Jane Goodall jokes about sending Trump, Musk, Putin, Xi, Netanyahu to space in final interview
London: In one of her final recorded interviews, legendary primatologist Jane Goodall humorously suggested sending several world leaders and billionaires on a one-way trip into space, comparing their aggressive traits to those of alpha male chimpanzees.
The remarks appear in Famous Last Words, a new Netflix documentary released after Goodall’s death last week at the age of 91. Speaking to interviewer Brad Falchuk, Goodall said she would launch Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Benjamin Netanyahu “all on one of Musk’s spaceships” bound for a distant planet.
“There are people I don’t like, and I would like to put them on one of Musk’s spaceships and send them all off to the planet he’s sure he’s going to discover,” Goodall said. Asked if Musk himself would be aboard, she quipped, “Oh, absolutely. He’d be the host.”
Goodall, known for her pioneering research on chimpanzee behavior and lifelong environmental advocacy, drew parallels between aggressive human leaders and alpha chimpanzees. “We get two types of alpha,” she explained. “One rules through aggression and doesn’t last long. The other uses intelligence and alliances — they endure much longer.”
In earlier interviews, Goodall had likened Trump’s behavior to that of dominant chimpanzees, noting their tendency to “swagger” and intimidate rivals.
The documentary also captures her reflections on mob aggression in both humans and chimpanzees. “It’s contagious,” she observed. “When one becomes aggressive, the rest catch that feeling. They’re protecting territory or fighting for dominance.”
Despite her critical tone toward some world figures, Goodall ended the interview with hope. “Even today, when the planet is dark, there still is hope. Don’t lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic,” she urged viewers.
Comparing the current global crises to Britain’s wartime resilience under Winston Churchill, Goodall said, “You have moments of depression, but then you say, ‘I’m not going to let them win.’”
Her final message called for small, collective acts to protect the planet: “If you want to save what is still beautiful in this world, think about the actions you take each day. Multiplied a million times, even small actions will make for great change.”
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Fascism will not be allowed to enter through the back door of vote rigging: CM Siddaramaiah
New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that fascism would not be allowed to enter India “through the back door of vote rigging” and called upon citizens to collectively defend the country’s democratic foundations.
Speaking after participating in an anti–vote rigging protest organised in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah said the gathering was not merely a political demonstration but a stand to protect Indian democracy. “We have come to the heart of our republic not as Congress workers or voters, but as protectors of Indian democracy,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of the right to vote, Siddaramaiah said it was the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
“Through voting, a farmer shapes the future of his children, a worker safeguards his dignity, a youth realises dreams, and a nation expresses its collective will,” he said.
He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to undermine this right through what he termed systematic vote rigging, including the alleged misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls. “This power is being stolen repeatedly,” he alleged.
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Warning against authoritarian tendencies, Siddaramaiah said history had shown that dictatorship does not begin with violence but with the misuse of institutions and manipulation of democratic systems.
“Across the world, authoritarian regimes pretend to protect democracy while quietly subverting it. This is what the BJP is doing today,” he charged.
He alleged that the ruling party was controlling institutions, intimidating electoral machinery, distorting voter lists, suppressing voter turnout in opposition strongholds, and misusing money and power. “This is not mere maladministration. Vote rigging is an attack on the very idea of India,” he said.
Siddaramaiah further claimed that governments formed through “stolen votes” could not be considered democratic.
“Such regimes survive through fear, fraud and distortion of the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that vote rigging posed the biggest threat to the republic since Independence.
Praising Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said he had shown exceptional courage in exposing alleged irregularities in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and “systematic, organised vote rigging” across several states, including Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.
Referring to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited Mahadevpura and Aland constituencies as examples highlighted by Gandhi. In Mahadevpura, he said, thousands of allegedly fake and fraudulent voter entries and discrepancies in electoral rolls pointed to a narrow BJP victory. In Aland, he said, attempts were made to remove the names of legitimate voters ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
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He noted that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recently filed a chargesheet accusing seven persons, including a former BJP MLA and his son, of attempting to delete the names of around 6,000 voters in Aland.
“This is a significant legal step in the fight against vote rigging,” he said.
Siddaramaiah concluded by stating that the fight against vote rigging was rooted in constitutional morality, Ambedkarite thought and the core principle of democracy. “Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, regime or those who seek to steal elections,” he said.
