Portside

A new report from Yesh Din, Volunteers for Human Rights, denounces the Israel Defense Force's (IDF) privatization of law enforcement in the occupied territories. The Israeli Human Rights group accuses the IDF of transferring the power to arrest, search, question, and detain West Bank Palestinians to settler militias "who are motivated by an aspiration to seize additional Palestinian land and who refuse to recognize Palestinian land rights.".

This week 35 Congressional Democrats demanded the Obama Administration act to protect children laboring on U.S. tobacco farms. The U.S. Representatives announced their support for a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez September 23rd from U.S. Representatives David Cicilline (D-RI) and Matt Cartwright (D-PA), calling for the Department of Labor to close the loophole in U.S. labor law Labor which allows children over the age of 12 to work in tobacco fields.

Banned Books Week, the annual end of September "celebration of the freedom to read," brings to light the fact that around 11,300 books have been challenged since a consortium of literary-minded sponsors established the event in 1982. Challenges are defined as attempts to remove the title from libraries or schools, and in 2013, 307 were reported to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office of Intellectual Freedom.

For years, Muslim New Yorkers have been spied on, not heard; now they're finding their political voice. As the gears of federal government have ground to a halt, a new energy has been rocking the foundations of our urban centers. From Atlanta to Seattle and points in between, cities have begun seizing the initiative, transforming themselves into laboratories for progressive innovation. This is the latest in the The Nation's series, Cities Rising.

What were you thinking? Everyone in the family noticed that anti-war status you posted this summer, and the hasbara video they sent that you didn't `like.' Tonight they are going to air it all. The keyword of the evening: ISIS. You're going to hear it a lot. Because the Israeli leftist is a specimen: an object to identify, educate, and if that doesn't work, to chop up and make meatballs out of.

A response to Chelsea Manning's strategy to leave `self contained' enclaves for IS to rule - it is a crude, self righteous, inhuman lack of consideration for the populations involved, on the ground, and for what they want for themselves. (Response to original piece in The Guardian and re-posted on Portside.)

Some of the U.S. corporations most known for their so-called commitment to fighting climate change are actively supporting lobbying organizations and politicians most active in the movement for climate change denial. According to a recent report, "pro-sustainability companies" are pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of the "climate denier caucus" in the U.S. Congress in exchange for support of legislation that benefits their bottom line.

Reader Comments - People's Climate March, Greening of the Labor Movement, What Next; ISIS, Syria, Iraq, Muslim Fundamentalism; Ongoing War in Middle East; Elizabeth Warren and Israel; Theodore Roosevelt; Emmett Till, Michael Brown - Ongoing Struggle for Racial Justice; Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle; Texas School Text Books; Military Weaponry in Schools - WTF?; Socialism, Worker Cooperatives; Today in History; Abraham Lincoln Brigade celebrations

Brazil's incumbent President Dilma Rousseff has regained a slight lead in her bid for re-election October 5, in one of the most important elections in the Western Hemisphere. Brazil's Workers Party, which has held the Presidency for 12 years, has implemented wide ranging reforms to benefit Brazil's poor. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva served for two terms, and current President Rousseff is seeking election to her second term.

After more than a year of labor protests and strikes, eight major clothing brands committed this week to pay more for goods made in Cambodia in order to guarantee garment workers a higher wage. The eight clothing companies made their pledge on the eve of wage talks between the Cambodian government and the garment workers union scheduled for October. Cambodia's garment sector generates one-third of the country's gross national product.