john: tonight on "pbs news weekend." as more protesters are arrested, how students and administrators at some colleges are diffusing tensions over pro-palestinian demonstrations. then, a quickly changing civil war is putting myanmar on the brink of becoming a failed state.

and, a new book tells the stories of some of the millions of americans who've struggled with mental health issues. >> part of the reason why people don't want to talk about these illnesses is they think it's such a reflection on their moral character, when in fact, when you read these, it's clear the illness has taken them hostage, that their behavior is a reflection of their brain illness. ♪ >> major funding for "pbs newshour weekend" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, this is sam. . how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. somebody's pocket, i will let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of everything. have a nice day. >> certified financial planner

professionals are proud to support pbs news weekend. cfp professionals are committed to acting in their clients best interest. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening, i'm john yang. in the israel-hamas war, today was a day of impeded progress. amid gaza's worsening humanitarian crisis, hamas

rockets fired at israeli forces near the main entry point for aid which led israel to close the crossing. the israeli military said 3 soldiers were killed. the kerem shalom has been a lifeline for more than a million displaced palestinians who need food, water and medicine. and in cairo, the latest round of talks aimed at a hostage release and ceasefire deal ended as hamas negotiators went back to qatar. they're to return to cairo on tuesday. hamas is holding to his position that they would only release hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire -- something israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says is out of the question. prime minister netanyahu: but while israel has shown willingness, hamas remains entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the gaza strip, end the war, and leave hamas in power. the state of israel cannot accept that. john: and the israeli cabinet voted to shut down al jazeera's

operations in israel. shortly afterward, the main cable provider took it off the air. the foreign press association in israel called it a dark day for media and democracy. in kenya, the interior ministry said the death toll from flooding and landslides has risen to 228. torrential rains have battered kenya for weeks -- and are forecast to get worse in the weeks ahead. homes, roads and bridges have been destroyed and more than 200,000 people have been displaced. ukraine marked its third orthodox easter at war with russia. ukrainians flocked to churches, even as russia kept up its assault on the eastern front. behind the front line, a chaplain held mass and blessed soldiers, who showed the effects of being outgunned and outmanned. in his easter address, president voldomyr zelenskyy said god has a “ukrainian flag on his shoulder.” and the art world has lost one of its great innovators. frank stella died of lymphoma yesterday at his new york city home. his paintings and sculptures are distinguished by his use of geometric patterns and shapes. when critics tried to interpret

his work, he said, “what you see is what you see” -- a phrase that became the unofficial motto of the minimalist movement. frank stella was 87 years old. still to come on "pbs news weekend". what a shifting civil war means for the future of myanmar, and a new book details the personal stggles and triumphs of those living with mental health issues. >> this is "pbs news weekend" from weta studios in washington home of the pbs newshour on pbs. john: the prevailing image of college protests over the past few weeks have been of escalating tensions, students clashing with police and mass arrests but students and administrators at least six schools from rhode island to california, have found common ground and negotiated agreements to close tent encampments. erin gretzinger is a reporting

fellow at the chronicle of high education. what do these agreements look like? what have schools agreed to do? >> the schools who have made agreements so far, we have seen distinct stipulations, but common themes in each. at northwestern which made an agreement early last week, we saw several steps towards what students view in the groups as moving toward their major demand of divestment. fleece them make agreements to have a committee to look at divestment. northwestern agreed to disclose investments to all internal stakeholders as well as movement on agreements that have been in the works for longer for students who are muslim, who are from the middle east, and are of north african descent. we see similar things in agreements at brown who will take a vote on investment this fall. overall i think the main themes to take away our that these and cap meant have been central for

administrators who wanted to focus on de-escalating the situation. that has been the main mantra. students on the other hand have looked at these as staffed store the broader demand of divestment. john: i was going to ask, how meaningful are the concessions? they are not devasting, they will talk about divesting. >> absolutely. i think what a lot of higher ed onlookers have seen is administrations have appeared to take in student demands seriously but have still fallen short of the key purpose of these protest which is divestment. there is some question, i think some pro-palestinian stunt demonstrators and experts who study student activism are not quite sure how far agreements will go. if they go as far as some student protesters will help. there are some questions of faith -- if this will result in divestment. similar universities have taken action before. brown and northwestern have had similar reports and committees

studying these issues but nothing has moved in the past. john: have there been criticisms from other student activists, may be donors and alumni of the schools? >> there has been a sense that while some student groups are declaring victory, some jewish groups, local, campus and national have criticized agreements, particularly at northwestern university. we saw immense backlash with three major jewish glue -- groups calling on the president resign, characterizing it as a betrayal to these students for failing to enforce policy there there's also been a discrimination lawsuit filed against northwestern. you can see theroad spectrum of reactions and it gets to the point of presidents being in hot water in this moment and having to contend with many stakeholders pulling everyone in different directions. john: given that the

administration is in hot water, what was the motivation for students to bail them out and get an agreement? >> it's interesting because i've talked to experts who say students in this regard have a very clear eyed goal of divestment and that puts college administrators in a tricky place . normally they have a playbook to go into negotiations essentially, whether it is an identity based movement, they can go to student affairs programs, or a matter of student employee relations, they can go to the negotiating table around unionization. but here with clear-cut commands like divestment, there's not a lot of room for compromise in these students' eyes. that's important to consider were so many students have not even chosen to come to the table even when there administrators ask them to. john: at pomona and yale, students won't talk. what are their motivation? >> there's a sense that, some

have criticized the students saying if you want to meet your ultimate goal, you have to come to the table and come to the table to discuss. the students say until the universities are taking action toward that, they don't see your point in meeting. i think it gets at the broader tension. experts point out this generation of student activists have grown up in an era full of social justice movements from black lives matter in 2020, march for our lives, climate change. they've been instilled with a lack of trust and public officials that they see as motivating students to not necessarily come to the table or be placated and that some of the major criticism in this moment that these agreements are placating students to basically step back, take down the encampments before ultimate goals are met. john: the schools that want to negotiate, are they in any way pressuring the schools that are

not doing that? >> it's a good question. it's hard to say how many schools will fall behind other institutions because different institutions are facing different pressures. for private schools, we've seen an immense amount of donor pressure building since october 7. public schools have a different obligation. there are eyes on them from the state legislatures. there's different pssures when it comes to strictly abiding by first amendment time, place, manner restrictions. a universal pressure is that it is the end of the semester. it's kind of a double edge sword. it's a busy time, graduation, finals, alumni events that might be pushing schools to want to pursue action. . the chronicle of higher john: you very much. john:the southeast asian nation

of myanmar is on the brink of becoming a failed state. for three years, the nation of 54 million people has been embroiled in an escalating civil war between the military junta and hundreds of pro-democracy militias, ethnic armies and local defense foes. civilians are suffering. the united nations estimates more than 18.5 million people desperately need humanitarian assistance, thousands are fleeing the country. a 2021 military coup brought to an abrupt end me's move toward democracy. the widespread peaceful protests that followed were put down by the junta with a brutal crackdown. scores of opposition protesters fled the cities for the mountainous jungles that make up much of the country. pro-democracy militias and armed ethnic groups united with the common goal of overthrowing the junta. last month, rebel forces took control of a key economic hub that was responsible for $1 billion in trade last year.

it is among the latest in a long line of junta defeats over the last six months that has left resistance groups in control of a significant part of the country. earlier, i spoke with aye min thant, a burmese-american journalist, about the current situation in myanmar. aye min thant: fighting has really escalated in myanmar since october of 2023, where, we -- myanmar saw large resistance forces coalesce and foreman elisha -- form and ally ship and launch a coordinated attack against the military on multiple fronts. and since then, major gains were made, especially along the border regions. allow major trade routes. in some cases trade towns and , trade routes were able to be shut down. although the military has regained control of some of these areas. they have been dramatically weakened. john: who are these groups fighting the junta military? who are they and what do they want? aye min thant: so there's various groups that are fighting the military. there are what are called ethnic, armed organizations

which are made of ethnic groups that were essentially thrown in the country together for the first time through british colonization and have a long history of being individual political entities and have been fighting for independence, in some cases for legal rights, and in some cases for complete separation from the country of myanmar proper. in addition there are multiple groups that have come to being since the coup, mostly of farmers and students and other young people from the ethnic majority group who, since the coup had turned to violent revolution to negate the effects of the coup and try and turn the country back toward democracy. john: is there enough common ground among the groups beyond defeating the military junta that that if they were to prevail, they'd be able to establish a government? aye min thant: right now there

is a common enemy in the military, but it's unclear that if the military were to fall tomorrow that these groups would be able to coalesce into a formal government or even interim government in order to lead the country back into a unified whole. on one hand there is a civilian shadow government that has formed since the coup, but they don't necessarily have the buy in of on a number of ethnic groups and organizations that felt that their parties, even when civilian government was in control, but they really respected, and saw various ethnic groups as a equals. john: this fight has been going on for about three yea. what has been the effect on the civilian population? aye min thant: the u.n. refugee agency are estimates over 2.5 million people have now been displaced internally in the country since the beginning of the coup, and over 100,000 people have been displaced into neighboring countries. and that's, of course, not counting nearly 1 million rohingya refugees who were displaced, in previous waves of military violence. john: how much support are the

displaced people not only within myanmar, but who fled myanmar, how much support are they getting? aye min thant: various humanitarian organizations are still trying to function and distribute aid. unfortunately in order for them to operate, they are forced to collaborate with the military. in many cases the military prevents the organizations from going to certain areas, citing security concerns there the surrounding countries thailand, , india, lao and china don't provide very much, refugees, if any at all. thailand does not recognize refugees as a class. the same holds true largely of india as well, where, the modi administration is not happy with the amount of refugees coming into the country. bangladesh has closed its borders as much as it can. the border near loa and china has also been, really on guard since covid, and has largely not been trying to accept refugees as well. john: the united nations has

described the human rights situation in myanmar as a never-ending nightmare. who is committing these? is it one side over the other committing human rights violations? aye min thant: according to monitoring organizations, the vast, vast majority of human rights abuses are being committed by the military. the military is engaging in extrajudicial killings. over 50,000 people have been killed. since the coup. either through torture, extrajudicial killings, airstrikes, arson. the military also engages in airstrikes on largely protected places like schools, hospitals and religious sites. there is a weaponization of arson, burning down of villages, rape as a weapon of war. and lately, we're also seeing a lot of forced recruitment, by the military. on the other hand, we are also seeing, human rights abuses from the resistance side. there have been reports of extrajudicial killings, especially the people who have been accused of being informants

for the militaries or people seen as collaborators who are not necessarily combatants. john: what does the road ahead look like? is it possible that one side or another could prevail? or is this just going to be a deadlock? aye min thant: the fighting has been going on for three years, but we've really seen a lot of big moves, in the last six months despite the fact that the conscription law has existed for many years at this this is the point. first time in history that it's been used. analysts have taken this as a sign that this means that the military is quite desperate to try to fill its ranks, especially as they are starting to lose more and more battles. what started off as largely young, untrained people, many of whom grew up in cities and have never touched a weapon, but people who are largely farmers, using homemade weapons and commercial drones have now turned into pretty battle hardened troops who have gotten their hands on to military weaponry. john: aye min thant, thank you

very much. aye min thant: thank you for having me. john: for former congressman patrick j. kennedy, advocating for mental health care isn't is part of his family's legacy. his uncle, president john f. kennedy, signed a bill to establish community-based mental health care systems. ali rogin sat down with patrick kennedy to discuss his latest book, which details the mental health struggles of everyday americans. reporter: the u.s. has long been in a mental health crisis that experts say has only gotten worse in recent years. more than one in five adults deal with mental illness, but there's still a stigma around openly talking about it. patrick j. kennedy's new book is called “profiles in mental health courage.” the title pays homage to his uncle's book, which profiled american political leaders. this collection of profiles features the mental health journeys of people from around trick kennedy, thank you for

being here. patrick j. kennedy: good to be here. reporter: what made you want to write this book? patrick: well, i remember en simone biles wasn't able to completely olympics competition, and everybody was like, why can't you get on that balance beam? and she said, i have to protect my mental health. but really, we don't have a good understanding about what that means because we don't have anybody who tells their full story. i told a story, but frankly we all kind of whitewash it a little bit and make it pretty so that people who are still in the middle of it don't see themselves refleed in any of the public narratives. because, let's be honest, these are messy, complex illnesses. and we like finite, very, linear descriptions. and for us as a nation, we know all the statistics are horrendous. suicide going up, overdose going up. what we don't have is a sense of what does this really mean?

real people's lives, how do they navigate getting insurance coverage how do they navigate , getting good coverage in terms treatment, which many peopleed don't receive? and then how do they navigate personal relationships? because these are not illnesses in a vacuum, they involve the whole family. and often those stories get left out. we just hear from the first person narrative, this is what happened to me as if their family was not part of it. so i interviewed the therapist, family members, friends, and it's interesting that that provides a much more realistic portrayal of what they're really going through than the one we often like to tell. ali: you address a lot of misconceptions in the book. what do you think are some of the biggest, most persistent misconceptions about mental health? patrick: well, the beauty about these stories is that by the end of reading them, people will get a sense of theerson and their illness. part of the reason why people don't want to talk about these illnesses is they think it's such a reflection on their moral

character, when in fact, when you read these, it's clear the illness has taken them hostage, that their behavior is a reflection of their brain illness. and that's a piece that we really haven't fleshed out because people still, you know, say that that's your moral failing, that you've acted in such a way. when you read these stories, you get a very clear sense. well, no, this is this person, and then this is their illness. and those that are, are already in the middle. that will feel less alone because they'll read stories that they can identify with. we have a very diverse set of profiles who also have a very diverse set of diagnoses, but i think from all of it you will see people need, you know, evidence based treatment for therapy, talk therapy, medicine , and social support, housing, supportive employment. you can't just do one piece of this and expect the whole thing to work out.

unfortunately, given our medical system and what we pay for, we often pay for just one leg of the stool and no wonder it falls down. anno wonder we as a nation are wondering, we spend all this money on mental health. but what's it getting us? we're not paying for what we need to pay for. if we did, we would be getting results not only because we would screen people earlier, which is what we do for cancer and cardiovascular disease and diabetes. we would be treating them earlier too, which would mean they'd have a better chance of recovering. when people read these stories, they'll have the sense we need as a nation to go further upstream. if we have a conversation earlier about this, because we're not so filled with shame, we're going to be able to help people earlier in the process of their suffering, because we're not going to say, oh, that's something i shouldn't talk about because it's intruding on their personal territory. we'll have that conversation because we want to save each other's lives. and at the end of the day, more people end up surviving.

ali: one of the things you write about a lot in the book, in terms of your own story and the others that you share, is the connection between mental health and addiction. and so frequently they're treated as two completely separate things. why was that important to make that point throughout the book? patrick: well, obviously, we've divvied up brain illnesses as if they're all separate diagnoses when it's the brain, the brain, the brain. and obviously you need to treat both kind of concurrently if you're going to get the best results. and in the advocacy world, we need to stop the siloing. we all want the same things. and so we need to create a new political movement that's much more sophisticated and has the power that really the numbers reflect. we are the biggest special interest group. or we could be if we were organized. and as a former elected official, if i knew this, ny people in my dist cared about this issue, which i can't get now, there's no listserv like there is for the envinment or for organized labor or any other issue?

i can't know how many people in my district really will vote differently based upon whether i adhere to their stated set of priorities. so in the back of this book, i have a qr code to our alignment for progress. the concept is we want to align the financial incentives so that we provide housing support, medication, talk therapy, and we get the best results. our goal is 90% screened, 90% given evidence-based treatment and 90% having supportive recovery. that should be our goal as a country. unfortunately, we don't have a vision that unites us, but we have to build on these stories in order to create that vision. ali: and these stories really illustrate that vision that you're talking about. patrick kennedy, author of the new book "profiles in mental health courage." thank you so much for coming in. patrick: thank you so much for

having me. john: and that is "pbs news began" for this sunday. on monday, wnba's brittney griner opens up about her 10 month stay in a russian prison and her return home. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. have a great week. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- >> more information at let'smakeaplan.org. >> and the ongoing suppo of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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