Portside

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries."-Aldous Huxley. University of Georgia student Courtney Parker shares impressions of her recent trip to Cuba - one of the legal educational tour programs allowing U.S. citizens to visit neighboring Cuba. Additional post on background of Cuban Travel Ban, and resources on how you can go to Cuba - today, and legally.

Bradley Manning, acting on what he felt was true patriotism leaked documents revealing the killing of journalists in Iraq; corruption in Tunisia that led to the first of the Arab Spring revolts; the use of drones, and the secret drone war; US spying on UN diplomats; and John Kerry's pressing of Israel to return to pre-1967 borders. Yes, Bradley Manning has changed the world we live in.

Conditions for 70,000 workers at Pegatron plants allegedly worse than those reported in the Foxconn scandal.

“These are more than just remedies that didn’t work. They are part of the problem because stadiums don’t address the central issues of falling population, falling tax base, declining wages, unemployment and the underfunding of schools.”

The firings are almost certainly illegal retaliation under the National Labor Relations Act, but workers may have to wait to see justice carried out. The labor board has a slow process even in good times, but in recent years it has been declawed by Congressional Republicans—who have obstructed the appointment of board members, leaving the board without a quorum to conduct business.

A few days ago, Portside shared with its readers a request to sign a petition protesting the elimination of funding for the Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker Education. Today, we are sharing a response to that petition from Corey Robin, a political scientist and interim direct of the center.

A school boycott will be painful for families, but I think it is worth a parent-led debate and discussion. The alternative is too costly. Once the public schools are gone, they are gone for good.

Over the past decade, state legislatures and governors across the South have tilted far to the right, embracing photo ID and other voting restrictions. That there are still elected officials in those states who can apply checks and balances against laws when it appears they are undermining citizens' fundamental rights is good for democracy.