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Connect the World
Donald Trump's Dueling Immigration Stance; Debating Clothing Restrictions for Women; Dubai Set to Open World's Largest Indoor Amusement Park; Protests After Brazilian President Impeached; U.S. Policy Caught Between Syrian Kurds and Turkey, Free Syrian Army Factions. Aired 11:00a- 12:00p ET
Aired September 01, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[11:00:06] DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ...pay for the wall, believe me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Donald Trump doubling down on that big border wall. But Mexico president says his country will not foot the bill. More
on the Republican candidate's unveiling of his immigration policy is ahead this hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're headed inside yet another new chapter in Syria's endless war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: CNN goes inside a Syrian town that was under ISIS control just a week ago. More on what our team saw coming up.
And...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In a democracy there should be levity. We should not ban things like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDESRON: One person's view on an age old debate. Just what should women wear? And it seems people the world over have an opinion. We'll
discuss that later this hour.
Hello. I'm Becky Anderson. Welcome to Connect the World. Live all this week from CNN
Center. We are going to get all of those stories for you in just a moment. First up, though, there has been an powerful explosion on a launch pad at
Cape Canaveral in Florida. It happened during the testing of a rocket built by SpaceX. Thick black smoke-filled the air as you can see, but
SpaceX says no one was injured.
Well, let's get some perspective now from former NASA astronaut Leroy Chow. He was a
commander on the International Space Station and is CEO of the company he co-founded, One Orbit.
Leroy joining me now via Skype from Houston, Texas.
What do you understand to have happened, sir?
LEROY CHOW, FRM. NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, apparently, this happened during a routinely scheduled hot fire of the first stage engines. This is
something that's done a few days before launch to make sure the engines are all performing, the plumbing, the fuel system, everything is working
properly before launch. And so fortunately, as the reports are coming in, it appears that
nobody was injured. Because they were going this live fire test, something obviously went very
wrong. There was a big explosion. The rocket was lost. Also reports I've heard is that the payload was not integrated, so the satellite was not on
top. And that's also good news.
But obviously extensive damage to the launch pad and surrounding area. So, you know, not a good day for SpaceX.
ANDERSON: No. how damaging is news like this not just for SpaceX, but the private space industry as a whole?
CHOW: Right. And so, you know, there have been people criticizing the idea of commercializing the launch process, launch industry and supplies to
the Interest Space Station. And so those critics will jump on this. But the fact is that there are actually more incentive for commercial companies
to be safer and more reliable than government operations. And besides there is plenty of oversight from NASA and the Air Force and the FAA for
that matter on all things that are being done by these commercial operators.
So this unfortunately is part of what happens during a development program like this SpaceX actually has been very, very successful in
launching payloads, both satellites and cargo to the ISS.
So, unfortunately, this is what happens when you develop new aircraft, new spacecraft, anything with a lot of energy being put into it to
accelerate it to those speeds.
ANDERSON: Leroy Chow on what is a developing story for you today, viewers. Thank you, Leroy.
CHOW: My pleasure.
ANDERSON: We will not apologize for America anymore, those words from Donald Trump,
who is keeping up the tough talk today after a fiery speech on immigration.
Now, the Republican presidential candidate addressed the American Legion just a short time ago. He reenergized his base last night by
promising to stop illegal immigration in the U.S., saying this election is the last chance to secure the border.
Now, this was one of the most dramatic moments when parents whose children were killed by
undocumented immigrants took to the stage with him. Trump's message was clear, illegal immigrants pose a dangerous threat to innocent families in
America.
Sunlen Serfarty has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: There will be no amnesty.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRSEPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump recommitting to a fired-up no- mercy stance on illegal immigration.
TRUMP: For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only: to return home and apply for
re-entry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system.
[11:05:04] SERFATY: The billionaire vowing to swiftly expel millions who have overstayed their visas and undocumented criminals.
TRUMP: I am going to create a new special deportation task force, focused on identifying and quickly removing the most dangerous criminal
illegal immigrants in America who have evaded justice, just like Hillary Clinton has evaded justice, OK? Maybe they'll be able to deport her.
SERFATY: Insisting he will detain and remove anyone caught crossing the border.
TRUMP: We are going to end catch and release.
SERFATY: And force other countries to take back their citizens who have been ordered to leave the U.S.
TRUMP: There are at least 23 countries that refuse to take their people back after they've been ordered to leave the United States. Not
going to happen with me, folks. Not going to happen with me.
SERFATY: And declaring he will block funding from the 300-plus so- called sanctuary cities across the country.
TRUMP: Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars.
SERFATY: But Trump is not saying how he would deport all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
TRUMP: Only the out-of-touch media elites think the biggest problem facing America is that there are 11 million illegal immigrants who don't
have legal status.
SERFATY: As for anyone who wants to live and work here...
TRUMP: To choose immigrants based on merit. Merit, skill, and proficiency.
SERFATY: Trump says they will be up against extreme vetting.
TRUMP: We are going to suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur.
Another reform involves new screening tests for all applicants that include an ideological certification to make sure that those we are
admitting to our country share our values and love our people.
SERFATY: Trump also renewing his commitment to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
TRUMP: And Mexico will pay for the wall. Hundred percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for the wall.
SERFATY: Hours earlier, a more measured and softer tone on display as Trump met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
TRUMP: We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall.
SERFATY: But after Trump left the country, President Pena Nieto disputes that, tweeting, quote, "From the start of the conversation, I made
it clear: Mexico will not pay for that wall."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, there is another sign that their remarks in public may not tell the true story of what happened behind closed doors. After
Trump left, President Pena Nieto branded his policies a threat to Mexico and said he is prepared to confront that threat.
John Vause, my colleague s in Mexico City for you with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For many here in Mexico City, Donald Trump's fiery speech on immigration in Phoenix, Arizona is simply proof of
what they suspected all along, that his diplomatic outreach here to the Mexican president was nothing more than a PR stunt all designed to polish
his image, to make him look like a statesman, maybe to reassure some voters in the United States that a president Donald Trump could handle the
international spotlight.
For his part, the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, well, he did a late night television
interview here saying some of Donald Trump's policies were a threat to this country and that he would not sit by and let that happen. And that story
is getting a lot of play today. This is one of the headlines in one of the morning newspapers. It reads, I will build the wall, says Trump. He is a
threat, says Pena.
There's also another morning newspaper here Pena tells Trump we deserve respect, Mexicans are aggrieved" reads the big bold print there.
So, just consider this, it was only 24 hours ago when the two men stood at those lecterns in the same room at the presidential palace talking
about friendship and respect. It didn't take long for the tone to dramatically shift.
John Vause, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON; And it's been one week since ISIS was run out of the Syrian town of Jarablus on the border with Turkey.
And the Turkish army is still demining the area. You're watching footage of controlled explosions and devices and booby traps planted by
ISIS. Now, the assault on the town was the first time that Turkish forces entered Syria since the war again.
Well, our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is part of the only western television crew to enter that town after its recapture.
He joins me now from Gaziantep, which is back in Turkey just near the Syrian border.
Nick what did you find?
[11:10:07] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is an extraordinary scene three particular ways. Firstly, we now have
the Turkish military moving to clear 90 kilometers, they say, of the border, which ISIS has been using heavily in the past years to bring in new
recruits and material.
Secondly, they're using Syrian rebels on the ground as much as their ground force who will, it seems, if they haven't already, come into contact
with America's key ally in the fight against ISIS: Syrian Kurds, a group that Turkey considers terrorists.
And finally, and perhaps most strikingly, it now means that there is a path to northern Syria, a continually growing, that it has a Turkish-backed
Syrian moderate Sunni Arab rebel force controlling it, something Washington has sought to have happened for a number of years, and now appears to be
occurring despite its enormous complications.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (voice-over): We're headed inside yet another new chapter in Syria's endless war. Turkish officials want us to see the Syrian-rebel
control of the Syrian border town of Jarabulus, but their military-enabled. They kicked ISIS out of here a week ago and we are the first western TV
they let in.
ISIS had enough time here to remodel the town in their image, get into the minds of children, some of whom they try to recruit as soldiers.
"My neighbor blew himself up in a car," says this boy. Tamza (ph) says he's 13 and carries water for the rebels. He says some of his friends
became suicide bombers for ISIS.
"They tortured and beat people, everything here. It was just down there," he says. He shows us the square where ISIS gruesomely filmed their
murders.
(on-camera): It's a strange game for these children to play with newcomers. They're showing us exactly where it was that ISIS would display
the heads of those they decapitated in punishment. But yet again another Central Square in yet another town cleansed of ISIS' dark world.
Yet there is another key building here, the recruitment center where they found a torn-up ledger of names in the basement jail.
They are showing us further inside this building, which is the first point people who crossed in from Turkey to join ISIS would have sought to
register with the group.
(voice-over): No longer here can ISIS welcome outsiders of their twisted world. But other problems have risen as this men's fight isn't
simply against ISIS, but is also against America's allies against ISIS, the Syrian Kurds that Turkey considers terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We don't want to find all the Kurds, just the Syrian-Kurdish PKK. Just those who want to break up Syria.
WALSH: There is optimism here. Early signs of a new project Turkey has undertaken to flood this area with moderate, sympathetic rebels who will
then tackle the Kurds but also create a safe zone free of ISIS.
Only the second half of that is what Washington has wanted.
(on camera): To some degree, this is what American policy has yearned for for years. Moderate Sunni-Arab rebels here have been cleaning the town
out of ISIS extremist, now controlling what many have thought a kind of buffer zone for Syrians fleeing the regime. Smiles, calm, busy streets. We
have seen them before in Syria's intractable war and watch them turn sour again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: Becky, it really is symptomatic of how complex and challenged U.S. policy has been in Syria they get what they have been asking for to
some degree, the beginnings of it at least: an area held by moderate Sunni Syrian Arabs and backed by Turkey and NATO. But that comes with a huge
complication of those people fighting their main allies on the ground against ISIS. are also fighting against their main ally in their fight
against ISIS. No such thing as good news here in whole, Becky.
ANDERSON: Nick, what's next in all of this?
WALSH: We are seeing state media reports suggesting Turkish tanks are building up along the border. Not quite clear why that is happening, but
the Syrian rebels in that town we spoke to said their objectives now are twofold. Firstly, off to the west, towards the town of
al-Babb (ph), that is the last ISIS stronghold really in that particular area and it's also where their spokesman, main public voice Abu Mohammed
al-Adnani was killed it seems by a Pentagon air strike in the last 72 hours or so.
And the second objective takes them off to the east towards the Syrian Kurdish now still held of Manbij which they cleaned ISIS out of with some
American help, but it still it seems in their control, despite Washington asking those Syrian Kurds to move back east across the Euphrates River.
Two potential prongs here needing some cleaning up. Two prongs here. Turkey very clear I think from the message they are trying to send us by
showing that town that they're seeing a positive success so far. The question really is what happens when they run up against the Syrian Kurds.
What does that do for American policy here and most importantly the fight against ISIS, Becky?
ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh is on the border. Nick, thank you.
Still to come at this hour, a bit more reaction for you to Donald Trump's immigration speech and his visit yesterday to Mexico. A studio
discussion for you up next.
Plus, from French beaches to Indian streets, politicians seem all too eager to tell women what
we think we should be wearing. But what right do they have to do that? I'm going to discuss that up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:17:37] ANDERSON: From CNN Center, you are watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson. A warm welcome back.
Now, Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump has failed his first foreign test. The U.S. democratic presidential candidate is criticizing her
rival's visit to Mexico Wednesday as nothing more than a photo op. She is accusing Trump of trying to, quote, "make up for a year of insults by
dropping in on Mexico for just a few hours.
Clinton's runningmate Tim Kaine also took aim at Trump when he spoke to CNN this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TIME KAINE, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He didn't even have the nerve at the last minute to bring up this issue about the wall. This
is the central piece of his campaign, immigration and deportation and we are going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, but when he looked
President Pena Nieto in the eye he couldn't even bring that up. That was a choke, and I think it
shows that diplomacy is not for amateurs. Donald Trump is an amateur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, let's talk more about Trump's immigration policies, then, and his visit with the Mexican president. I'm absolutely delighted
to tell you we are joined by Gabriela Frias, anchor for CNN Espanol and Greg Bluestein is also here with us. He's a political reporter for the
Atlanta Journal Constitution. Atlanta, George being with this show is going out for you, viewers, today. CNN Center.
Did Donald Trump fail his first foreign test?
GREG BLUESTEIN, ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION: That's a hard question. It was a big test for him. At one level, he has got to keep resonating
that message with his conservative supporters here in Georgia and elsewhere who voted for him in the primary basically because of his immigration
stance. I mean, poll after poll, especially among conservatives, shows that's very important to Republican voters.
But to general election voters who saw the same tough talking hard line immigration stance, I don't know if it will sway them.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Gabriela, it is a battle cry at Trump rallies, and certainly a crowd
pleaser. Trump says he is going to build a wall and Mexico, he says, is going to pay for it. That of course is very much in question. And many
way wonder how Trump can even force Mexico to do it.
So, I have got a big number for you, viewers. This number is key: $23.6 billion, that is how much Mexicans working abroad, mostly in the
United States, sent home to their families last year. It is a top source of foreign revenue in Mexico. Trump has threatened to cut it off if Mexico
won't pay for the wall, a move that could -- would devastate the Mexican economy.
You covered business for CNN. Tell us just how important this money is.
GABRIELA FRIAS, CNN ESPANOL ANCHOR: Incredibly important. It's a source of income for many poor families in some of the poorer states in
Mexico -- Guerrero, Michoacan, for example. You have people pickers in California historically a very important state for the U.S. when it comes
to agriculture -- Veracruz and Chiapas.
So, it is a very important source of income for millions of families. It is tempting to think and to say that you are going to just take that
money away and use it to build a wall. I'm wondering how. And when you talk about politics and election years, you know, the candidates within our
ears, but the hows are important to take a look at. And I don't know how he would do that.
What I do know is that that figure is the reason why many Mexicans were expecting a better
performance of the president of Mexico when it comes to receiving Trump and almost demanding an apology.
ANDERSON: Yeah, John Vause reporting earlier on in the show from Mexico the disgraceful performances, how many journalists and social media
watchers described Pena Nieto's performance yesterday. The president himself has branded Trump's policies a threat to Mexico and said he is
prepared to confront that threat.
Is he?
FRIAS: I don't know how. Again, how comes up. And after you saw what happened yesterday, Becky, after the meeting -- right after the
meeting we had a he said, she said on Twitter from Pena Nieto and then from Trump about who is going to be paying for the wall. If it's going to be
built or not. And then coming back to Phoenix during his speech he said we are
going to build it and the Mexicans don't know it. They don't know they are going to pay for it.
So, I don't know how that's going to happen. It sounds incredibly interesting to many voters, but I think that what we need to know and
acknowledge at this point is that part of the problem that the U.S. economy is facing is due to technology and due to globalization more than only
Mexican workers and also understand what is the net right now of people across these borders.
ANDERSON: And remind us, because that is an important number.
FRIAS: Yeah, it is an important number. But at the same time they need to be talking about it, not us, us, I mean the Mexican people. I
shouldn't be saying us, but you know what I mean. It's just, journalists and the political spectrum and painters and singers, everybody in Mexico is
just so upset.
ANDERSON: Greg, what we saw last night was one of two presidential candidates giving a major policy speech after he came back from Mexico and
got into Arizona and stepping up his rhetoric on what will be a core issue for him, it's the issue that he won the race to be the Republican
candidate.
And for those of our viewers watching around the world, and with less than 70 days to go until the election on November 8, what's the takeaway?
BLUESTEIN: The takeaway is that Donald Trump knows he has to win Republican voters. There is all these Never Trump movements. There is a
lot of conservatives still worried in order to even have a chance at beating Hillary Clinton in November.
ANDERSON: That's before he tries to win the independents and the Democrats, right.
BLUESTEIN: Exactly. He has to retain his core of Republican voters. And to them, for better or for worse, this is an issue that remains so
important to them.
I traveled the state of Georgia these last few days talking to Republican voters at Mike Pence rallies -- middle Georgia, south Georgia,
north Georgia and metro Atlanta. And almost to a person, many of them said this still is -- they see any backing off what Trump's rhetoric in the
primary as a betrayal.
ANDERSON: Now, let's stick with Georgia, Georgia being the state that Atlanta sits in. Let's look at how the candidates match up on the CNN
electoral college map.
CNN's latest version of the map favors Hillary Clinton. This is based on recent polling, and only shows how the race stands right now.
Now, the dark blue states are solid Democratic territory, the dark red states Republican ground viewers. Now if we take those states away. We
are left with the true battleground states in yellow. And those states that are leaning to one party, but not enough to be considered solid by the
CNN political team.
And you right at the bottom, bottom right, you will see a light red state, GA, for Georgia. And that is where we are broadcasting from here
today, a state that could become an important battleground in the election.
A Democratic presidential candidate hasn't won Georgia in decades. But the traditionally red state is now in play this time around.
What does Trump need to do to retain this state for the Republicans?
BLUESTEIN: Yeah, and Georgia hasn't gone Democratic since 1992 when Bill Clinton won. And only then it was because Ross Perot, a third party
candidate got double digits in Georgia. So, to retain Georgia in the red column, which is almost a must for him to have any path to victory in
November, he has to play up to his conservative base.
He won Georgia's primary by 40 percent of the vote, which, you know, back then there was something like more than a dozen candidates still in
the race. He needs to retain that core of support, all those new comers who were re first time donors and first time voters he has to have those,
which is why he has to keep on using this harsh hardline rhetoric.
[11:25:25] ANDERSON: And how does he win the Hispanic vote, because that would be important. It doesn't look like he is doing particularly
well at present.
FRIAS: To be honest with you, Becky, I think we need to put aside the immigration debate from what he has said about Mexico. And I think that
there is a lot of Hispanics on the border, and particularly in Arizona who are in favor of a wall but also in favor of just improving the, you know,
the border crossing and the undocumented immigration. Mexico needs to do its own work at the same time because on the south of the border of Mexico
and Central America you have a humanitarian crisis of people just fleeing coming to the U.S. and now you have Cubans fleeing and coming to the U.S.,
too.
So, Mexico needs to do its part. But how does he win the Hispanic vote? It's hard to tell with the way he speaks about you know different
cultures and different countries, more than talking about immigration, which of course is important to millions of Mexicans. Bbut
you are even talking about the DREAMers. And the DREAMers are not going to have it easier on his
proposals described yesterday. So, I don't know how he is going to do it.
ANDERSON: Fascinating.
Well, we have got 69 days and counting. So it will become clearer as the days go on.
Both of you, pleasure. Thank you very much indeed.
Well, the latest world news headlines are just ahead here on CNN.
Plus, should I be allowed to dress like this? Well, in some places some people might try to tell me no. But should women be able to put on
whatever we want to? Well, as the burkini debate rages, we'll look at that issue right around the world. And it is a prescient issue around the
world. That is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[11:30:50] ANDERSON: Well, supporters of ousted Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
clashed with police on Wednesday night in Sao Paulo. Protesters are angry about Rousseff's impeachment set fires and vandalized property. The
violence followed a senate vote to remove Brazil's first female president from office.
Shasta Darlington reports on what is next for Brazil following what has been a very turbulent period.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SHOUTING)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The rupture is now complete. Dilma Rousseff released by the Senate, accused by the Senate of
hiding the state of the economy. Brazil's first female president defiant to the last.
DILMA ROUSSEFF, IMPEACHED PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL: This is the second coup that I have confronted in my life. The first, the military coup supported
by the arms of repression and torture when I was a young militant. The second, the parliamentary coup today, a judicial farce that removes me from
the post I was elected to.
DARLINGTON: Bringing an end to 13 years of Workers Party governments that started like this, but in Rousseff's second term, looked more like
this.
(APPLAUSE)
DARLINGTON: Sworn in, in a hasty ceremony, her former vice president, now political foe, Michel Temer, then rushing to catch a plane to China for
a G20 meeting. Temer assumed the post on an interim basis in May, appointing the first all-male cabinet since the 1970s.
(on camera): Markets have rallied with investors hopeful that the more conservative Temer will use his allies here in Senate and in the congress
to pass tough austerity measures. I'm talking about pension reform and easing labor laws.
(voice-over): Also expect privatizations and the sales of concessions for infrastructure projects as he tackles a two-year-old recession.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has to be quick because the window of opportunity with, the so-called honeymoon will be very, very short, if it's
to exist at all.
SHASTA: But Temer may also be dogged by the massive corruption investigation known as "Car Wash," which has engulfed several politicians
across the political spectrum.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Car Wash" can come to him though. If that will happen, we'll have to start again an impeachment.
DARLINGTON: And expect plenty of political jockeying ahead of the 2018 elections. Rousseff's predecessor, mentor and two-time president de Silva
still leads the polls, but federal police have now recommended he be charged in the corruption probe.
Temer, down in the polls, he's already barred from running after violating campaigning spending laws, but still posing with pictures, here
with Brazilian athletes, trying to win over hearts and minds.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brasilia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: What women should or shouldn't be allowed to wear in public has been a hot topic of debate for a really long time, hasn't it? And it's
still going none in many places around the world. India's tourism minister back pedaling fast on comments he made telling women who visit the
country not to wear skirts there. And be careful about wearing too little in Israel as well. A report say the government there wants rules forcing
performers to dress modestly at concerts it sponsors.
Israeli singer Hanna Goor says she was kicked off stage for wearing this bikini top
But France, the home of Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, be careful you don't wear too much. Almost two dozen French mayors are point blank
refusing to remove their town's burkini bans, or bans on burkinis, defying the country's highest court's order to do so.
It's an issue striking at the heart of what it means to be French.
Our Erin McLaughlin spoke to one defiant mayor and two local Muslims, about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The glistening beaches of the south of France normally the most desired holiday destinations in Europe,
ground zero for the battle over the so-called burkini ban. It's now to the point that Muslim women such as Morgan Galawi say they just don't want to
go to the beach.
[11:35:07] MORGAN GALAWI, NICE FRANCE RESIDENT (through translator): We feel excluded and we have the impression that we aren't at home. I was
born in Nice and this should not happen and it's my choice to wear the head scarf.
MCLAUGHLIN: But many in France disagree with that choice. A recent poll suggest 64 percent are opposed to women wearing burkinis. And so the
city of Nice and others banned the swimwear. The ban on one of the towns was soon overturned by France's high court.
But local Mayors such as Marc Etienne-Lansdale vow to keep their bans in place.
On some beaches, a woman caught wearing a burkini is still fined and asked to leave.
Officials say this has to do with concerns over Islamic terrorism. Others say it is Islamophobia.
MARC ETIENNE-LANSDALE, COGOLIN MAYOR: Stay where you're from. Stay where you were. If you don't want to live the way we do, don't come. You
are accepted if we said that in Rome, do like Roman do.
MCLAUGHLIN: So far, that message has been heard loud and clear. CNN scoured the beaches of the south of France, and not a single burkini to be
found.
ETIENNE-LANSDALE: We are building a county that allows you to be free here. And we don't want people to change this. You're more than welcome if
you behave the way we do. This is it. And for the one who don't want that, we will have to take ban laws and everything to make them accept that this
is a free country.
MCLAUGHLIN: But Galawi said her definition of freedom is different.
GALAWI (through translator): In a democracy, there should be liberty. We should not ban things like this.
MCLAUGHLIN: Even if it is overturned in a local court, Etienne- Lansdale said his ban will continue. He plans to create a new law in its
place. He insists there will be no burkinis, even if he has to declare his beaches for nudists only, in this bitter battle of competing values.
Erin McLaughlin, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, I want to get into a debate for you here. Aziza Kahara is the chief operating officer of AzizaMagazine.com. And she's here
with me in the studio, I'm delighted to say. She thinks the burkini can be liberating for women.
And Nadia Manzoor is writer and performer of #gaburkoff (ph) -- and I'll say that again properly #burkoff joining us from France -- Nice in
France via Skype. She isn't so keen on the burkini.
So, Aziza, thank you both for joining us.
Aziza, I want to start with you, what is your problem with the ban? France, proudly secular, they can do what they want, can't they?
AZIZA KAHARA, AZIZAMAGAZINE.COM: Well, my issue with the ban is that it imposes secularism, and it imposes control over women's bodies, whether
it's controlling how much clothes are put on, or clothes are taken off, it still enforces codes of dress that imposes the -- and reduces the rights of
women to wear certain types of clothing, thus, you know, infringing on their power, infringing on their right...
ANDERSON: And their choice.
KAHARA: And their choice to worship. And it definitely affects the way that they see themselves in society.
ANDERSON: Nadia, you are in Nice, in France. There has been a ban on burkinis there.
What is the mood there about all of this?
NADIA MANZOOR, WRITER: I actually spoke to a bunch of locals today on the beach. I was not wearing my burkini even though I have worn a burkini
before. And the general response, actually, was more that they are against the burkini ban, and a lot of young locals that I spoke to felt that it was
everybody's individual right to dress how they see fit.
ANDERSON: All right, both of you, there's a narrative then that burkinis are fundamentally mostly about modesty. That's one of the
narratives, at least. But let me show you this, Islamic swaimwear made for girls as young as 6 years old. Still very much children
at that age.
So there is no real sense of them needing to be modest. So, aren't essentially burkinis for children just fueling speculation that they are
all about control?
KAHARA: Well, I think it's still a woman's choice to wear what she chooses to wear. You know, when it comes to young girls, that's a little
different subject, but when it comes to women, I think the idea of we need to get over this conversation about dress. There are bigger issues at hand
here. And that is this idea of patriarchy and this control over women's decision to wear what they choose to wear.
But in terms of girls, that's a little different subject.
ANDERSON: Can I ask you whether you would wear a burkini, by the way?
KAHARA: I have. And indeed our magazine, Aziza Magazine, has featured burkinis as a style
feature in our magazine. And it's very liberating for me. It, in fact, allowed me to go snorkeling in Australia. So...
ANDERSON: Fantastic.
Nadia, from the burkini, let's talk about the facekini. It looks exactly like the name implies. It's very popular in some parts, let me
tell you, of China. People wear it to protect their heads and shoulders from the sun because as many of us know, lotion rubs off quickly in sea
water.
So, there are definitely no religious conotations to wearing it at all.
People don't seem to be phased by this. Is thist the kind of thing that's OK as long as Muslims aren't doing it?
MANZOOR: Well, I mean, if you think about a burkini in many ways, it's a wetsuit with, you know, a bandana on your head. But I think the
deeper issue here is, and I think it's looking at the context of the burqa and the burkini, and I think it's really important for us to address that.
It still perpetuates the idea that a woman is very different from a man and that she is inherently something to be coveted and is more sexualized.
So, I think that is actually an issue that I'm interested in exploring much more.
ANDERSON: aziza, your response?
KAHARA: Well, I would say it is a still a choice whether your male or a female. And people have different reasons as to why they wear certain
garments. And I think we are focusing too much on the Islamic tenets or the Islamophobia or making too much out of it. So, I think there's this --
you know, it really depends on the context. And as she said, she interviewed people on the beach. And even though there is a statistic that
64 percent of people are opposed to it, you get a different story when you communicate with individuals.
ANDERSON: Well, Marine Le Pen is at the far right presidential candidate. You'll be well aware of her, Nadia, in France. And I'm sure
you are well aware of her here.
She heads up the National Front Party, and in an exclusive interview with my colleague Hala Gorani, she gave her view on the burkini. Have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARINE LE PEN, NATIONAL FRONT PARTY LEADER (through translator): Actually, the burkini is a symptom; one of the multiple symptoms of the
rise of fundamentalist Islam in France for many years. It is about demands that are designed to say, "we Muslims, though not all are in agreement with
this, we want to eat differently, we want to live differently, and we want to dress differently and we want to impose our own rules on the Republic."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Worrying, Aziza, that effectively the burkini is, what she called, a multiple symptom of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
Look, one has to be sensitive to a certain extent when talking about this in France, given what has been going on of late. But your response to
Marine Le Pen.
KAHARA: Well, I would say that the issue of imperialism, colonialism, whether it be at the hands of the Muslim regime or colonial regime and even
controlling, you know, European countries, that's the greater issue. The issue is not clothing. It's a scapegoat for people to -- kind of a proxy
war, to so to speak as to what the real issues are. And I think it's just justifying and fueling the fire for additional dissension.
ANDERSON: Nadia, your response?
MANZOOR: Yeah, I think that, you know, the rise in the burqa and the burkini in many ways is a political response, especially from young people,
who are feeling marginalized in terms of being able to kind of have their beliefs not be so -- especially in the light of Islamophobia, right.
There's like this direct response to it. And so there's this externalization of this is my religion.
And so I do think that is definitely a response. Because Muslim women for years in Turkey have been going to beaches in swimsuits, in regular,
you know, in swimsuits, and things that aren't burkinis and that's been considered Islamically accepted.
So, there is the question as why all of a sudden this has become an Islamic norm for a woman to be on a beach?
KAHARA: Yeah, I would concur. I mean, in fact the burkini has been around 2007. We are talking about almost ten years ago. And it wasn't
even a topic of discussion. And now all of a sudden it is, obviously because it's becoming a government controlled issued ban.
But it's hasn't been a problem before.
ANDERSON: It is fascinating to find out that the industry -- the burkini industry -- at least one fashion designer tells us she has never
sold more of them since this story hit the headlines.
KAHARA: Indeed.
ANDERSON: But it's fascinating one, and an incredibly important one, I think, both of you have both done a super job in analyzing it and giving
us a sense of where you stand on this. Thank you both very much indeed.
Live from CNN Center this is Connect the World.
One year ago, heart breaking images of a 3-year-old Syrian boy who washed ashore dead in
Turkey. His images shook the world. After the break, we asked what has changed.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready for this?
UNIDENITIFIED MALE: I'm a little scared. I'm not going to lie to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Not for the faint-hearted, we have a sneak peek -- or is that a sneak sleek at the world's biggest indoor theme park.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:47:01] ANDERSON: Right, you're back with CNN. This is Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson and a very warm welcome back.
We -- were he alive today, little Alan Kurdi would have been 4 years old. One year ago, tomorrow, his lifeless body washed ashore in Turkey.
It was a defining moment of the refugee crisis.
But what has changed since then? Well, the Syrian boy in the red t- shirt's perilous journey across the Mediterranean is still being made by tens of thousands of kids fleeing the conflict.
Just this week, we saw newborn twin boys amongst thousands rescued in a single day. They had been born prematurely at sea. One was said to be
desperately ill, but we hear he is doing a little bit better in hospital now.
Well, let's look at this crisis in numbers, 272,000 refugees and migrants
have made the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing to Europe so far this year with
most arriving in Greece and Italy. Now, that's according to the International Organization for Migration.
More than 3,100 refugees and migrants didn't make and are now presumed dead or missing.
Well, CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joining me now. It it was a year ago that Alan's image on that beach shocked the
world. It sounds to me as if things aren't improving -- why?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are not improving. This year if you are a migrant crossing the Mediterranean you
are more likely to die. The total last year was 3,771. By the end of August the total dead is 3,165. You can clearly see, and this is what IOM,
International Office of Migration, says expect that number to exceed last year's number significantly. It's more dangerous.
I mean, look, everyone -- there was a lot of compassion and soul searching in
September last year when Alan's body washed up.
But the reality was very little changed over time in people's hearts, you know, rewind a few months with the British referendum and the European
Union, it was all over the immigrant issue. The compassion about Alan germany accepted the vast bulk of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
But most of the European countries haven't. They have got very, very low levels coming in.
ANDERSON: So these kids continue to do the journey. Kids continue to lose their lives. For those that do survive which is a perilous journey.
You and I cannot imagine what it must be like for a family to do that. What is the impact on these kids?
ROBERTSON: To be in a situation where their parents have literally put their kids' lives on the line quite literally to make the journey and
to pitch up in a country where the environment is alien, the mood against them is quite
often hostile, they don't know where they are going to get to. Sometimes now those coming out of Turkey and crossing into Greece are being returned
and sent back.
The uncertains and the unknowns are overwhelming and for the kids, they are the ones at the bottom, and the ones that are losing out. You
have so many kids that are coming without parents now. Parents just desperate to get them out of a difficult situations they're in in their
home countries.
They are not it an easy ride. And look at some of the situations that we've seen happening in Sweden earlier this year. Young boys in a home
there. Conflagrations with the people looking after them. The -- if you will, the atmosphere that they're creating, what we saw in Germany with
young women being abused. They're getting a bad wrap and the kids are at the bottom of this.
[11:50:40] ANDERSON: Nic Robertson joining me here at CNN Center today.
Nic, it's -- I wish we had better news. Unfortunately, we don't.
Right. Live from CNN Center, this is Connect the World. A lot more ahead. You are watching CNN. So do stay with us. Back after this
incredibly short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Sparkling seas and pleasant parks -- you will be surprised perhaps to learn this is one most dangerous countries in the world right
now. Syria promoting its tourist attractions in government-controlled areas. This video appears to be the Mediterranean resort of Tartus.
It was attacked by ISIS in May but is still relatively safe enclave compared to other parts of the war torn land.
And this is the ministry's latest efforts, stunning aerial shots of a lake in the Latakia region. Before the war, Syria had a burgeoning tourism
industry and was one of the safest places in the region. The ministry of tourism there says visits are up 30 percent this year, but gave no figures
for previous years.
Foreign ministries the world over warn against travel to Syria.
Well, live from CNN Center, you are watching Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson.
Now to a very different effort to attract tourists, a billion dollar undertaking in one of the world's wealthiest cities. Dubai has just opened
the world's biggest indoor theme park. And the emirate is banking on big thrills to boost tourism as oil prices plunge.
Jon Jenson looks at the very serious business of fun in the sun.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JON JENSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's already got the biggest buildings, the biggest shopping malls. Now, Dubai wants to have the
biggest thrills. This is the city's newest amusement park, IMG Worlds of Adventure. It is a 1.5 million square foot indoor theme park as big as 28
football fields, billed as the world's largest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wanted this to be an icon for Dubai itself and an icon for the region.
JENSEN: The privately owned park cost over $1 billion and took three years build.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the Velociraptor.
JENSEN: And we got a speak peek before it opened.
I can feel my heart racing.
Which meant no lines and no wait.
UNIDENITIFIED MALE: Are you ready for this?
JENSEN: I am a little scared. I'm not going to lie to you.
This centerpiece roller coaster is so big that it can't fit under one roof. It shoots riders to 60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds. The park also
features characters by Marvel and Cartoon Network owned by CNN's parent company.
But it isn't the only player in town.
[11:55:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The largest integrated entertainment destination in the region.
JENSEN: Government-owned Dubai parks and resorts is set to open later this year. It's a massive $3.5 billion development. Analysts say theme
parks are part of a plan by Dubai's rulers to diversify the city's economy through
tourism.
MARTIN BERLIN, REAL ESTATE, HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE PARTNER, PWC: Dubai has a lot to offer: it has malls, has the sun and sand, but beyond
that, you need to offer something that keeps the tourist busy for longer, and leisure and entertainment, in particular theme parks, is one of those.
JENSEN: Berlin says Dubai's parks could receive 18 million visitors by 2021 and may one day compete with Orlando.
Previous attempts, though, failed. Construction of a Universal Studios theme park in Dubai was stalled after the financial crisis in 2008.
Otto believes he got it right, though. He is hoping for 12,000 customers a day the first year, with children and big kids looking for the
biggest thrills in the region.
I'm ready to go again.
Jon Jensen, CNN, Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Poor Jon. I don't think he is ever going to do that again.
I'm Becky Anderson. That was Connect the World from the CNN Center.
END
