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Message from the Moderators to Our Portside Culture Readers

Portside
Last year also saw the launch of Portside Culture, with reviews, news and analysis on the arts and letters. The service Portside provides is in greater demand. Thousands are discovering that there is a Left in the US, and our daily posts help give a sense of its real scope. We turn for you to help because as we grow, so do our financial needs. We will continue, but to measure up to a re- charged and re-vitalized movement, your contributions will make all the difference.

Jets and Predators - Report from Germany

Victor Grossman Portside
Germany is constitutionally barred from foreign missions but that never bothered anyone in the government. Germany's rulers, in coalition armchairs or skulking in lobbies behind them, are very determined to expand political, economic and military power, not just in Europe but to far distant shores as well. Some dangerous bombs from the last century are still found in Germany; they must be defused. This applies equally to dangerous ideas.

In Oaxaca, Teachers Won’t Give Up the Fight

Eric Larson NACLA
Oaxacans in 2006 tied the repression of education workers to broader frustrations with official impunity and deep-seated social and economic inequality. Those frustrations continue to animate everyday life. In confronting today's new challenges, Oaxacans are doing more than simply “saying no.” They’re drawing from an array of experiences – including that of the Oaxaca Commune in 2006 – to imagine collective alternatives, and make them real.

The Maquiladora Workers of Juárez Find Their Voice

David Bacon The Nation
Low pay, abusive conditions, no union representation - employees are fed up and fighting back. About 255,000 people work directly in Juárez's 330 maquiladoras, about 13 percent of the total nationally, making Juárez one of the largest concentrations of manufacturing on the US/Mexico border. Almost all the plants are foreign-owned. Eight of Juárez's 17 largest factories belong to US corporations,

Tidbits - December 3, 2015 - Hillary, Bernie and Labor; Chicago cops, Suffragette (readers respond to responses); Socialism; US and refugees - disgraceful history; and much more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Chicago Police Killings of African Americans; Hillary and Labor; Readers debate Democratic Socialism; U.S. history and refugees, then and now - doors closed to Jews, while Japanese Americans are interned; Young Workers; NUHW Wins Battle with Kaiser; Quebec Rolling Strikes; Close Guantanamo; Who Benefits From A Post-Paris "Clash of Civilizations"?; Suffragette - Portside readers weigh in; Announcements: Book Sales; Worker Coops; Puerto Rico Fightback

Isis Shouldn’t Dictate How We Address Refugees

Chelsea Manning The Guardian
We must not let Isis’s crimes dictate how we address the refugee crisis – or privacy. Some want to exploit the Paris attacks in order to justify seizures of power to meet their own political ends. We should not let that happen.

Why Non-profits Can't Lead the 99%

Warren Mar The Stansbury Forum
Warren Mar has written a provocative piece on the role of Community Based Organizations and Worker Centers in the working class movement. He explores controversial issues of the funding and democratic control of these organizations which have filled a vacuum in organizing particularly among immigrant workers.

What We Learned In Chicago

Mark Dudzic Labor Campaign for Single Payer
October's national single payer strategy conference in Chicago was truly an historic event. For the first time in decades, national single payer advocacy organizations came together around a joint agenda and focused on building unity and strategic clarity as we work to finish the job and make healthcare a right for everyone in America.