Jacqueline Steiner, Lyricist Who Left Charlie on the M.

"Charlie on the MTA". They wrote it for a progressive candidate named Walter A. O’Brien, who opposed the latest fare increase.

Trump's Global Politics

Trump is wedded to a racist and non-reality-based view of the United States' relationship to the rest of the world. But we also need to pay attention to the geopolitical calculations of the U.S. elite overall to craft an anti-war strategy.

Australia to Reopen Notorious Offshore Detention Camp

Poster protesting reopening of Australian refugee camp.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the reopening of the infamous Christmas Island refugee camp in response to legislation allowing asylum seekers on two other island camps the right to travel to Australia for medical treatment.

Yellow Vests and Red Unions Strike Together

Eyewitness report from France. Deaf to the angry people’s legitimate grievances, unwilling to deal with them, Macron has given himself no other choice than to legislate new repressive legal restrictions to suppress their continued free expression.

Lessons from the FBI’s Secret War on Activism

The FBI had played its role as the “political police of the national government,” Noam Chomsky wrote and the government maintained to the bitter end that it had a right to undermine an organization just because of its ideas.

What Ilhan Omar Said About AIPAC Was Right

As a Jew, an Israeli citizen, and a professional lobbyist (ahem, activist), I speak from personal experience when I say that AIPAC is tremendously effective, and the lubricant that makes its operation hum is dollar, dollar bills.

White Supremacy Is a Key Driver of the Venezuela Coup

This is the story of Venezuela in black and white, the story not told in The New York Times or the rest of our establishment media. This year’s so-called popular uprising is, at its heart, a furious backlash of the whiter (and wealthier) Venezuelans

The Greensboro Sit-In Protests, Explained

February 1 marked the 59th anniversary of the start of the Greensboro sit-ins, a protest started in 1960 by four college students against racial segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their actions quickly spurred a nationwide movement.

Neoliberalism Is Killing Our Love Lives

Dependency and power imbalances brought on by capitalist financial insecurity are the enemies of true romance. Are all your relationship woes rooted in economic anxiety? Absolutely not. But by organizing collectively, we can become more empowered ...

Thank You Portside readers

We Portside moderators send you our thanks for responding generously to our annual appeal. You are one of nearly 500 readers who contributed $31,800+.
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Culture

poetry

Hoktvlwv’s Crow

Jennifer Elise Foerster Bright Raft in the Afterweather
Jennifer Elise Foerster’s poetry depicts the natural environment—songbirds, hackberry trees, a butterfly named Question—fated for an apocalyptic ending.

food

The Physics of a Perfect Pizza

Jason Daley Smithsonian Magazine
pizza oven Two physiciists and a food anthropologist analyze the secrets of the perfect pie and come up with a formula for home-use.

poetry

Invasive Species

Amit Majmudar Massachusetts Review
Taking a global perspective, Ohio poet Amit Majmudar masterfully links issues of ecology and refugees.

Labor

labor

The Rebirth of Mexico’s Electrical Workers

David Bacon NACLA
The Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) is Mexico’s most important independent union on the Left. Ten years ago, it was nearly destroyed. Today, its members are rebuilding through a new labor cooperative.

labor

Should We Mourn the Loss of Industrial Jobs?

James Partick Ferns Working Class Perspectives
We should, of course, avoid simplistic nostalgia for industrial work, nor should we forget its dangers and adverse health effects. Yet workers are right to remember and value many aspects of industrial employment.

labor

The General Strike that Shut Down Seattle 100 Years Ago

Cal Winslow Working In These Times
Today, this strike is largely forgotten, or worse, when remembered, dismissed as a long lost cause, sometimes reduced to a “disaster” – that is, a near fatal setback for Seattle’s working people. It was neither.

labor

CBSN Unionizes with the WGA East

Writers Guild of America East Writers Guild of America East
In a first for digital streaming news services, the writers, producers, and graphic artists at CBSN – CBS News’ 24/7 live streaming news network – have unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE).

Friday nite video

video

Ari Melber Interview With Four Key Mueller Witnesses

Four witnesses involved in Bob Mueller’s Russia probe – Jerome Corsi, Sam Nunberg, Michael Caputo and Carter Page – are each linked to President Trump, each directly involved in the Russia probe and have each given testimony to federal investigators

video

Get Me Roger Stone | Movie Trailer

One man was plotting a Donald Trump presidential run for years: Roger Stone. Diving deep into the mind of the master manipulator, Get Me Roger Stone provides a raw perspective on American politics from Joe McCarthy to Richard Nixon to Donald Trump.