Portside

As the World Health Organization warns the Ebola outbreak could infect up to 20,000 people, experts urge the international community to take more aggressive action to address crisis. Medical professionals fighting the Ebola epidemic on the ground in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria say it is "unacceptable" that "serious discussions are only starting now about international leadership and coordination" to fight the virus.

A recent Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) report, kept secret for more than a year, raises serious questions about the ability of California's last remaining nuclear power plant to survive an earthquake on any of Diablo Canyon's several fault lines. The environmental group Friends of the Earth called for the immediate shut down of the plant, charging PG&E, the plant owner, and the NRC with putting profits before the "safety of millions of Californians."

In a wide ranging acceptance speech for the 2013 Liberator's Prize for Critical Thought, sociologist and author Marta Harnecker discusses the essential role of genuine popular participation in the revolutionary transition to "21st Century Socialism" in Latin America, exercising power in the "inherited (capitalist) state" to build the foundations of a new political system, and the fundamental need for a new pluralist and tolerant culture on the left.

After extensive research in Virginia, scientists have shown that mercury alters the very thing that many birds are known for – their songs. Emitted by the burning of coal, mercury in the atmosphere has quadrupled since the days before industrialization. Understanding why mercury-contaminated songbirds can’t sing their songs could help scientists learn more about how human brains are damaged by mercury, too.

A “Moral Week of Action” demands that Republicans “repent and repeal” their public policy attacks on the human and civil rights of North Carolinians

America’s top central bankers didn’t make time for inequality at their annual hobnob last week. Over in Germany, Nobel Prize winners in economics did. But few Americans noticed.

Today the American labor movement -- like the rest of American society and like labor movements throughout the world -- is being forced to grapple with global warming, climate chaos, and climate protection strategies. The future of labor’s growth and vitality will depend on its ability to play a central role in the movement to build a sustainable future for the planet and its people.

When Zekerullah's teacher, a teacher accustomed to beating pupils, asked the class elementary questions about the environment, Zekerullah had definitely done his homework. But among his recent studies were the history of nonviolent movements, led by people like Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, to resist oppressive forces.

What is Labor Day about? Dignity. Equality. Solidarity. These five videos talk about those ideals in 2014. Dolly Parton: 9 to 5. The Wage Gap. Walmart: Standing Up Together. Race / Off. Forward Together: A Week of Action. Documentary: The One Percent. Watch, and strengthen your resolve to dream and struggle for another year. -- moderator

“Ralph Fasanella was a consummate New Yorker and self-taught artist who represented the very best of American ideals,” says Dr Anne-Imelda Radice, executive director of AFAM. “He cared about people who did not have a voice, so he gave them a voice through his paintings.”