during a trial?
No, Your Honor.
It's not only unfair to the defendant--
it's incredibly rude to the lawyers.
We practice our speeches so hard.
When to make our voices loud!
And when to make our voices soft for dramatic effect.
Give us the attention we deserve.
I didn't crash that children's theater camp last summer
for nothing. Not to mention,
where does it end?
One juror plays sudoku,
another one starts reading, then knitting.
One of 'em pops an edible. They won't share,
even though I can see that they have a whole bag.
Now I'm in a fistfight with the juror
while the defendant is sneaking away.
In conclusion,
share your weed.
WOOD: I disagree, Your Honor.
I disagree.
Sudoku puzzles keep your brain strong and agile.
I want a guy in my jury who plays Sudoku.
He can do that Beautiful Mind thing
where he sees all the connections
and discovers who the real killer is.
And once we know who the real killer is,
we get to go home and watch Insecure.
I did that loud-soft thing you did there.
-Stole that. -(mutters)
-(video game beeping, chiming) -LYDIC: What, um...?
What is your decision, Your Honor? (clears throat)
Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Death penalty, death penalty.
Hold on. Let me just save this.
Okay, our next case is an international story
that involves three things
I never thought I'd say in a sentence--
Richard Gere, Italian foreign minister, kidnapping.
Actor Richard Gere is among the witnesses listed
in a trial involving Italy's former interior minister.
Matteo Salvini is accused of kidnapping 147 migrants
in 2019 after he denied their ship permission
to disembark in Italy.
Mr. Gere actually went on to the ship
when it was being held off the coast of Lampedusa.
It was there for 19 days under incredibly difficult conditions,
and he gave... brought food and water
to the... to the people who were on the ship.
(translated): Being put on trial
for just doing my duty is surreal.
I'm sorry for that.
Richard Gere will come.
Now you tell me how serious is a trial
where Richard Gere comes from Hollywood
to testify on how bad I am?
Well, now, this court case
represents two intriguing questions.
Should celebrities be involved in foreign legal matters?
And, man, what's Richard Gere been up to?
Richard Gere belongs in that courtroom.
Not just because he might have been witness
to migrant kidnapping, but because he played a lawyer
in both Primal Fear and Chicago.
He is qualified to practice law
and to be doing it while tap dancing.
-No way, no way. -Yes.
Every minute Richard Gere is overseas dealing with this case
is another minute of him not making movies.
I've been waiting 20 years
for a sequel to The Runaway Bride.
The world deserves to know if she ran away again.
People do not want to see a Runaway Bride sequel.
-They want to see a Pretty Woman sequel. -Hell, no.
-No, that's... -First... first, Runaway Bride,
-then Pretty Woman. -(gavel bangs)
-Runaway Bride first. -No. -Silence!
-First. -Silence! -Pretty Woman.
I said "Silence." If I say it again,
you know where this gavel goes.
-Yeah. -NOAH: We'll compromise, people.
I sentence Richard Gere
to make a movie that's a sequel to both.
And I don't know how it'll work.
Maybe there's a time machine.
But we'll let them figure it out. Next case!
NEWSWOMAN: A 96-year-old woman who went on the lam
to avoid prosecution for alleged Nazi war crimes
appeared in a German court.
Irmgard Furchner was brought into the courtroom
in a wheelchair with her face and head covered.
The trial will be held in an adolescent court
because of her age at the time the alleged crimes occurred.
Last month, Furchner was a no-show
on the day court proceedings against her were to begin.
Reports say she fled her retirement home
and was a fugitive for several hours
before authorities caught up with her in Hamburg.
Well, that is peculiar.
How did a 96-year-old woman escape from the authorities?
I mean, she's easy enough to catch.
She's obviously the car driving 15 miles an hour
on the wrong side of the road.
(chuckles) But now that she has been caught again,
the question is should she be taken to trial?
-Desi? -Yes, Your Honor. Nazis are bad.
Okay. Roy, what is your defense of Nazis?
-(whispers): Yeah, what's your... -What?
Why do I got to defend Nazis?
I don't... I don't want to do that.
-You have to 'cause-'cause I went first. -What?
-I don't have to do... -Yeah, I think you do. -NOAH: Roy. Roy.
-LYDIC: You got to do it. -It's all right.
Everyone understands you're just a lawyer.
-Devil's advocate. -Yeah.
Okay. Well, I...
You could say she was old and...
-NOAH: Overruled, Roy! -(gavel bangs)
Nazis are bad.
-Wow. -And you should be ashamed of yourself.
You make me sick.
NOAH: Desi wins and gets today's jury prize,
-a free book of sudoku puzzles. -Yes!
NOAH: That's all the time we got for court cases today.
Join us next time on Court Court.
But not you, Roy! You're banned for life.
You leave your Nintendo Switch
-at the door. -Come on, dawg, not my Switch.
-Don't take the Nintendo Switch. -LYDIC: That's right.
NOAH: No Switch for you.
-Great job, Desi. -Come on, man.
NOAH: Can't believe you would defend
-a Nazi. -Oh, all right. That's fine.
♪ ♪
Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight
is Ugandan climate activist and founder
of the Rise Up movement, Vanessa Nakate.
She's here to talk about her new memoir and why Africa
and other countries in the global south
should be at the center of the climate conversation.
Vanessa Nakate, thank you very much for taking the time today.
-You're welcome. -Um,
it's really great to have you on the show, you know,
because I feel like in the past few years,
you have come up the ranks,
and you-you have risen to become one of
the-the most, um, outspoken activists for climate change
around the world, you know.
And-and you've been an activist who has proudly been campaigning
not just for the world but also for a continent that is often
overlooked, and that is, of course, the African continent.
And you were inspired by Greta Thunberg, I believe.
But there's no denying, Greta comes from
a very different world in that, like, she lives
in a world of free speech.
She lives in a place where you can say whatever you want.
You know, and going up against the government
isn't... isn't anything that could ever get you into trouble.
You know? You're in Uganda. As a fellow African,
I know what it's like to be in a place
where you have to be respectful even in your activism
because if you're not careful, things may not go well for you.
So what was that like for you?
It hasn't really been very easy.
And when I started activism, I knew very well
how hard it was to get permits to organize strikes,
and in countries like mine, education is really prioritized.
From when we are children, we are told,
um, education is the key to success.
So, many students understand how important it is
for them to be in school and not skip school
and go for a climate strike.
So these are some of the things that, um,
have really hindered us from organizing big strikes.
However, that hasn't stopped us from doing activism.
We've been going to these schools
and reaching students within the schools
so that we can try to, you know, keep advocating
and demanding for climate justice,
even though we can't go out on the streets easily.
You have found, um, I think, really effective ways
to get a message out there.
Um, you are now on the cover of Time magazine.
I mean, congratulations.
You know, what did it feel like being on the cover
of Time magazine, you know, as a climate activist?
And then, number two, what do you hope to achieve
with-with some of the-the fame that comes with that status?
I was really surprised, um,
to find myself on the Time cover.
And I would never imagine it in my life
or even dreams. So it's not like it was a dream come true.
No, it wasn't a dream.
So I never really thought of it.
It helps gives me a platform and just reach more people
to keep talk about-- to keep talking about the same thing
that I've been talking about all this time--
about the climate realities of the people in my country,
Uganda, and the people across the African continent.
For people to always know that,
while Africa is on the front lines of the climate crisis,
it is one of the least emitters of CO2 emissions
of all continents, except for Antarctica.
It's funny you talk about emissions.
Africa emits less than all these other countries
in the conversation, but the conversation seems to be focused
on, you know, predominantly European countries
or-or Western nations.
I feel like you have had that experience
on a personal level as well.
Multiple times, you have gone to an event to speak,
to represent the continent,
to-to talk about climate change,
and you have been cropped out of the photo
that talks about the event.
You-you talk about that in your book, by the way.
And I would love to know wh-what you think that is
and how you've responded to that.
Well, um, I think that is the horrible reality
of the climate crisis.
Africa is responsible for only 3% of global emissions.
While we are on the front lines of the climate crisis,
we are not on the front pages of the world's newspapers.
But we are seeing continuous underrepresentation of activists
from the most affected areas.
Even those who are able to be at these, you know, conferences
-Mm-hmm. -...or press conferences,
like my personal experience,
will still face erasure, you know,
of being in those spaces.
You know, I think that, you know, we won't be able
to have climate justice if everyone is not included.
Climate justice is only justice
if every community, if every voice is listened to,
is amplified, especially people from the most affected areas.
There is no climate justice without racial justice.
And that is a conversation very many people don't want to have.
Recently, um, the president of Uganda, Museveni,
wrote a scathing op-ed,
you know, really indicting the West
in how it talks about climate change.
Now, his conclusion is one that I don't know
that you would or wouldn't agree with.
But he said, "To say to developing nations,
"especially in Africa, that they need to step away
"from fossil fuels, is to basically to condemn them
to a constant cycle of poverty."
As a climate activist who has programs where you go, you know,
and try and get solar panels and cleaner cooking methods
into schools or homes in Uganda,
what would your response be to that?
And what do you think an added conversation
to this whole dialogue could be?
Um, when it comes to this issue,
I understand when presidents like mine,
or presidents from developing countries, you know,
talk about things like this.
Because the global north developed
and became rich at the expense of very many communities,
while ex... uh, extracting fossil fuels,
like oil, like coal, like gas.
And we see how wealthy these nations are.
So for many people in developing countries,
coal or the discovery of coal or oil and gas
-in their countries means, like, a door to wealth. -Right.
That's why there is a huge responsibility
on developed countries to provide climate finance
for developing countries
to easily transition to renewable energy,
to easily transition to, you know, more sustainable cities.
But even the promised climate finance
is going to be delayed until 2023,
which is unfair, which is so disappointing
for communities that are on the front lines.
And if we are to get this climate finance,
we want it in form of grants, not loans,
because we don't want more debt to be added
on already existing debt.
Many parts of Africa have people who are saying,
"Look, I don't care about 50 years from now
because tomorrow isn't even promised to me."
So, when you're in your communities
and when you're talking to some of these people,
convincing them of-of not going into oil
or convincing them of not going into coal,
what do you find is a conversation
that-that helps them understand?
Um, I think that what has really worked,
uh, for some of the people or communities
that we've reached out to is helping them understand
the intersection of climate change
and, you know, the daily life.
For people to understand that climate change
is more than weather. It's more than statistics.
It's more than data. It's about the people.
We talk about 1.5,
but not everyone understands what 1.5 degrees is.
-Right. -But people will understand
when you say that this is an issue
that is going to affect the food.
Tomorrow, you may not have access to food
or today, you may not have access to food
because of this disaster.
You may not be able to access water
because of this disaster.
So, it's more helping people understand that it's an issue
that is beyond statistics or specific degrees.
It is something that affects every sector of our lives,
and it's important for all of us to work together
and be able to transform this world
and make it a better place.
Well, Vanessa, thank you so much for taking the time.
I know that you're having these conversations
with some of the most powerful people in the world,
so I appreciate you coming on the show
and sharing your-your, uh, your wisdom with us.
Um, congratulations on the book,
and, uh, hopefully, we'll see you again.
Thank you.
Vanessa's book, A Bigger Picture,
is available right now. We're gonna take a quick break,
but we'll be right back after this.
Well, that's our show for tonight.
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buy it.
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♪ ♪