Portside

Reader Comments: Trump is a Fascist; Poem written by Pastor Martin Neimoller; They Are Coming Again; Chicago Police Crimes and Mayor Rahm; Venezuela Elections; Portside Fund Appeal; Non-Profits and the 99%; Bernie Sanders' Socialism and the Left Critics; Edward Snowden Meets John Cusack and Arundhati Roy; World's Richest 10 Percent Responsible for Half of CO2; Remembering Danny Rubin

The New York Times reported in 2014 new immigrants are more often to be found in midsize cities, like Dayton, Ohio than in New York, Chicago, and other large cities. Like Youngstown, Dayton had lost over 40% of its population. But city officials embraced immigration by establishing a Welcoming Dayton plan in 2011. New immigrants and refugees were encouraged to relocate in this community and developed support groups to help newcomers adjust to their new community.

Seldom, if ever, have Israel's decision-makers been so sharply at odds with their professional watchdogs on so many critical issues. Netanyahu has staked out a position on the nature of Islamist terrorism that's fundamentally at odds with his own intelligence community. Other questions include the causes of the current violence and strategies for containing it, the advisability of goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians, and the feasibility of resuming peace talks.

Portside thinks we can do better than capitalism -- and had better do better, if we and our children are going to have a future -- without proposing a neat blueprint for the future or a well-drawn roadmap to it. We are a community of people on the left and an alternative medium of communication. Every year at this time, Portside asks all our readers for help, for support. Here's why we are asking for your support.

Trump's proposal taps into a reservoir of racism that is part of American history. FDR ordered American-born and immigrant Japanese people into prison camps at the outset of World War II, one of the worst violations of the Constitution. From the moment the first slave was taken off a ship in colonial America, African-Americans have been subjected to violent racism. So have Latino immigrants, another Trump target. Anti-Islam feeling is rampant...all it needs is a leader.

Union organizing victories across the country from Phoenix Airport Fueling Agents to Barnard College Adjuncts is good news for the labor movement.

The Bangladesh Accord negotIated by global labor and lnternational human rights groups after the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013 contains important protections for workers. Nonetheless, its effectiveness is limited by the weakness of unions on the ground in Bangladesh and by the pro-corporate global regulatory framework.

Framing free speech and political correctness as opposing forces is a false dichotomy intended to derail uncomfortable but necessary conversations, a smokescreen ginned up by the ethically lazy. The fact is, political correctness doesn’t hinder free speech – it expands it. But for marginalised groups, rather than the status quo.

For the first time, Chavistas may not feel like the proud, governing majority in the country. On the other hand, an opposition with power is more the reason for strengthening organization. Having lost the luxury of taking victories for granted, the grassroots will need to become even more serious.

Amidst ongoing and widespread protests calling for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's resignation, Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-8) has filed legislation, House Bill 4356, which would provide a mechanism for recalling the Mayor of Chicago.