Portside

James Scruton dedicates this poem about his own white-collar labors to the late Philip Levine, the poet who celebrated working-class people who spent their lives “digging or pounding…wrenching or drilling.”

Socialist thought is re-emerging at the forefront of the movement for global ecological and social change. In the face of the planetary emergency, theorists have unearthed a powerful ecological critique of capitalism at the foundations of Marx's materialist conception of history. This has led to a more comprehensive conception of socialism rooted in Marx's analysis of the rift in "the universal metabolism of nature" and his vision of sustainable human development.

This ethnographic study of America's gun culture focuses on Detroit and Flint, Michigan, and it both confirms and challenges aspects of received wisdom about our country and our firearms.

The movie is also a Hollywood rarity - a boxing movie with a black hero. It is bizarre, though hardly surprising, that a sport dominated for decades by African-American and Latino athletes looks more like ice hockey on screen. And Creed, embeds its drama in the perils and pleasures of black life in America. Adonis is a complex character with a complex fate. He is at once a rich kid and a street kid, the proud carrier of an illustrious heritage and an invisible man.

Once a year, Portside asks our readers for support. And every year, our readers come through. Thank you, thank you! Our role as moderators is bringing you material that is relevant, lively and useful, as we work together for a better country and world. If you have already contributed, many thanks! If you haven't... please do. While our expenses are relatively modest, they are very real. Here's why we are asking for your support.

I am excited to announce my new partnership with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a team of scientists, economists and politicians working towards transforming our current food system into one that endeavors to grow food that’s healthy, green, affordable, and fair.

From ethically dubious telenovelas like El señor de los cielos to brutally insightful features like El infierno, Mexican media has become in many ways a reflection of the violence that has racked the country since the Cártel de Juárez took over the coke game from Pablo Escobar back in the 1990s.

"in a world where war is the natural state of affairs," writes the New York poet David Lehman, the unthinkable surrounds us all--the ones with "dough," "the refugee who cannot lost his German accent," even those whose aim is "to live at peace."

Last year also saw the launch of Portside Culture, with reviews, news and analysis on the arts and letters. The service Portside provides is in greater demand. Thousands are discovering that there is a Left in the US, and our daily posts help give a sense of its real scope. We turn for you to help because as we grow, so do our financial needs. We will continue, but to measure up to a re- charged and re-vitalized movement, your contributions will make all the difference.

Like the people within, immigrant detention centers are often invisible as well. Photos and drawings of these places are rarely public; access is even more limited. Canada has three designated immigrant prisons, and it also rents beds in government-run prisons to house over one-third of its detainees. Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention begins to strip away at this invisibility.