Portside

This excerpt from "Democracy Is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up" explains how to think about grievance handling in another way.

The U.N. says he has the right of free passage to freedom, but this is denied. He has the right to medical treatment without fear of arrest, but this is denied. He has the right to compensation, but this is denied.

He is a rarity in his own land, one of only a handful of refuseniks living in Israel.

The unholy alliance between the Philippine and U.S. governments is long-standing.

We need an energetic movement that will fight for abortion without reservation. And that means reclaiming its radical roots—and reclaiming it from big national organizations, including the Democratic Party.

The notion of a white republic is neither new nor a figment of the imagination of the neofascists of our time.

What draws us to seek pleasure and solace in places often referred to as joints and shacks? Is this about time travel? Are they portals to a Southern past? Is it rooted in rooted in class difference, and a want to span that chasm?

The passage of a so-called "right-to-work" law in Michigan recently left the labor movement feeling gut-punched. AlterNet talks with Stephen Lerner, Jonathan Westin, Ruth Milkman, Bill Fletcher Jr., Jane McAlevey, Eric Robertson & Ben Speight for their suggestions on how labor can go on the offensive in the next year. Amy Dean, former president of the South Bay (CA) AFL-CIO Labor Council looks at best & worst developments of 2012 in the labor and social movements.

Just how long the songs will go on is anyone's guess. One person who isn't worried is Ballard, Chorus director, who credits Occupy Wall Street with raising awareness of labor issues."Very few young people would stop and listen to us, but now they do," said Ballard, who's confident that interest will spur a new generation to sing. "They'll be the next people who carry the torch."

This much is clear: the teachers and staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School reacted with astonishing courage to the unthinkable, the terrifying intrusion of a man intent on murdering them and their students. With no thought of their own safety, they defended their children. Everyone of them is a hero, those who died and those who survived....All at Sandy Hook Elementary School displayed courage. They did their jobs.