Portside

After more than a year of labor protests and strikes, eight major clothing brands committed this week to pay more for goods made in Cambodia in order to guarantee garment workers a higher wage. The eight clothing companies made their pledge on the eve of wage talks between the Cambodian government and the garment workers union scheduled for October. Cambodia's garment sector generates one-third of the country's gross national product.

Brazil's incumbent President Dilma Rousseff has regained a slight lead in her bid for re-election October 5, in one of the most important elections in the Western Hemisphere. Brazil's Workers Party, which has held the Presidency for 12 years, has implemented wide ranging reforms to benefit Brazil's poor. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva served for two terms, and current President Rousseff is seeking election to her second term.

Reader Comments - People's Climate March, Greening of the Labor Movement, What Next; ISIS, Syria, Iraq, Muslim Fundamentalism; Ongoing War in Middle East; Elizabeth Warren and Israel; Theodore Roosevelt; Emmett Till, Michael Brown - Ongoing Struggle for Racial Justice; Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle; Texas School Text Books; Military Weaponry in Schools - WTF?; Socialism, Worker Cooperatives; Today in History; Abraham Lincoln Brigade celebrations

Some of the U.S. corporations most known for their so-called commitment to fighting climate change are actively supporting lobbying organizations and politicians most active in the movement for climate change denial. According to a recent report, "pro-sustainability companies" are pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of the "climate denier caucus" in the U.S. Congress in exchange for support of legislation that benefits their bottom line.

A response to Chelsea Manning's strategy to leave `self contained' enclaves for IS to rule - it is a crude, self righteous, inhuman lack of consideration for the populations involved, on the ground, and for what they want for themselves. (Response to original piece in The Guardian and re-posted on Portside.)

What were you thinking? Everyone in the family noticed that anti-war status you posted this summer, and the hasbara video they sent that you didn't `like.' Tonight they are going to air it all. The keyword of the evening: ISIS. You're going to hear it a lot. Because the Israeli leftist is a specimen: an object to identify, educate, and if that doesn't work, to chop up and make meatballs out of.

For years, Muslim New Yorkers have been spied on, not heard; now they're finding their political voice. As the gears of federal government have ground to a halt, a new energy has been rocking the foundations of our urban centers. From Atlanta to Seattle and points in between, cities have begun seizing the initiative, transforming themselves into laboratories for progressive innovation. This is the latest in the The Nation's series, Cities Rising.

Banned Books Week, the annual end of September "celebration of the freedom to read," brings to light the fact that around 11,300 books have been challenged since a consortium of literary-minded sponsors established the event in 1982. Challenges are defined as attempts to remove the title from libraries or schools, and in 2013, 307 were reported to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office of Intellectual Freedom.

Moral Mondays movements in North Carolina, and 13 other states in the South and Midwest have begun to build a new fusion movement that draws together workers, women, young and old, black, brown, and white people, documented and undocumented, environmentalists, people of faith and atheists, and the LBGT community based upon “moral” and “constitutional” agendas.

A different strategy is needed to mobilize people who believe in a two-state solution: one that focuses on the Israeli right and the settlements and on nation-building in Palestine.