Skip to main content

Colin Kaepernick’s Protest Is Working

Josh Levin Slate
If Kaepernick had donated $1 million without the anthem protest, or if he’d stuck to venting on social media, then prominent columnists and TV yakkers wouldn’t be calling him an idiot. Nobody would be saying anything at all, because nobody would care. Kaepernick’s gesture worked because it was divisive.

Friday Nite Videos -- September 16, 2016

Portside
Bernie Sanders Makes the Case for Hillary Clinton. Snowden. What Is Universal Basic Income? How We See Color. Not What You Think. What Racism Has to Do With the High Cost of College.

Brexit and Migration: a Swiss View

Vasco Pedrina Global Labour Institute
We have to grasp the fact that the supposedly stupid people who are under the influence of right-wing populists, who refuse to understand that impoverishment is the price that has to be paid for the enrichment of the few and the unstoppable globalisation of capitalism, are really not so stupid. They are calling for a change of course. And so we must think back to the idea of solidarity, of social rights and democracy.

Tidbits - September 15, 2016 - Reader Comments: Standing Rock; Trump Supporters; GOP Voter Suppression; Saudi Arabia; Women's Boat to Gaza; data crunching tool; sex; and more.....

Portside
Reader Comments: Standing Rock - Protest, Solidarity and Pension Funds; Hillary Right About Trump Supporters; GOP Manipulation and Voter Suppression; Class War by Other Means; Saudi Arabia; Women's Boat to Gaza Sets Sail; Facts and Numbers to Fightback With - EPI's new data crunching tool; Announcements: Virtual Book Discussion about `Because of Sex; 50-Year Rag Reunion & Public Celebration - Austin, Texas

Debating Walzer on Religious Revivalism

Avishi Margalit and Assaf Sharon The Boston Review
While Michael Walzer's book on religious revivalism is acknowledged by the reviewers as a critical engagement and characteristically insightful, they also fault the author for wrongly diagnosing its effects and its prescription. In a link (below the review) Walzer replies, as do the reviewers.

Europe's Left after Brexit

Yanis Varoufakis Yanis Varoufakis
In the past year two referenda shook up both the European Union and Europe's Left: the Greek OXI in July 2015 and Brexit in June 2016. Exasperated by the EU's mixture of authoritarianism and economic failure, a segment of Europe's Left is calling for a 'break with the EU',[2] a stance that has come to be associated with the term Lexit.[3] DiEM25, the transnational Democracy in Europe Movement, rejects that logic and offers an alternative Progressive Agenda for Europe.

A Muslim Woman Was Set on Fire in New York. Now Just Going Out Requires Courage

Linda Sarsour The Guardian (UK)
Muslim American communities are facing the most hostile civic and political environment since days, weeks and months after 9/11. Hate crimes against Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim has risen exponentially in the last year. Bigotry against Muslims has become the norm and often has no consequences. The irresponsible and rhetorical vilification of Muslims in this current election cycle is leading to violent acts against members of a faith community and it must stop

Child Care Often Pricier Than Rent, Food, and College Tuition

Teddy Wilson Rewire
"Improving our nation's child-care system will have a compound effect," said Aleyamma Mathew, director of the Women's Economic Justice Program of the Ms. Foundation for Women. "Not only on the millions of women in the workforce but on communities and the economy as a whole."

We, the Plutocrats vs. We, the People - Saving the Soul of Democracy

Bill Moyers Tom Dispatch
Our country's greatest failing, the true disaster, of our time: the scourge of growing inequality, economic and political. It is despicable as the very wealthy convert their financial might into political power to guard that wealth while exacerbating inequality further. This is the vast difference between a society whose arrangements serve all its citizens or one whose institutions have been converted into a stupendous fraud - democracy in name only.

Women: The Longest Revolution

Christine R. Riddiough Democratic Left
We need to understand and fight against oppression in whatever arenas it occurs. Organizing like that of Black Lives Matter or the Dreamers or against sexual assault on campus shows us that, important as they are, support for minimum wage and unions is not enough. It shows us as well that intersectionality is not just about privilege but about the fight against the institutions, the system of oppression.