Portside

Sanders’ candidacy is less a test of the power of the populist message than a test of populist energy and independence. The biggest obstacle is less to convince voters that he’s right than to convince them that he’s a serious candidate, worth supporting. He has to find ways to get a hearing. And he has to find ways to overcome understandable cynicism. That is the challenge to the emerging populist movements.

The six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray - who died after being injured in police custody - have been charged criminally, State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Friday. "Where are the jobs for the young people some so swiftly label "thugs?"" Len Shindel worked at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point Plant in Baltimore for 30 years and for most of that time was an activist and USWA representative.

"I learned how to fight the long shifts, the bashed fingers," writes poet David Salner of his mining experiences, but he also sees the beauty of sorrow. An appropriate lyric for May Day.

Across this full history, the overblown promise of private coverage pushed public programs to the categorical margins. As a result, working Americans enjoy less security—in international or historical terms—against the risks of retirement or illness. The private welfare state, in this sense, is a little like a private school or a private jet—not just a different way of delivering the goods, but a reliable and deliberate mechanism for sustaining inequality.

Tunisia has taken the most hopeful direction after its Arab Spring. But none of the entrants in the forthcoming election seems to have the valid and drastic economic plans that will be needed to fulfil the aspirations of Tunisians.

The claims that Venezuela has a deficient democracy and that current protests represent mainstream sentiment are belied by the facts. The antigovernment protests are being carried out by people in the wealthier segments of society who seek to reverse the gains of the democratic process that have benefited the vast majority of the people.

We should've seen the McCutcheon decision's blow coming. But we must still fight to get big money out of politics

Saadiyat Island is across a narrow sea channel from Abu Dhabi. Many luxury villas are being built as well famous museums like the Guggenheim and the Louvre. Unfortunately many of the construction workers are poorly paid and forced to live in poor facilities.