Portside

A long-term alternative to war can only be built by popular movements in Iraq and Syria. These movements still matter, and they deserve our solidarity — not our bombs.The expanding U.S.-led war on the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, has largely fallen off the radar of U.S. social movements. The answer to complexity is not to do nothing. With the great crimes and historic blunders — from Palestine to South Africa to Afghanistan — the task is to figure out what to do.

Initially facing 20 years in prison under Florida's "10-20-life" rule, Marissa Alexander's case focused national attention on the treatment of domestic abuse survivors by the justice system, particularly women of color, as well as Florida's mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

The court case could pose a major threat to public-sector unions whose clout grew in the 1970s after the high court upheld laws requiring all employees who benefit from collective bargaining to contribute to the union. Although teachers and other public workers may refuse to pay dues used to support a union's political activities, they can still be forced to pay a so-called "fair share" fee that covers operation costs.

An interview with historian Eric Foner about what it's like to teach the Civil War, what his experiences with teaching online have been like, and how history is made and interpreted.

Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected is a new report by the African American Policy Forum and Columbia Law School’s Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies. The report is based on a new review of national data and personal interviews with young women in Boston and New York.

Oil workers belonging to the United Steel Workers of America put-up picket lines in Northern California, Texas, Kentucky and Washington State this week. It has been 35 years since Tony Mazzocchi helped lead a strike against big oil.

Three articles on the USW strike of oil workers at nine different refineries. This is the first big strike of oil workers in thirty years.

Vicente Navarro writes on the growth of Podemos and his role in shaping the party’s economic programme. He argues that the anti-austerity and pro-democracy narrative put forward by Podemos has deeply resonated with the Spanish electorate, and that the party now poses a major threat to the Spanish political establishment.

Go Set a Watchman, completed in the mid-50s but lost for more than half a century, was written before To Kill A Mockingbird and features Scout as an adult.

"Bruce Rauner ran on a platform about nothing," Lewis said Monday at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. "He's wasted no time attacking the wages of working-class people, attacking their labor unions and threatening massive cuts to social service programs, which help the most vulnerable people in our state.