Skip to main content

Friday Nite Videos -- July 17, 2015

Portside
Ninth Rock From the Sun. War / No More Trouble. Elizabeth Warren Keynotes Netroots Nation. Film: Do I Sound Gay? "Our Selma!" March for Voting Rights

Cosatu Congress Wraps Up With A Declaration Calling For Unity

Govan Whittles Eyewitness News
A special convention of Cosatu -- the Congress of South African Trade Unions -- concluded a special convention rejecting an appeal by the expelled metal workers union to rejoin the federation. The future of former Cosatu President Zwelinzima Vavi was also debated. Although the Federation's unity was preserved and its political orientation was, deep divisions remain.

Where's the Outrage?

Rich Yeselson Dissent Magazine
The book under review examines the rise of American capitalism, the visionary attempts by workers to resist and the housebreaking of a long-running anti-capitalist ethos from imaginative, frenzied opposition to diffuse, angry, but ultimate accommodation. While a residual 19th century fight-back culture built the CIO and defended the New Deal into the 1960s, it lacked the same emancipatory charge it had earlier, and unions shifted to cautious monitors of the working class

Tidbits - July 16, 2015 - Response to Occupy; Greece; Debt Forgiveness; Why Bernie Sanders; U.S. Torture Program; Flags, Symbols, Racism; Announcements; More...

Portside
Reader Comments: Response to Occupy; Greece and Debt Forgiveness; Why Bernie Sanders; Confederate Flags, Symbols, and Racism; U.S. Torture Program; Death Penalty; and more... Announcements: Benefit Concert for Civil Rights; Rally for Eric Garner; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and The Voting Rights Act at 50; Rosenberg Case Bombshell - Key Witness Lied; Robert Meeropol statement

Serena Williams Is Today's Muhammad Ali

Dave Zirin The Nation
As a political symbol and an athletic powerhouse, Serena Williams is 'the greatest' in her sport. After her Wimbledon victory, Serena Williams was asked which athlete she admired the most. She said that it was Muhammad Ali. Not for his boxing but for 'what he stood for' outside the ring. For years people have asked who would be "the next Muhammad Ali." If we dare to lift our heads, it will be clear that she is right in front of us.

Hillary Clinton's New Paleoliberalism; Sizing Up Clinton's Plans to Help the Middle Class - Here's the Rub: It Isn't Enough

Matthew Yglesias; Eduardo Porter
Hillary Clinton's record in office suggests that she is more liberal than either her husband or Barack Obama, and in a Monday speech outlining her economic vision she set out to confirm that. However, still lacking is much policy detail as to how this difference might look in practice. A future Clinton administration might help change the norms of corporate governance to foster the kind of labor relations that everyday workers have not experienced in decades.

The Sanders Campaign and the Revival of Socialism in the United States

Joseph M. Schwartz teleSUR
Bernie Sanders is campaigning on behalf of the 99 percent against the 1 percent. And, he is getting lots of supports, drawing thousands to his campaign rallies. Sanders is not running an explicit socialist campaign for public or worker ownership of major firms. Sanders's socialist values underpin his argument that the economy should serve the needs of the people and be governed not by corporate oligarchs, but by democratic means.

Between the World and Me

Josie Duffy Rewire
Ta Nehisi Coates is best known for his June, 2014 article in the Atlantic, "The Case for Reparations." Since then, he has emerged as one of today's most important commentators on racism and anti-racism. His new book has garnered both praise and push-back, placing it right at the center of our contemporary debates on the subject. Here, Josie Duffy calls it "an important book—perhaps the most important in a generation—on how race in this country functions."

American Federation Of Teachers Endorses Hillary Clinton For President -

American Federation of Teachers American Federation of Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers executive council voted overwhelmingly to endorse Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party primary for President of the United States on Saturday, July 11. The union has more than 1.6 million members. President Randi Weingarten said "Hillary Clinton is a tested leader who shares our values.