Information is power. Our mission at Portside is to seek out and to provide information that empowers you -- that empowers the left. Every day we search hundreds of sources to connect you with the most interesting, striking and useful material. Just once a year we appeal to you to contribute to make it possible to continue this work. Please help.

 

French General Strike; One Year of the Yellow Vests

French workers cherish their welfare state. That’s why they’re striking. Macron’s proposed retirement reforms are latest attempt to erode the safety net. The people are fighting back. First anniversary of Yellow Vest uprising marks an historic moment

There’s a Philosophy Behind Trump’s Lies

The president’s falsehoods are dizzying in number, but they follow a predictable, time-honored tradition of how dictators and totalitarians rule.

Fred Hampton Murdered by Chicago Police 50 Years Ago

Early morning, December 4, 1969, fourteen police officers executed a search warrant on a Chicago flat rented by the Black Panther Party. Supposedly looking for illegal weapons, instead, they shot and killed two people, leaving four others wounded.

Reconstruction - The Unfinished Revolution

Charting the ironies of freedom won and lost during and after the Civil War, Eric Foner, the American historian, has also helped us better understand the ambiguous consequences of what were almost always only partial victories.

Dec. 5, 2019-Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements

Reader Comments: Economy Not Fine, Half Work Low-Wage Jobs; Reparations; Centrist Dems; Work at Amazon; Chicago Teachers Strike Lessons; UAW GM Strike Was Significant; Resources: Bullies in Blue; Multicultural Children's Books; "I Am Troy Davis"....

Charlottesville's Echoes Forced a New Zealand Reckoning

A Maori man attacked a statue to raise awareness of his ancestors’ pain. A newspaper covered the story, and a very important reader took action: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Building Power and Raising Voices of Rural Women

Progressive community organizing, led by rural women, is emerging as a tool to keep one another alive through times of desperation and struggle.

Latina Workers' Wages Trail Non-Hispanic Men by 44%

Since Hispanic women continue to be over-represented in low-wage jobs, policies that lift wages at the bottom will have a significant impact on their wages. A Federal minimum wage increase to $15 would affect nearly one in three Latina workers.

Silicon Valley Giants Dodge Over $100 Billion in Taxes

Among the tech companies studied, Amazon "stands out as the business with the poorest tax conduct," according to the U.K.-based Fair Tax Mark.

Global Left Midweek - December 4, 2019

On this 50th anniversary of the assassination of proletarian internationalist Fred Hampton, a new radical student movement in Pakistan takes inspiration. News and analysis in the spirit of Chairman Fred: "I am a revolutionary."
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Culture

books

Monopoly and Its Discontents

Gerald Berk The American Prospect
It's no Marxist critique of class power--would that it were--but Matt Stoller's Goliath, aimed at moving the Democratic Party off dead center, slams all the right enemies in urging the resuscitating of the anti-monopoly tradition of the 20th century

books

Racial Terror & Totalitarianism

Mary Helen Washington Solidarity
African American anti-fascist intellectuals sought to link colonialism and U.S.-style racism with European fascism using a variety of rhetorical and artistic means. This book offers a portrait of those efforts.

poetry

The Father of Our Country

Kim Roberts Southern Review
With tongue in cheek, Kim Roberts explores the patriarchal origins of our Thanksgiving holiday.

Labor

labor

Harvard’s Graduate Student Union Begins Strike

James S. Bikales and Ruoqi Zhang The Harvard Crimson
Harvard’s graduate student union began its strike Tuesday at midnight after more than a year of contract negotiations with the University.

labor

Almost Half of All Americans Work in Low-Wage Jobs

BY Aimeea Picchi CBS News
Even though the economy is adding more jobs, there's increasing evidence that many of those new positions don't offer the kind of wages and benefits required to get ahead. Americans are working but aren't earning enough to gain economic stability.

labor

Bus Drivers and The Right to Pee

TransitCenter StreetsBlogDenver
“We’re in a different world today, where management is all about the money and the company’s bottom line, but where’s the dignity of a person?”

Friday nite video

video

The Report | Movie

The plot follows staffer Daniel J. Jones and the Senate Intelligence Committee as they investigate the CIA's use of torture following the September 11 attacks. It covers more than a decade's worth of real-life political intrigue. Starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening. Streaming on Amazon.

video

Dark Waters | Movie

Mark Ruffalo stars as an attorney who goes after DuPont for dumping toxic wastes in West Virginia. But more than a simple "superhero triumphs" docudrama, Dark Waters is a dark tale of the human consequences of corporate power for everyone it touches.

video

Queen & Slim | Movie

A "driving while Black" police stop turns a first date into a fugitive nightmare. Read a full review here.

video

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

The child's neighborhood is full not only of kindness and happiness, but fear, jealousy, anxiety and the entire range of emotions. Mr. Rogers confronted them all.

video

After Parkland | Documentary

The intimate and moving story of families of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School navigating their way through grief, and searching for new meaning in the immediate days, weeks and months after the Parkland shooting that left 17 dead, the private journeys of these families as they rose to challenge the nation to end gun violence

video

Sondland Screws Trump

Testimony from Trump's Ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, confirms Quid Pro Quo and says "everyone" was in the loop on it, while ranking House Republican Devin Nunes digs extra deep to defend the indefensible

video

'Crime After Crime' | Song Parody

‘He’s a thug, he’s a crook, he’s our president. Crime after crime.’ — This scathing song parody by Jen Houston lists Trump’s many transgressions.