Portside

Sesame Street gentrified; Busting journos in Ferguson; Technocapitalism sucks (blood); Trump stomps puny Fox; Cops take to the net

The case for a new, open-source party of unified progressive movements. From Black Lives Matter to Occupy Wall Street, from the DREAMer movement to that for divestment from fossil fuels, young people and people of color have been at the forefront of a new generation of popular movements rising to fill the democracy deficit left by an unresponsive political system.

Worker co-ops are businesses owned and operated by the people who work at the company. Instead of squeezing and draining the company, workers, customers and surrounding communities to provide an increasing return for investors, worker-owned companies have an incentive to be responsible, obviously to pay good wages, to respect surrounding communities and the environment (where the workers/owners live) and to make the business a viable long-term operation.

Released during an international symposium taking place in Istanbul, the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change is signed by 60 Muslim scholars and leaders of the faith who acknowledge that—despite the short-term economic benefits of oil, coal, and gas—humanity's use of fossil fuels is the main cause of global warming which increasingly threatens "a functioning climate, healthy air to breathe, regular seasons, and living oceans."

As a Korean American whose parents were born in an undivided Korea, I care deeply about whether my adopted country - which drew the line in Korea, led the Korean War and signed the Armistice Agreement, and to this day militarily enforces the division - takes the just course of action to bring the Korean War to a final resolution.

Bill Fletcher's powerful speech at USLAW's founding in October 2003 is still on target. That founding conference launched USLAW and set the course to the 2005 AFL-CIO convention where we succeeded in putting the federation on record in opposition to the Iraq War - the first time in its then fifty year history it publicly opposed the commitment of US military forces anywhere in the world. His remarks show us how far we have come and how far we have yet to go.

Aside from her 35-year prison sentence, Chelsea Manning is now facing indefinite solitary confinement to be determined in a closed hearing August 18th.

The leader of the Cuban Revolution insists that Cuba will never stop struggling for peace and the well-being of all human beings, for every inhabitant on the planet regardless of skin color or national origin.

July 23, 2015, a formal Mediation Committee established by Samsung and civil society groups issued ground breaking recommendations to compensate hundreds of workers who became ill while working at Samsung and to implement innovative prevention policies to protect their workers in the future. Samsung has agreed to the Committee’s recommendation to provide 100 billion won ($85.8 million), but rejected the core recommendation — funding an independent non-profit foundation.

The country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of social and economic justice.