Portside

Two Marxists associated with the left journal Monthly Review correspond in the years leading up to the publication of their magisterial Monopoly Capital. The reviewer calls the collection "fascinating for its details and quiet wisdom," grappling with a reconfigured empire that persists today.

Seattle owes its existence to the waterfront. But, in a city looking past heavier industries to a future powered by tech and service work, maritime workers and business owners wonder how long they will remain a vibrant part of the cityscape.

This book shows how California recovered from the grim, racist 1990s by creating community and labor political coalitions that revitalized the state and put it on a problem-solving oriented, progressive path.

More than one poll has affirmed that our country’s rising political demographic group wants to see more government intervention in the economy. Young Democrats lean socialist, and people of color are disillusioned with the capitalist system.

Creativity and art-making can be a medium for personal transformation by connecting us to our authentic selves. Who am I? Who am I becoming? What do I think and feel? What is my pain and what are my desires?

What does being a trans person in a transphobic society produce? Too often, it’s still violence, prejudice and discrimination. Lady Gaga told trans people we “were born to survive”. On the contrary, for better or worse our survival is dependent on the support and solidarity of others.

In Guatemala, family members are demanding justice for Claudia Gómez González, the 19-year-old indigenous woman whom a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot in the head and killed in Texas near the U.S. border.

Blue Lives matter and always have, but in the US black and brown lives have always mattered less. For the third year in a row, police killed nearly 1,000 people while Congress considers legislation making harsh penalties for violence against police harsher.

Although Janus threatens to deal a blow to U.S. unions, the West Virginia teacher strike suggests a way forward for organized labor. The strike effectively used social media as a tool for mass organization, centered on the needs of the community, and linked its cause to issues of social justice.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment Education Fund (AAPIs for CE EF) is a recently formed organization that has played a crucial role developing grassroots community organizations’ ability to build power inside and outside the electoral arena.