Portside

Did you know many African countries continue to pay colonial tax to France since their independence till today! 14 African countries forced by France to pay colonial tax for the "benefits of slavery and colonization."

Thailand's Deep Divide by Walden Bello (January 27 in Foreign Policy in Focus) Thailand's Protests and the Global Economy by Layne Hartsell (February 4 in Foreign Policy in Focus)

About 40 people gathered in the wind and snow Wednesday morning outside Whole Foods’ Midwest regional headquarters in Chicago, supporting single mother Rhiannon Broschat, who said she was fired last week after choosing to stay home with her “special needs” child instead of going to work during the bitter cold on Jan. 28.

The birth of continent’s newest nation was largely an American endeavor, brought about by a polyglot coalition of Christian evangelicals, U.S. corporations, the Bush and Obama administrations, the Congressional Black Caucus, and human rights supporters. But in many ways the current crisis goes back to November 1884, when some 14 countries came together in Berlin and sliced up a continent.

. The author of this iconic anthem of American patriotism was Katharine Lee Bates. In a brilliant lampoon of the bigots' backlash against the Coke commercial, Stephen Colbert pointed out that Bates was a lesbian. He could also have added that she was also a Christian socialist and an ardent foe of American imperialism.

Across the country, local delegations visited Staples stores in January to threaten a boycott unless the retailer's new "postal units" are staffed by actual postal employees.The APWU is in support of making postal services available in more places and for longer hours, as long as they are staffed by postal union members.

Corruption is endemic to the capitalist system and has not been successfully regulated away. Perhaps a system change is warranted?

* The Pipeline and U.S. Unions* * LIUNA On Keystone XL Pipeline Final Environmental Analysis* * Nurses Warn of Escalating Effects of Climate Change on Public Health*

Doesn't the NFL Pay Taxes?; Haven't the Redskins Changed their Name Yet?; Scarlett Johansson Turns Her Back on Human Rights, Takes the $$ Instead; Irish Should Defend Undocumented Latinos; Bronco chooses Chomsky over NFL; Cheerios Family in New Ad

“The Wars of Reconstruction” defies current trends in Reconstruction scholarship. Reconstruction’s central story, Egerton insists, takes place in the South, in the struggle of former slaves to breathe substantive meaning into the freedom they had acquired.