Portside

Following the murder attempt on right-wing activist Yehuda Glick, leader of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, the claim is being made that he and his colleagues have been leading a civil rights movement for Jews. The Temple Mount movement has never been a movement for religious equality or peaceful coexistence. And continued efforts to change the status quo at the al-Aqsa Mosque could lead to catastrophe.

In December 2013, Baldemar Velasquez, the founder and President of the American farm worker union the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), briefed the British House of Commons on the state of human rights for tobacco farm workers in the United States. His report raised deep concern amongst MPs. On July 26 and 27, 2014, we met with farm workers in the fields where they work and within the camps where they live.

Stung by criticism the NATO alliance “walked away” from Libya after its bombing campaign helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced an agreement at the 2013 G8 summit to train the reconstituted Libyan armed forces. But the scheme for the UK, US, Italy and Turkey to train recruits has been beset with problems, including who is going to pay for it. Some trainees have returned to Libya and joined anti-government militias.

A federal district court judge, in a recent ruling that could well presage a similar decision by the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority, disallowed the use of one of the primary tools for proving housing discrimination. If allowed to stand, the ruling would devastate the ability of fair housing advocates to prove discrimination by a realtor, landlord or lender.

Popular protests last week forced out the man who had run the West African nation of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) for the last 27 years. Ousted President Blaise Compaoré was a key ally of US. However, one military ruler was immediately replaced with another as the army stepped in after days of angry demonstrations. Domestic, regional and international demands are growing for a swift transfer of power into civilian hands. But will it happen?

In response to Occupy Central protests in Hong Kong, China's government is reportedly committed to paying more heed to the "two systems" component of its unique governing relationship with the former British colony. But it will stress its "one country" nature. Sources indicate Beijing will make certain "appropriate adjustments" while also campaigning to educate its residents to the fact that Hong Kong is an integral part of China.

Instead of positioning as an advocate for the people, and especially the people who are being squeezed, too many Democrats were running as technocrats and bi-partisan healers. The election was fundamentally about frustration with a recovery that most people haven't enjoyed. The GOP theme was to blame President Obama and tie Democrats to him, arousing their base. Democrats chose not to run nationally against Republican obstruction.

I feel this morning the way I felt the day after Ronald Reagan was elected president. While the Reagan presidency institutionalized a neoliberal economic agenda that has shaped the national and global economy ever since, we also witnessed in the subsequent years massive movements against nuclear weapons, huge mobilizations against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and on-going struggle. Joe Hill was correct when he urged his comrades "don't mourn, organize."

People in the U.S. and around the world are being rapidly divided into two classes, the well-to-do and the lower-income majority. This severing of society will change only when progressive thinkers (and doers) agree on a single, manageable solution that will stop the easy flow of wealth to the privileged few.

In an editorial published in the print edition of the New York Times, Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, in English and Spanish (appearing online the evening of Sun. Nov. 2), the Editorial Board has called for a prisoner exchange of the three remaining members of the Cuban Five for Alan Gross, who is serving a 15-year sentence in Cuba.