Portside
Material of Interest to People on the Left
Portside
Material of Interest to People on the Left
Friday Nite Videos | March 21, 2025
Bernie’s Anti-Oligarchy Tour Shows Dems How To Fight
The European Left Faces a Historic Challenge
Takedown Tesla Protesters Plan National ‘Day of Action’
Universities' Choice: Surrender or Fight Back
Trump Has Ordered a Hit on Judaism
No Justification for Israel to Resume the War in Gaza
Amid Right-Wing Attacks on Education, AAUP Fights Back
Who Started the War Between Russia and Ukraine?
Reader Comments & Tidbits, March 20, 2025
Culture
poetry
Nothing Important
The Truth Lies on Earth: a Year by Dark, by Bright
Poet Peter Carroll reminds us why we celebrate the arrival of spring.
books
On Trump’s Effort To Undo Free Speech
The Guardian
This book examines efforts of the network of Trump, government members, and the ultra-rich, to overturn Times v. Sullivan, the SCOTUS decision that made it hard for politicians to sue the press for defamation.
food
A Book Comes Close to a Unified Theory of Food. It’s a Big Job.
The New York Times
In “How the World Eats,” the philosopher Julian Baggini grapples with “everything that affects and is affected by” our comestibles.
tv
Poorna Jagannathan on Why Hulu’s Sweet, Sinister Deli Boys Is a Dream Gig
AV Club
Created by Abdullah Saeed, Deli Boys also centers South Asians in a genre that they’re rarely featured in
poetry
He Left Me Hundreds
In the Black, In the Red: Poems of Profit $ Loss
Poet Florence Weinberger contemplates what her husband, an Auschwitz survivor, left behind.
books
Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought
LSE Review of Books
In this book, writes reviewer Christiaens, author Bruno Leipold expertly surveys the writings of Karl Marx and tracks his intellectual journey which vacillated between and combined republicanism and socialism.
film
Anger Over ‘No Other Land’ Reflects Dysfunction of Israeli-Palestinian ‘All or Nothing’ Divide
The Wrap
The Oscar-winning documentary provoked reactions along the fault lines of the ongoing conflict.
Labor
labor
Trump Administration Quietly Lifted Ban on Dominican Sugar Company Over Forced Labor
The New York Times
Labor groups said working conditions had not changed enough to warrant the removal. The company is partly owned by donors to President Trump.
labor
Where’s the Heat, Where’s the Hammer
Convergence
Worker-led and initiated organizing is certainly positive, as labor writer Eric Blanc points, but this emphasis is one piece of a much larger analytical framework for success in organizing.
labor
OPM Looks To Limit Federal Unions’ Role in Coming RIFs
Federal News Network
The Trump administration is telling agencies to ignore any provisions in their collective bargaining agreements with federal unions that would impede reductions in force (RIFs), as agencies take steps toward implementing their initial RIF plans.
labor
Senators Introduce Bill To Ban Federal Labor Unions
Governing
Even as public employee unions fight the Trump administration’s personnel cuts, a pair of GOP senators want to ban federal employees from belonging to unions.
labor
The Leader of a Major Government Union Outlines Their Strategy To Battle Trump Federal Cuts—and Says Elon Musk Has ‘No Clue’ About Workers
Fortune
Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME: "I think it’s up to AFSCME and the labor movement and our allies and friends to continue to talk about what this administration is trying to do to hurt working people."
labor
Unionizing UnitedHealthcare
Jacobin
The largest NLRB union election win in February was at the primary care group Optum Care, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare. The vertical integration of health care has brought frustrating consequences for health workers, who are now organizing
labor
Rep. McGovern and a National Strike
MasterList
What we need to think about are things like maybe a national strike across this country.
Friday nite video
video
AOC, on Fight Oligarchy Tour, Gives Speech of the Year
Thousands are turning out for rallies in city after city in deep red and purple states and cities to rally with Bernie and AOC
video
The Imprisoned Israelis Refusing Military Service in Gaza
Since 7 October and the war in Gaza, refusenik organisations say the number of people refusing the draft has risen, even though during wartime punishments are harsher
video
Why Your Brain Blinds You for Two Hours Every Day
Every sight, sound, and touch you experience is the result of calculations your brain makes before reality even reaches you. What does it mean for your choices?
video
Stripped for Parts | Documentary
Hedge fund Alden Global Capital is quietly gobbling up newspapers across the country and gutting them, but no one knows why-- until journalist Julie Reynolds begins to investigate. Sign up for March 29 streaming of full documentary.
video
Trump Demands Putin Sign Ceasefire | Puppet Regime
The most important minute of the Trump-Putin phone call
video
Why the US Has Birthright Citizenship
The short answer is that birthright citizenship in the US came about as a way of granting citizenship after the American Civil War to the large population of formerly enslaved Black people
video
Who Is the Leader of the People | Edwin Starr
We dedicate this song to Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, whose double cross of his own caucus handed Donald Trump an expensive legislative victory
Spread the word