Portside

#FreeOscarLopez: “It is now or never and President Obama holds all the cards.”

This piece was originally performed on July 6, 2016 at Sidewalk Cafe in New York City as part of a show by Jamie Kilstein & The Agenda.

Without massive mobilizations that question the policies of austerity and the budget rights of the European Parliament, there can be no democratization of the European Union. Instead there is only catchy phrases and a "post-democratic" reality.

As the nation becomes more Black and Brown, an economic crisis in wage earnings could be on the horizon.

A combination of better jobs and pensions will remove one political obstacle to a green transition—and it’s the right thing to do.

I think we all know, deep down, that something more is required of us now. This truth is difficult to face because it’s inconvenient and deeply unsettling. And yet silence isn’t an option. And I’m sure that many who refused to ride segregated buses in Montgomery after Rosa Parks stood her ground wished they could’ve taken the bus, rather than walk miles in protest, day after day, for a whole year. But they knew they had to walk. And so do we.

 Sanders was clear early on that his campaign aimed to fortify a grassroots movement, not himself as a candidate. He identified the platform as a way to register the Democratic Party’s commitment to a progressive agenda—a kind of peace treaty between the DNC and the political revolution, but also an historical marker of dissent from the party’s neoliberal agenda.

People for Bernie’s statement on Bernie Sanders endorsement

Race and police violence – doing the math; Toxic testosterone; Hunting Muslims; BLM data; Libraries are back

"Ludlow: Greek Americans in the Colorado Coal War" and "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" -- two new documentaries, both of them stunning not only in their execution but in their implications, raise all the critical issues about the worth of human life. One takes place in the violent coal mines of the Southwest a century ago, and another takes place today in many locales leading up to appearances in concert halls all over the world.