Portside

In this new book, Thomas Frank offers an analysis of today's Democratic Party that should serve as a cautionary tale for its supporters in this election year. Writing from the United Kingdom, Adam Barnett offers an appraisal of Frank's findings.

President Lee Saunders, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, statement congratulating Secretary Hillary Clinton on her victories in Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Florida.

President Lee Saunders, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, congratulates Secretary Hillary Clinton on her victories in Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Florida.

The fact that many children can get breakfast at public school may well be thanks to a revolutionary act that brought down the fury of Hoover’s FBI. To dig deeper into this history, and ask about the lessons it holds for modern food activists, Nathaneal Johnson spoke with Murch, a professor at Rutgers University and the author of Living for the City: Migration, Education and the Rise of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California.

Black youth-led groups organizing for justice played a key role in Kim Foxx’s win in the Cook County state’s attorney’s race Tuesday night. And they’re showing no signs of slowing down.

Robin D.G. Kelley makes the case that the university is not an engine of social transformation, activism is. He opens a debate published by the Boston Review. Respondents include: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Barbara Ransby, Charlene Carruthers, Michael Eric Dyson and others.

The punditry is already rushing to crown Clinton the Democratic winner. However, the growing divide among Democrats between the older and the younger deserves more attention. The Clinton campaign people are certain that the threat posed by Trump or Cruz will help mobilize Democratic turnout. But a party whose leaders are selling more of the same may well find it hard to inspire young voters and independents who are looking for a very new deal.

Some progressives joined with the racist, reactionary right in opposing Evo Morales' bid for another term in office. They forgot that a ‘Yes’ for Evo was a yes for the longer history of struggle and hope for its future. As the gas bonanza enters difficult days, we can hope that the progressive ‘No’ of the NGOs and the bookish classes can return to the popular ‘Yes’ of the movements. For those on the edges of society, Evo had come to mean hope and possibility.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's slate of labor-busting measures has touched off a lengthy budget impasse in Springfield.

"This is incredible news for our beaches, for our family vacations, and for sea turtles and whales," said Maggie Alt, executive director of Environment America. "Atlantic coastal communities spoke up loudly and clearly against drilling and spilling, and today the president is standing with them."