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60 Years Later: On the Waterfront and Working-Class Studies

By Kathy M. Newman Working-Class Perspectives
Though the bitterness against Kazan has lingered lo these many years, we in working-class studies should reclaim On the Waterfront as one of the important texts for understanding what happened to American labor in the postwar period. We do so not to redeem Kazan, but to honor the workers that he and Schulberg were trying to represent.

Reps. Rush, Davis Encourage Karen Lewis to Run for Mayor

By Lynn Sweet Chicago Sun-Times
“When the leaders of my city, when the mayor stands proudly and takes credit for closing 54 public schools that are mostly on the South and West Sides of the City of Chicago, there is nothing but a continuation of the decades-long disinvestment in good-quality schools,” Rush said.

A Navy Nurse Is Refusing to Force-Feed a Guantanamo Inmate

By Josh Eidelson Business Week
“This nurse concluded that the military’s Guantanamo force-feeding policies are not humane,” Reprieve’s Crider said in an e-mailed statement. “Yet the military still insists that they are—so why won’t the Obama administration release the ten-plus hours of Mr. Dhiab being force-fed that I have seen? I think the American people would be very concerned to see what is happening at the prison.”

GOP Governor Implements GOP Economics, Disaster Ensues

By Paul Waldman The Washington Post
In many ways, Brownback’s term has been a perfect experiment in Republican governance. Take a crusading conservative governor, give him a legislature with Republican super-majorities so he can do pretty much whatever he wants, and let him implement the right’s wish list. The result was supposed to be a nirvana of economic growth and budgetary stability. But the opposite happened.

Why Opposing the Israel Lobby Is No Longer Political Suicide

by Phyllis Bennis The Nation
Our movement isn’t strong enough yet to end US enabling of the carnage in Gaza—but the shift in public discourse is a crucial first step. Now we just have to escalate our own work to get on to that next stage.

Rebel with a Cause

Jennifer Berkshire EduShyster
This is a critical moment in our history and we have to protect public education or we’re going to lose it. There’s an incredible sea change that’s coming from the rank and file in teachers unions, not just in Massachusetts but across the country.

Living Poor in San Francisco

Carl Finamore CounterPunch
Referring to the Brookings’ data, San Francisco writer Barbara Koh noted that the same trend is occurring in cities across America but “San Francisco’s income gap is distinctive, however, because our rich are uber-rich and getting richer. The $353,500 income of San Francisco’s wealthiest 5 percent of households is higher than their counterparts in any other big city.”

WikiLeaks Reveals Secret Global Trade Deal for Corporations to Operate with Impunity

Mike Ludwig, Truthout Report Truthout
Embattled WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange announced last Wednesday from London the publication of a secret draft text of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), a controversial global trade agreement said to make it easier for corporations to make profits and operate with impunity across borders.