Portside

Roughly 2,750 unionized employees are carrying out the first strike at a Canadian auto assembly plant in 21 years in Ingersoll, Ontario.

Lee has always occupied a unique place in the national imagination. The ups and downs of his reputation reflect changes in key elements of Americans’ historical consciousness — how we understand race relations, the causes and consequences of the Civil War and the nature of the good society.

The chant drew criticism from protesters, activists and some police officers. In a statement, Sgt Heather King, president of the Ethical Order of Police, a group founded by African American officers, said: “That chant goes against the very code of ethics we swore to abide by."

Widespread internationalist views have played a role in the recent nationalist defeats. In elections in March in the Netherlands, the xenophobic Party for Freedom, though given a chance at victory by political pundits, was soundly defeated. Much the same happened in France, where, in May, a political newcomer, Emmanuel Macron, trounced Marine Le Pen, the candidate of the far right National Front, in an election for the presidency by a 2-to-1 vote.

With The Vietnam War, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have created a film that rehashes some old, tired tropes. In doing so, they distort what soldiers, veterans, and antiwar activists alike know about the war and its aftermath, especially inside the United States.

Net Neutrality protests; Why Equifax; Jemele trumps prez; Foxifying Harvey; Indie women's mags; Truckers heart Terry Gross

An Oscar-buzzed performance acts as the stoic centre of Joe Wright’s retelling of the events of 1940, played as a House of Cards style thriller.

In Ireland, a woman who is clinically dead but 17 weeks pregnant is being kept alive against her family’s will. At this painful time, her relatives must go to court to stop the Irish state treating their loved one’s body as a cadaveric incubator. But leading male politicians, including Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny, urge women to be calm and unemotional, even when confronted with the reality of implementing draconian laws directed at women.

In terms of losses in human lives, 2014 has been a horrific year for Palestinians, when an Israeli war against the Gaza Strip killed and wounded thousands. While some aspects of the conflict are stagnating between a corrupt, ineffectual Palestinian Authority (PA), and the criminality of Israeli wars and occupation, it would also be fair to argue that 2014 was also a game changer to some degree—and it is not all bad news. And here are five reasons why.

This week the President/CEO of the National Newspapers Publishers Association, the 73-year-old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers in the United States, called upon the Black community to support full normalization of relations with Cuba. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. noted only Congress can lift the embargo of Cuba, and only the people can "force Congress to do the right thing." Now is not the time for Black America to be silent, he said.