Portside

We now have more income and wealth inequality than at any time in the last hundred years. And it’s not just income and wealth inequality that is plaguing our nation. It is the maldistribution of economic and political power.

“Ours in an old war,” says the poet Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer. “It has a beard and calls itself Uncle.”

Bernie Sanders, With 200,000 Grassroots Volunteers, Says 'I Am Running to Win.' Movie -- Time Out of Mind. Steve Earle - Mississippi It’s Time. Joe Hill Documentary. Pete Seeger - Casey Jones.

“It’s worth it, once you realize what you’re fighting for,” says Ahmed Mohamed. And what is he fighting for? He looks around the room, and like any American 14-year-old grappling with issues beyond his control, he answered with the rising inflection of a question. “Not just for Muslims?” he said. “But for anybody who has been through this?”

Former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi and Republican front-runner Donald Trump share a flaunted machismo and political incorrectness, saying outrageous things to get free media coverage, and targeting predominantly blue-collar white males who feel threatened by globalization, multiculturalism and women’s rights. Berlusconi was initially dismissed as wholly unelectable. His political momentum lasted more than 20 years.

"Right-to-work" is coming to the public sector. The key to survival is social movement unionism.

Warsan Shire, a Kenyan-born Somali poet based in London, addresses the terror and desperation of migrants forced to leave their homes seeking safety, shelter, hope even in strange and often inhospitable lands. Hers is a language of experience and insight, capturing the tension of the current crisis of uprooted people. .