Archive | Portside

Staten Island Amazon Workers Vote to Unionize

April 1, 2022

In a stunning move, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island voted in favor of forming the first union in the history of the company — the nation's second largest corporation. More.

AI Helps Residents Battle Lead Nightmare in Benton Harbor MI

April 1, 2022

Benton Harbor needs to exhume thousands of corroded water service lines, and a machine learning algorithm is helping to figure out where to dig first.

April 1, 2022

Mill Mother’s Lament: Keeping Ella May Wiggins’ Legacy Alive

Karen Sieber Labor and Working Class History Association

Karen Sieber tells us of the effort to honor the memory of slain union organizer Ella May Wiggins and the struggle for power by textile workers in the South.

April 1, 2022

Heartwarming: Amazon Eats Shit

Laura Wagner Defector.com

Amazon warehouse workers at the company’s JFK8 facility on Staten Island made history today, voting in favor of the Amazon Labor Union. Is this not glorious?

April 1, 2022

Angela Davis Speaks at Rutgers in Rousing Talk That Elicits Standing Ovations

Rhea Swain Daily Targum

An idea informing Davis’ discussion was what she cited as Antonio Gramsci’s adage of possessing “pessimism of the intellect” and “optimism of the will” when advocating for social justice and building cultural movements.

April 1, 2022

Federal Judge Ruling That Trump Is ‘Likely’ Guilty of Multiple Felonies

David Carter US Central District of California Court

Excerpts from Judge David Carter's ruling that Donald Trump is 'likely' guilty of conspiring to obstruct Congress: "If Dr. Eastman and President Trump’s plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power."

April 1, 2022

Amazon Workers on Staten Island Vote To Unionize in Landmark Win for Labor

Karen Weise and Noam Scheiber The New York Times

Despite heavy lobbying by the company, workers at the facility voted by a wide margin for a union. The win on Staten Island could herald a new era for labor unions in the United States.

April 1, 2022

Brandon Langford Talks Through Detention

Maryfrances Wagner Rattle

Anyone passing through high school discipline will appreciate the fate of Brandon as told by his teacher, Missouri Laureate Maryfrances Wagner.

March 31, 2022

‘Everything Has Changed Except Our Thinking’ – Ukraine Is a Wake Up Call About Today’s World

Max Elbaum Convergence

The Russian invasion of Ukraine spotlights the interconnected crises facing humanity—and the need to link global movements if we are to survive them.

March 31, 2022

For the Sake of Humanity, Let’s Abandon American Exceptionalism

Aviva Chomsky TomDispatch

We can’t live without energy and we desperately do need to turn to alternatives to fossil fuels. But alternative energies are only going to be truly viable if we can also greatly reduce our energy needs, which means reconfiguring the global economy.