Portside

On November 25th more than 35 human rights and technology organizations from 19 countries announced the formation of the 'This Is Net Neutrality' Coalition, to define and protect 'net neutrality' and lead what they say is a global battle to protect online freedom. The new coalition has created a website to provide resources for activists, academics, policy makers and technologists committed to an open internet.

Last Sunday, Israel passed the Jewish State Bill, which according to human rights activists “upgrades discrimination.” Arabic, spoken by Palestinians, a fifth of the population, will no longer be an official language, and “Jewish tradition” and “the prophets of Israel,” will be the primary source of legal and judicial authority. It defines Israel as belonging to Jews around the world rather than to its citizens, which includes 1.5 million Palestinians.

Since the signing of the Single European Act in 1986, the European Union has been unable to agree on legislation which would provide working people with minimum social guarantees and common rights as workers in the face of the onslaught of the unified market forces. The result has been the continued erosion in the social well being of European workers.

The U.S. War on Terror campaign has done nothing to reduce world terrorism, but it has expended more than four trillion dollars in its global efforts, creating the "oligarchs of 9/11," war profiteers who are now wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. According to a new book by journalist James Risen, the U.S. War on Terror is responsible for “one of the largest transfers of wealth from public to private hands in American history.”

African-Americans are disproportionately likely to be poor, they are only a quarter of Americans living in poverty; whites make up about 41% of the poor. Those white Americans who don't want to help the poor because they'd be helping people of another race are actually screwing over white people big time. The wealth gap between /white and African-American families tripled between 1980 and 2009.

African-Americans are disproportionately likely to be poor, they are only a quarter of Americans living in poverty; whites make up about 41% of the poor. Those white Americans who don't want to help the poor because they'd be helping people of another race are actually screwing over white people big time.The wealth gap between /white and African-American families tripled between 1980 and 2009.

African-Americans are disproportionately likely to be poor, they are only a quarter of Americans living in poverty; whites make up about 41% of the poor. Those white Americans who don't want to help the poor because they'd be helping people of another race are actually screwing over white people big time. The wealth gap between /white and African-American families tripled between 1980 and 2009.

We've all been waiting for the grand jury's decision, not because most of us expected an indictment. District Attorney Robert P. McCulloch's convoluted statement resembled a victory speech. For a grand jury to find no probable cause even on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter is a stunning achievement...If the police contributed to the "epidemic" of violent deaths, a case can be made for the complete withdrawal of the police from Black and Brown neighborhoods.

"...it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard." [March 14, 1968]

For a Native American, the story of Thanksgiving is not a very happy one. Jacqueline Keeler, a member of the Dineh Nation and the Yankton Dakota Sioux finds occasion for hope. Poem for Thanksgiving 2014 by Seymour Joseph. Svati Kirsten Narula's research article, How America's Thanksgiving Turkeys Got so Huge - doubling in size in 50 years.