Dropkick Murphys -- Worker's Song

Music and lyrics: "We're the first ones to starve, We're the first ones to die, We're the first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky"

Dolly Parton -- 9 to 5

Dolly Parton's super lyrics and voice, with quick clips of Dolly, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda from the movie 9 to 5. All sentiments still relevant.

Rihanna -- American Oxygen

What breathes life into the American Dream, what's creating the 'New America,' this song boldly claims in word and image, is the country's diverse people and their struggles. 

Friday Nite Videos -- May 1, 2015 (Five for May Day)

Portside
Whose country is this anyhow? Whose world is it going to be? Those are questions that May Day, the international workers' holiday, has always asked. Listen to these five songs of labor and struggle, from brand new to nearly a century old, and take pleasure and inspiration from how they point to answers.

A Love Story, A War Story and A Story About Brutal Work

Olivia Laing New Statesman
The Patriot Act is a nightmare for immigrants without papers already living precarious lives of dead-end jobs, zero-hour contracts, squats, and physical danger. When a young Asian woman, alone in the U.S., meets an ex-serviceman, himself traumatized by three tours in Iraq and living in a basement flat , the two bond in a tough but brilliant first novel absent stock characters or cartoon emotionality but with a profound and intimate knowledge of life on the margins.

The “Longue durée” of the Québec Spring

Pierre Beaudet Socialist Project
A “coalition of coalitions” -- comprising unions, students, and several other sectors, even including elected municipal officials -- has coordinated movements of protest over the past years and is leading toward a great day of action on May Day. Beyond that several actions are planned for over the course of the summer eventually leading to an important workers’ strike next fall.

Tidbits - April 30, 2015 - Baltimore; Martin Luther King on Protesters Who Use Violence; How to Help; US `World Leader' in Child Poverty; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments - Baltimore and Martin Luther King on Protesters Who Use Violence; How to Help - Baltimore-Ferguson Legal Defense Committee; US `World Leader' in Child Poverty; FBI Faked Testimony; Yemen; El Salvador; Venezuela; Ukraine; South Africa; Turkey; Peace Movement; The Symbolic Left; 2016 Elections; TPP; More Responses to The Tragedy of Party Communism; Announcements (all New York): May Day Against Waltons; She's Beautiful When She's Angry; Mayor 1% - Forum

These Things Can Change

David Bacon & Rosario Ventura; Photos by David Bacon Dollars & Sense
Hiring migrant farm labor is very profitable for big agribusiness. Last year workers walked out of the fields at Sakuma Brothers Farms in Washington - one of the largest berry growers in the state. Berries are big business, with annual sales of $6.1 million, and big corporate customers like Häagen Dazs ice cream. Here is their story.