Portside

Socialist democracy, essentially superior, still has a long way to go. Being revolutionary is participating with a perspective of committed criticism. Criticizing is not reporting a known fact; it is acting on it, pushing toward its solution... Radicalism in understanding and in action; the revolutionary seeks the root of a problem, even when it cannot be extirpated immediately, even when one errs in pointing it out and moves rapidly into action....

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres was feted as a visionary man of peace, but his legacy is more complex and nefarious. He bears prime responsibility for the Oslo Accords, which created a Palestinian Authority without authority and enshrined Israeli control over all aspects of life in occupied Palestine. He launched the military operation that resulted in the Qana massacre of civilians in Lebanon, and sold nuclear weapons to the South African apartheid regime.

All 1,100 low-income residents in the West Calumet Housing Complex in the East Chicago, Indiana are being forced to move due to the high levels of lead. And many are outraged about why the dangerous soils weren't identified and removed earlier and why a branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had assured them they and their children were safe. Test results released in August show alarmingly high concentrations of lead on every street in the complex.

NYC restaurant workers sing and dance for $9 minimum wage. Supreme Court takes on the Voting Rights Act. Wealth inequality: it's worse than we think. Deer hunter to McConnell: "I'd be a pretty bad shot if I needed an assault rifle." We Are Wisconsin: The story of a citizen driven uprising that changed a state and the nation.

One overlooked aspect of the response to Hurricane Sandy can give us reason for optimism. The backbone of the knowledge presented in scientists' Draft Climate Assessment Report arises from efforts of unsung (and unwitting) heroes: people who collect weather data. The coordinated, cross-generational, collective nature of the public data-collection efforts reveals an unexploited strength in our society.

Formerly top secret records that provide new details about the "Campaign of the NO" in Chile–the dynamic political movement that eventually led to Pinochet's loss of the presidency. Like "Zero Dark Thirty," "Argo" and "Lincoln," which also examine historical events, "NO" has been criticized for misrepresenting, and omitting, key elements of the history it depicts. Genaro Arriagada, who directed the actual Campaign of the NO in Chile, called the movie a "caricature."

The stock market is basically back to where it was in 2000, while corporate earnings have doubled since then. Yet the real median wage is now 8 percent below what it was in 2000, and unemployment remains sky-high. Why?

What’s not to be happy about the travails of an organization that for decades has had a “southern strategy” of taking advantage of racial intolerance? Of seeking political advantage by demagogically targeting women and men who have crossed the southern border seeking work? Of stirring homophobia in an effort to divide and conquer?