Portside

In 900 schools in 30 cities—from Houston to Miami, Patterson to Pittsburgh—teacher unions participated in “walk-ins” to “reclaim our schools.”

Union President Laura Glading stepped down in October—under pressure from angry members, who were pushing for a special recall election. American Airlines announced in January that it had hired her as a consultant.

Extermination, extinction, genocide--themes of history so horrible, we seldom want to consider how close they are to our own homes. Poet Esther Kamkar reports from a Zuni friend who cannot forget what happened here,

Portraying her subject as a radical voice of the dispossessed, author Jacqueline Mulhallen presents the poet Shelley less as a romantic and more as a traitor to his own class for his revolutionary politics. Here is the Shelley who, though writing when the British working class was in its infancy, grasped and wanted to overturn the oppression under which they lived. It's that red Shelley who inspired among others Karl Marx, even as his poetry became part of the canon.

The idea that "everything and everybody everywhere should operate as if they were a business" has emerged a working definition of contemporary neoliberalism. Another way of putting it is that "everything and everybody everywhere" should actually be a business. Lester K. Spence shows how this philosophy pains most of us while focusing on neoliberalism's effects on black politics. Brandon Soderberg offers an introduction to Spence's argument.

Senator Bernie Sanders visits United Automobile Workers Local 600 in Dearborn, Michigan. The problem is that the union won't endorse any candidate until after the Michigan primary. AFSCME which has 60,000 to 65,000 in Michigan endorsed Secretary Hillary Clinton will be campaigning for her. Other unions will be campaigning for both candidates.

Migrant workers in the Gulf states have few rights and work in poor conditions, yet they are organizing and protesting, and they need solidarity. True solidarity means forging a coalition of equals—recognizing that migrant workers in the Gulf are far from passive victims—and supporting their struggle for life and dignity.

The droll conceit of "Where to Invade Next" is that the Joint Chiefs of Staff “summon” Michael to the Pentagon and deploy him to “invade” countries around the world. But instead of looting them of their natural resources, such as oil, Moore brings their best ideas—including free university education, expanded leisure time, worker representation on boards of directors, school reform, punishment of bankers for recklessly wrecking economies, prison reform, back to the US.

The FDA announced that it will withdraw its approval for three chemicals used to make grease, stain, and water repelling food packaging and consider banning seven food additives used in both “artificial” and “natural” flavors. This raises much larger questions about one of the agencies with the most control over the safety of what we eat.

For voters who’ve been around for a few decades, this election season has often been an agonizing time-loop back to the nineteen-nineties, to old debates, to long-dormant controversies, especially when it comes to Hillary Clinton. If you’re seeking perspective, I have an offbeat suggestion: go to Hulu, then watch one of the most indelible episodes of “A Different World”: “The Little Mister,” from 1992.