Portside

"Ludlow: Greek Americans in the Colorado Coal War" and "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" -- two new documentaries, both of them stunning not only in their execution but in their implications, raise all the critical issues about the worth of human life. One takes place in the violent coal mines of the Southwest a century ago, and another takes place today in many locales leading up to appearances in concert halls all over the world.

Race and police violence – doing the math; Toxic testosterone; Hunting Muslims; BLM data; Libraries are back

People for Bernie’s statement on Bernie Sanders endorsement

 Sanders was clear early on that his campaign aimed to fortify a grassroots movement, not himself as a candidate. He identified the platform as a way to register the Democratic Party’s commitment to a progressive agenda—a kind of peace treaty between the DNC and the political revolution, but also an historical marker of dissent from the party’s neoliberal agenda.

I think we all know, deep down, that something more is required of us now. This truth is difficult to face because it’s inconvenient and deeply unsettling. And yet silence isn’t an option. And I’m sure that many who refused to ride segregated buses in Montgomery after Rosa Parks stood her ground wished they could’ve taken the bus, rather than walk miles in protest, day after day, for a whole year. But they knew they had to walk. And so do we.

A combination of better jobs and pensions will remove one political obstacle to a green transition—and it’s the right thing to do.

As the nation becomes more Black and Brown, an economic crisis in wage earnings could be on the horizon.

In June the Japanese island of Okinawa saw one of the biggest demonstrations in two decades, involving at least 50,000 people who protest against heavy US military presence after a local woman was murdered by an ex-Marine and a string of other incidents.

No one should take what Donald Trump stands for this election year less seriously because the man with the bouffant hairdo is the most fragile of creatures, and that the illusion of a campaign he had so singlehandedly created might dissolve at any moment. He may not be ultimate messenger; serious human being or candidate; but those he’s rallied to his side couldn’t be more human, serious, or needy. The messenger might not last; the message is another story entirely.

As the Pentagon prepares to lift a ban on transgender people serving in the military, Lily Zheng calls for a more radical "transgender rights" movement outside of assimilationist rhetoric and policies.