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U.N.: Migrant Situation in Belarus Hs Become 'Catastrophic'; COP26 Agreement on Global Warming Limits in Jeopardy; Communist Party Elevates Xi Jinping's Status in History; South African President Who Oversaw End of Apartheid Dies; Controversial Badiucao Exhibition Premieres in Italy. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired November 12, 2021 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.

[00:00:56]

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a migrant crisis along the E.U. border threatens consequences for the continent after the Belarusian president warns he will cut gas supplies if he's hit with sanctions.

Rich and poor. Clash at COP26, with developing nations arguing they shouldn't be held to the same standard as wealthy polluters.

And South Africa's last white president apologizes for the pain caused by Apartheid.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: Welcome, everyone. The migrant crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border has been bad for weeks, but the U.N. now says it has become catastrophic.

About 2,000 men, women, and children are trapped in a hellish strip of land between Poland and Belarus, little kids holding signs that say, "Sorry." They are very cold. They're very hungry, and they are very desperate to enter Poland.

But Polish border guards are making sure they do not, one of them telling the migrants, Go to Belarus. This place is full.

The Polish president, Duda, publicly thanking those 15,000 guards on Thursday, which was also the country's Independence Day. Earlier, a sea of red and white in Warsaw. People chanting nationalist slogans, and cheering border guards for, quote, "not letting anybody in."

Now, across the border, the Belarusian strongman appeared unfazed by accusations he deliberately engineered this humanitarian crisis. Two nuclear-capable Russian bombers flying over Belarus for a second straight day, a show of support from Moscow.

And, as the west threatens more sanctions, Alexander Lukashenko defiant as ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If they impose additional sanctions on us, which are indigestible and unacceptable for us, we must answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: None of this matters much, of course, to the helpless people shivering and starving at the border. They just want some place to be warm and safe. As our CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports, some Polish people are trying to help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day in limbo in the freezing cold, gathering any material that can burn, to stay warm.

Thousands of migrants remain stranded on the Belarusian side of the border, as Poland says it will not let them enter. Only a few have made it across, like Youssef Atallah from Syria, who says he was abused by Belarusian border guards.

YOUSSEF ATALLAH, SYRIAN REFUGEE: When we got to the Belarus border, the Belarus guards catch us. They search us and hit me in the face and broke my cheek, here, and my nose, and broke the teeth. And I have pain here. And then, they took us to a forbidden area.

PLEITGEN: The "forbidden area" means the border between Belarus and Poland.

Belarus denied abusing migrants and, instead, accused Poland of a heavy-handed approach.

The E.U. says it will further sanction Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, saying he's luring migrants here in a bid to destabilize Europe.

MATEUSZ MORRAWIECKI, POLISH PRIME MINISTER: Now, from distance, those events on the Polish-Belarusian border may look like a migration crisis. But this is not a migration crisis. It's a political crisis, and caused for a specific purpose. For the purpose of the stabilizing the situation in the E.U.

So, what we're facing here, and we have to state it clearly, is a manifestation of state terrorism.

[00:05:02]

PLEITGEN: Lukashenko is counting on support from his biggest backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hailing Russian strategic bombers that flew over Belarus on Wednesday and threatening to cut off Russian gas supplies to Europe. ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, BELARUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We

are heating Europe, and they still threaten us with closing the border. And what if we shut off natural gas there? I would, therefore, recommend that the leadership opponent, Lithuania, and other headless people think before speaking.

PLEITGEN: The migrants are caught in the middle of the standoff, unable to advance into the E.U. or head back to their countries of origin.

(on camera): The situation of those camped out at the border between Poland and Belarus is growing more desperate by the day. It's extremely cold and damp out here, with the temperatures dropping below freezing virtually every night.

(voice-over): Activist Piotr Bystrianin tries to help them, showing the clothes, food, and water he tries to supply them with.

PIOTR BYSTRIANIN, PROVIDING NECESSARY SUPPLIES TO MIGRANTS: People are deteriorating, fast. They are more exhausted. They -- some of them are sometimes one week or two weeks, or even longer, only in the forest without proper food, without any drinking water.

PLEITGEN: Poland says it has registered more than 4,000 attempts to illegally cross its border in November, alone, but says it will not back down.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Poland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And Nolan Peterson is a journalist based in Kyiv, in Ukraine. And good to see you.

I wanted to start with the migrants on the Belarus-Poland border. It's an issue that also, of course, keenly concerns Ukraine, which has just sent more border troops to the area. Ukraine fears what they call, quote, artificially organized crowds of migrants. What's your take on the situation, both in political and humanitarian terms?

NOLAN PETERSON, SENIOR EDITOR, "COFFEE OR DIE MAGAZINE": Well, my take is that the -- that Europe right now is at its most dangerous moment since Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

First, you've got Belarus bringing these refugees into his territory and essentially, trying to exert blackmail on the E.U. to lift sanctions by bringing these refugees to the border area and creating this crisis.

Meanwhile, you have Russia in the mix, sending its warplanes, and sending a message of solidarity to Belarus. And also sending a not- too-subtle warning to NATO.

You also see, right now, an unprecedented militarization of NATO's eastern flank. Defensive barriers are going up along the borders with Belarus and Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. And also, Poland has been sending troops to the border area.

All this is happening amid the background of the E.U. gas prices, Russia's new military buildup on Ukraine's periphery, and, by the way, Ukraine has also sent 8,500 new border guards to its border with Belarus, anticipating that these refugees may also be trying to come into Ukraine.

So right now, it seems like there are multiple vectors for the conflict, the ongoing conflict, in eastern Ukraine to potentially escalate or spread across the region, potentially into other NATO members. And that's troubling.

HOLMES: I wanted to ask you about that, the ongoing conflict in the Donbas. This really is a regional problem. The conflict in the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, a forgotten conflict, in many ways, in terms of the world's attention.

But -- but it's striking, from your latest report on CoffeeOrDie.com just how close these two sides are on the ground. I mean, the Russian- backed Ukrainian forces. You just got back from there. What did you take away from your visit to the front?

PETERSON: Like you said, it is a forgotten conflict. And, after seven years, the war isn't over. There's still daily shelling, sniper fire taking lives. And also, the newest threat are these small weaponized drones, which Russia is primarily using over the Ukrainian side of the lines to, basically, drop hand grenades or small mines to take out soldiers, one by one.

It's a really bizarre conflict, because it blends battlefield conditions, similar to those of potentially the World War I trenches, with these modern technological tools, like electronic warfare and drones.

In places, the two sides are a couple of kilometers across. At other places, like you mentioned, they're close enough to trade verbal insults.

I was at one position near Avdiivka, where the Ukrainians were only 50 meters away from the Russian enemies. And it becomes a psychologically -- it's a very difficult conflict for soldiers out there, dealing with the constant threat of random death by snipers and drone attacks.

And, also, for the Ukrainians, who are trying to abide by the terms of the February 2015 ceasefire, which says they cannot engage in offensive actions and also limits their ability to fight back.

[00:10:03]

So it's hard for the Ukrainians to just sit there and weather these attacks. And my observation, my fear, is that it is tough for them to sit there and have the judgment to not fire back. And so, as it relies on their judgment in combat, there is the potential for an unanticipated escalation, when those frontline soldiers say, I'm just not going to sit here and take these attacks. HOLMES: And that's always the risk. I wanted to, just quickly, before

I let you go, when it comes to the Russian military movements on Ukraine's border, which has not just Ukraine, but the broader west on edge, what do you make of that? Is it intimidation? Perhaps a sign Russia has tangible military intentions? What are the risks there? And what do you think the Russian strategy is?

PETERSON: The general consensus here in Ukraine, amongst the western experts I've spoken with, is that this is a more serious situation than what we saw earlier this year in April, when Russia similarly built up its military forces in Ukraine's periphery.

There are several signs, one of which is that these newest Russian movements near Ukraine are not tied to any pre-existing military exercises or maneuvers. These movements are occurring much more stealthily than you saw earlier this year, so there's less visibility on social media. A lot of these movements are occurring at night, signaling that Russia may not be trying to advertise this for diplomatic leverage, like it did earlier in the year.

And also, there's the diplomatic messaging that you're seeing from Moscow, drawing red lines in the conflict, saying that if Ukraine uses the Bayraktar drone, the Turkish drones again, that there will be an escalation.

So, you're seeing more, like, definitive language from Moscow, and I think, altogether, this signals that this could, potentially, be the precursor in the weeks or months to come, for actual military operation, to escalate the ongoing war at Donbas.

HOLMES: There's an awful lot going on in -- in your neck of the woods. And not a lot of it good. Nolan Peterson, appreciate your reporting. Thanks so much.

PETERSON Thank you.

Now, the COP26 climate summit is entering its last day in Glasgow, Scotland. And a final agreement is coming down to a battle of the haves and the have-nots.

Developing nations say they should not be held to the same emissions standards as wealthier countries. Others, including China, India, and Saudi Arabia, are pushing back on language in the draft communique to limit the rising global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALOK SHARMA, COP26 PRESIDENT: Whilst we have made progress, and I want to acknowledge the spread of cooperation and civility that's been demonstrated throughout the negotiations by negotiators and ministers, we are not there yet on the most critical issues. There is still a lot more work to be done, and COP26 is scheduled to close at the end of tomorrow. So, time is running out.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Poorer countries also want more money to adapt to the impact

of the climate crisis, and to pay for the damage already caused by other countries' emissions. They say the richest nations are responsible for much of the pollution and should pay for the damage.

More now from CNN's Phil Black.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Throughout COP26, some countries have been talked about more than others. And not for the right reasons. Here's one example.

JENNIFER MORGAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL: I think the greatest disappointment maybe would also be -- be Australia.

CATHERINE ABREU, DESTINATION ZERO: Countries like Australia coming to these talks without an enhanced Paris agreement goal.

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG, AUSTRALIAN SENATOR, GREENS PARTY =: It is embarrassing, being here, as an Australian.

BLACK: Australia has been roundly criticized for coming to Glasgow and saying it will hit net zero carbon by 2050 without significantly changing its behavior, especially in the short term.

SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Driving the emergence of low emissions technologies and fostering their widespread adoption is at the heart of our plan to reach net zero.

BLACK: So the Australian government says investing billions in future technology means there's no need to stop digging, burning, and selling fossil fuels. A provocative theory at a climate conference.

HANSON-YOUNG: Australia has got to do more than that. We are one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels. We've got to get out of coal. We have to stop building new gas fields. We've to reduce pollution. And if you -- if you want to reduce pollution, we have to stop making it.

BLACK: Australia isn't the only holdout. Several, big, polluting countries, have persistently ignored with the science, now says, is necessary. To get to carbon neutral by mid-century, countries collectively must make deep cuts now and reduce emissions by 45 percent this decade.

NIKLAS HOHNE, NEWCLIMATE INSTITUTE: There are some countries which clearly proposed a long-term target to disguise that they're not changing their short-term target. And I think Brazil is in that category. Australia, as well. Russia is in that basket, as well.

ABREU: We've heard from countries like Saudi Arabia a real reluctance to embrace the push for more ambition before 2030.

BLACK: Poor, vulnerable countries are watching with dismay. PERKS LIGOYA, GLOBAL CHAIR, LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES GROUP: When you

see countries coming up with targets, saying by 2060, by 2070, we will do that. But who knows? By then, most of our young kids will be dead.

BLACK (on camera): They're not committed to what needs to be done this decade. That's the criticism.

LIGOYA: Exactly, exactly.

BLACK (voice-over): Australia's policies aren't popular at COP26, but its pavilion is. Crowds line up, eager for good free coffee, next to displays for a fossil fuel company.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't shun the countries out for being bad (ph). You need to have conversations with them that bring them on the journey towards --

BLACK (on camera): Especially when their coffee is so good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Exactly.

BLACK (voice-over): While outside, activists blast an air raid siren, declaring alarm over the little progress made here.

A breakthrough was never likely at COP26. Top many countries are still unwilling to make bold, immediate changes. And some have powerful economic and political motivations for sticking with the status quo.

Phil Black, CNN, Glasgow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: India is among the countries pushing back on efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, or at least at the rate that some at COP26 would like.

CNN's Vedika Sud is live this hour with more on the country's reliance on coal.

Vedika, good to see you. You're there close to an Indian coal-fired plant. Speak to India's reliance on coal in the context of COP 26 and also India being one of those nations pushing it back on the wording in the final agreement.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I would say it's good to be with you this morning from India, Michael, but I'm a bit doubtful you can actually see this coal-fired power plant behind me, because there is a heavy layer of pollution all around us. The air quality index is really poor, and it's in those specific categories around us. We're very close to India's national capital, New Delhi.

Very quickly, a few figures to put all of this into perspective when it comes to India's pledge at COP26.

Seventy percent of India's energy comes from coal, Michael, and India has a population of 1.3 6 billion people. The dependence on coal is very high.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended COP26, he made two or three very important points. He said India accounts for 17 percent of the world's population, but its emissions stands at 5 percent. That's the contribution from India.

Well, obviously, no contributions when it comes to emissions is good or bad enough. But clearly, what he also went on to say is that India should achieve the net zero carbon by about 2070.

India before going into COP26 made a few points, as well, through its environmental ministry, where they went on to say that India is a victim of climate change and not the cause for it.

And they were very clear, even at COP26, that climate finance is essential for India to achieve its 2070 target. So where we have to understand here, Michael, is also the fact that India has a massive population. It's recently, in the month of October, also faced an energy crisis, because of which the dependance on goal is even more than before.

So why has the Indian prime minister made that claim and pledged that 2070 is when India could achieve the net zero carbon emissions, there's a lot to be done here in India when it comes to dependence of people in the coal sector for employment, for their money, for their livelihoods.

And he also went on to say that by about 2040, 50 percent of its energy requirement from renewable energy will come by 2030, which is a huge push by India.

So when it comes to developed versus developing nations, India is trying to make his promises, keeping in mind the challenges it faces internally, Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Vedika Sud. You're right, can barely see that plant behind you. Absolutely extraordinary and very, very illustrative. Thanks so much, Vedika.

And let's head to Anchorage, Alaska, and Professor Richard Steiner. He's a marine conservation biologist with the environmental consulting group Oasis Earth.

Professor, thank you for being with us. How concerning is it that the so-called like-minded developing countries, which include big emitters like China and India, want an entire section of the climate mitigation language removed? What would be the impact of that?

RICHARD STEINER, MARINE CONSERVATION BIOLOGIST, OASIS EARTH: Well, it's unacceptable in this day and age. I mean, it would've been interesting 20 or 30 years ago.

[00:20:07]

But these -- these large emitters, these major polluting countries such as China, Russia, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, et cetera, have a role to play.

They have an important role. They have to join the community of nations in solving this problem. And so far they just continue to kick the can down the road, make inadequate commitments, and then actually don't abide by the commitments they do make.

So it's unacceptable, and the international community is going to have to find a way to both provide a carrot and stick to these countries. The carrot would be additional financing and technological capacity to help to make the transition to low carbon energy.

The stick would be penalties and consequences for noncompliance with sufficient reduction commitments and abiding those.

So we need to play hardball here. It's unacceptable to have these major polluters essentially walk away from this responsibility.

HOLMES: When the developing countries group says, you know, they don't believe developing countries should have the same deadlines and ambitions on emissions as wealthy nations that, you know, wealthy nations aren't living up to their side of things, that it's not just -- it's not fair or realistic that they have to live up to the same measures. Do they have a point or do they not?

STEINER: Well, certainly, there is a point to be made that the major polluters over time have a moral obligation and a political obligation to put some skin in the game, to really solve this problem.

But the major polluters include the -- China, the U.S., the E.U., Russia, India. Those -- those are responsible -- those countries, you know, 5 of the G-20 member nations, are responsible for half of the G- 20 -- half of the global emissions.

And so we need to resolve this problem. You know, these moral arguments about who's more responsible and who's not don't cut it. We need to reduce quantitative emissions on this planet from all these economies by 50 percent, below 2005 levels, by 2030.

And unfortunately, Glasgow has failed to do that. We sort of expected that to be the case, but these governments can't now just go home and say well, we tried, and sorry we didn't get there. They didn't get there, but we have to continue on.

And the G-20 needs to convene an emergency climate meeting in January or February and really lock the door and get a solution here for adequate commitments, legally binding, and noncompliance enforcement mechanisms, and adequate finance. We're nowhere close to the financial flows that need to happen to make -- to get us to the plus 2 -- under the 2 degrees Celsius limit. So --

HOLMES: You know, it's hard not to say here we are again. I mean, what Greta Thunberg calls "blah, blah, blah." The top versus the actions, self-interest versus what is actually required to save the planet.

Greenhouse emissions have almost completely rebounded after slumping during the coronavirus pandemic. What does that say about the effort so far to cut emissions in a substantial way, let alone what's ahead?

STEINER: Yes, we as a global community have failed since the first climate conference in 1992 as a part of the Rio accords, emissions have doubled globally. So use of fossil fuels has doubled, coal, oil and, natural gas. So we're not doing the job.

And so Greta is absolutely -- Greta and her thousands of colleagues, young people really feeling the force of this, and the consequences of it, are absolutely right on.

The adults in the room are not -- are behaving like children, and we can no longer countenance that.

So after Glasgow fails -- and I don't take away from any of it. There were minor successes in methane and deforestation, in coal, and clean technology finance and things like that.

But the emissions reductions commitments are nowhere near where they need to be. They're not legally binding. There's no consequences for noncompliance. And there's no money on the scale that we need. We need $4 trillion annually this decade, annually, amongst the G-20 and amongst the rest of the world, to make this transition happen.

And one way to get that is to reverse subsidies from fossil fuels to clean energy, and to institute a carbon tax in each of the G-20 nations. We've been -- we've known this for years.

HOLMES: Yes.

[00:25:02]

STEINER: We know how to do it. We need to force the issue amongst the G-20.

HOLMES Yes, I mean, the clock has been ticking for decades. It's almost like they don't get that, you know, the planet is at stake here.

Richard Steiner, wish we had more time. We do not. Professor, thanks so much.

STEINER: Thank you very much.

HOLMES: Quick break here on the program. When we come back, China's Communist Party strengthens President Xi Jinping's grip on power. What that means for the end of his second term next year.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. China's president will head into next year's Communist Party Congress with an even firmer group on power.

During its four-day meeting, the party adopted a landmark resolution celebrating changing things up achievements, and as David Culver moves for us, the move pays the way for president Xi to rule for life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: China's ruling elites meeting behind closed doors for four days in Beijing, rewriting the Communist Party's history to chart a new course.

The 350 or so top officials passing an almost unprecedented resolution, and this time highlighting the role of its current leader and Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in the nation's triumphant rise on the global stage.

VICTOR SHIH, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO: He wants to really highlight his own contribution to the development of the party. That also will seal his legitimate rule over China in the foreseeable future. That, of course, no one will challenges his power within the party.

CULVER: Unrivaled control. That puts Xi on par with past leaders paramount leaders Mao Tse-Tung and Deng Xiaoping. Both oversaw the only two previous resolutions.

The first, 1945, firmly placed Mao at the apex of the party. The second, 1981, five years after Mao's death, an effort to push past his disastrous policies as Deng opened China up to a surge of prosperity, an economic boom that's lasted decades.

(on camera): Now, 100 years since its founding, right here in Shanghai, the Chinese Communist Party has just passed a third such resolution. This one widely seen as elevating Xi Jinping as undisputed supreme ruler of what many here believe will become the world's strongest nation.

(voice-over): China's already become the second largest economy in the world. It has successfully lifted millions of its people out of poverty, and making other countries, including the U.S., uneasy with its rapid military expansions.

Its ascendance, the leadership proudly displays at so-called Communist Party pilgrimage sites, historically revered spots that downplay or ignore failures and controversies, from the tumultuous cultural revolution, to the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Instead, they focus on a century of successes and credit Xi, alongside Mao and Deng, for the nation's rejuvenation, with Xi's two immediate predecessors barely mentioned.

Xi is now even a mandatory part of school curriculums. All students must learn Xi Jinping thought.

Since taking power in 2012, Xi has methodically consolidated control, mounting an anti-corruption campaign that simultaneously eliminated his political rivals.

In 2018, he rewrote the constitution, getting rid of presidential term term limits. And this year, with a series of regulatory tightening on business and

tech. He showed the tycoons that the party is above all else. And loyalty to the party now means loyalty to Xi.

[00:30:10]

JEAN-PIERRE CABESTAN, PROFESSOR, HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY: Now we've back to the strongman politics, with the danger, of course, of relying on one person to make decisions, but also relying on his health, on his own character to decide about the future of a nation of 1.4 billion people.

CULVER: So much power handed to one man. History has taught us what that could mean. But for now, the world's biggest governing party keeping history in check, and paving the way for a future where its strongman leader could rule for life.

David Culver, CNN, Shanghai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: South Africa has lost a former president who helped bring an end to Apartheid. But he's still setting the record straight about the historic transition in a message released after his death. We'll have that, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM with me, Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

Now, South Africa bidding goodbye to its former president, who oversaw the end of Apartheid. Frederik Willem de Klerk, seen here with his successor, Nelson Mandela, died of lung cancer on Thursday. But, after his death, his foundation released a pre-recorded message in which he repeated that he was sorry for what Apartheid had done to generations of South Africans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK WILLEM DE KLERK, FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: I, without qualification, apologize for the pain, and the hurt, and the indignity, and the damage of Apartheid that has done to black, brown, and Indians in South Africa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It's unclear when de Klerk recorded that message. He was an unlikely reformer, coming from deeply conservative roots, to negotiate a historic transition to democracy.

As David McKenzie reports for us now, it all started with his famous speech in 1990 that stunned the nation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): F.W. de Klerk helped end generations of white minority rule in South Africa.

DE KLERK: A new democratic dispensation is foreseen, with full political rights for all South Africans.

MCKENZIE: But earlier in his career, there was little hint of anything revolutionary.

[00:35:03]

A deeply conservative de Klerk rose through the ranks of the National Party during the most draconian periods of racist Apartheid rule.

Then, as president, on February 2, 1990 --

DE KLERK: The government has taken a firm decision to release Mr. Mandela, unconditionally

We landed in a place which was morally unjustifiable. And I came to the realization, I cannot build the security of my people on the basis of injustice towards a majority of all people.

MCKENZIE: Some of his people, Afrikaner South Africans, called de Klerk a traitor for releasing Nelson Mandela.

But South Africa's painstakingly negotiated democratic transition helped stave what many saw as inevitable civil war.

DE KLERK It was only in South Africa when we negotiate, and when Mandela sat across from me and said, I will try to understand your concerns. You cannot defuse tension unless the parties to the conflict start talking to each other.

MCKENZIE: De Klerk would, jointly, win the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela, a move criticized by many.

And served as deputy president for a time.

But, the last white president of South Africa, once called Apartheid a developmental policy, only truly repudiating it after an outcry.

Some South Africans felt that he had little moral authority to criticize a democratically elected government, as he frequently did.

Over the years, Mandela and de Klerk developed a strong mutual respect, even friendship, a symbol that de Klerk said represented what could be possible in a country with such a painful past.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Surging coronavirus infections are forcing Germany to consider tougher measures to fight the spread of the virus. Berlin is banning the unvaccinated from restaurants, bars, cinemas, and other entertainment venues starting on Monday.

And authorities in the wealthiest state of Bavaria have already declared a state of emergency. Germany's likely next chancellor, Olaf Sholz, says restrictions need to be tightened, country-wide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLAF SHOLZ, CHANCELLOR CANDIDATE (through translator): We have to take many, many more measures that are necessary to get us through this winter. We must, in a sense, make our country winter proof.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: On Thursday, Germany reported a record of more than 50,000 new COVID infections. It is a trend being seen in much of Europe. The World Health Organization reporting the continent saw a 7 percent rise in new infections last week, as cases in all other regions dropped or remained stable.

[00:40:13]

The Chinese government has been trying to silence a controversial dissident artist known as Badiucao in China, Hong Kong, and now Italy. But Italian officials have refused to let that happen.

CNN's Ben Wedeman spoke to the Chinese-Australian artist about his work and the challenges that come with criticizing China.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China is seen in red, over an exhibit in the northern Italian city of Brescia, hosting the Chinese Australian artist known as Badiucao.

BADIUCAO, ARTIST: It's almost impossible that you can avoid offending the Chinese government these days. Anything could be sensitive; anything could be problematic.

WEDEMAN: So sensitive that the Chinese embassy in Rome recently requested the mayor of Brescia cancel the exhibit, scheduled to open Friday.

"I have to say, I had to read the letter twice because it surprised me," says deputy Brescia mayor Laura Castelletti. "It was an intrusion on the city's artistic, cultural decision."

CNN's repeated requests to the Chinese embassy for clarification went unanswered.

Badiucao moved to Australia in 2009, his art an uncompromising critique of the Chinese Communist Party. Three years ago, a show he was scheduled to hold in Hong Kong was canceled after he tweeted his family was threatened by China.

The exhibit in Brescia, however, is going ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a matter of artistic freedom of expression.

WEDEMAN: Badiucao has teamed up with Enes Kanter of the Boston Celtics, painting shoes for Kanter with messages championing the cause of oppressed minorities in China.

Kanter himself is an outspoken critic of China's alleged abuse of its Uyghur Turkic Muslim minority.

ENES KANTER, BOSTON CELTICS PLAYER: Leader of China, Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China, I'm calling you out right now in front of the whole world. Close down the slave labor camps, and free the Uyghur people. Stop the genocide is now.

WEDEMAN: Words like that, art like this, strike a raw nerve in China, which denies claims of genocide and mass incarceration.

Increasingly, angering China is also a raw nerve for multinational corporations.

BADIUCAO: They're so into the money market in China that they're willing just to let --

WEDEMAN (on camera): Well, that's nice.

(voice-over): Badiucao says he's regularly harassed online, and occasionally threatened, by those who object to his work. His art, war by other means against a system that has grown ever more powerful in recent years.

BADIUCAO: So it's like a better world, and that's how you can use visual language or use Internet memes to kind of dissolve the authority of censorship.

WEDEMAN (on camera): There's a real battle at the moment.

BADIUCAO: I think it's a long fight. It is too early to tell who will win.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): That this exhibit is happening, a small win perhaps.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Brescia, northern Italy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. More news at the top of the hour. WORLD SPORT coming up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:30]

(WORLD SPORT)