Skip to main content

“Speaking Truth to Power” Is No Substitute for Taking Power

Norman Solomon Truthout
Progressives often applaud the idea of “speaking truth to power.” But this concept is hazardous. If taken literally and deployed as a single-minded strategy, it can divert attention from the crucial need to take power away from those who abuse it.

Gilets Jaunes: A Pioneering Study of the ‘Low Earners’ Revolt

Le Monde, Verso Blog
The scale of the movement and the speed with which it was formed are striking, outside trade-union organizations and political parties. Who are the gilets jaunes? What do they want? Are we witnessing a renewal of the forms of protest and politics?

Across Trump’s America, The Grassroots Are Growing Radical

DD Guttenplan The Guardian
Depending on which media you consume, Donald Trump will either leave office in handcuffs or coast to a second term. Making sense of American politics has never been easy, but the extreme polarisation of the press and public has made it more difficult

Tidbits - Nov. 8, 2018 - Reader Comments: 2018 elections, Voter Suppression, Georgia; Racism and Anti-Semitism; Contemporary Music and Theme of Work; Military Budget; US Foreign Policies and Wars; Toward Racial Justice; Announcements...

Portside
Reader Comments: Reader Comments: 2018 elections, Voter Suppression, Georgia; Connected Fights: Racism and Anti-Semitism; Contemporary Music and Theme of Work; Military Budget; U.S. Foreign Policies and Wars; Toward Racial Justice; Announcements...

How to Organize to Win

Marshall Ganz The Nation
Rebuilding the democratic infrastructure is too important to leave up to the consultocracy. Mobilizers only turn out people with whom they agree. Organizers engage these people in reaching out to other people with whom they don’t agree.

Socialism's Return

Patrick Iber The Nation
After more than a half-century in the wilderness, the socialist left reemerges in America. Bernie Sanders helped give renewed meaning and salience to democratic socialism as a political identity. His emergence as the moral conscience of the American left was nearly impossible to anticipate. Perhaps the most important aspect of Sanders's run in the Democratic primary was cultural rather than electoral.

What Is a Country For?

Rebecca Gordon TomDispatch
Many of the folks I know are getting ready to play serious defense in 2017, and they’re not wrong. Before we take up our three-point stance on the national line of scrimmage, however, maybe we should ask ourselves not only what we’re fighting against, but what we’re fighting for. What kind of United States of America do we actually want? Maybe, in fact, we could start by asking: What is a country for? What should a country do?

Response to Peter Olney and Ruth Needleman

Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Bob Wing Portside
Moderator's NOTE: Bill Fletcher and Bob Wing's article "Fighting Back Against White Revolt 2016" http://portside.org/2016-12-05/fighting-back-against-white-revolt-2016 has sparked discussion from Peter Olney "Go Red" http://portside.org/2016-12-26/go-red-thoughts-labor-movement-age-trump-response-fletcher-and-wing-portside-december-5 and today a response piece by Ruth Needleman. Following is today's reply posting from Fletcher and Wing.

Black Awakening, Class Rebellion

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and George Ciccariello-Maher ROAR Magazine
Keanga-Yamahtta Taylor has written the most important book of 2016. Published by Haymarket, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation has struck a chord nationwide, garnering major awards but more importantly sparking necessary debates. George Ciccariello-Maher interviews her for ROAR Magazine.
Subscribe to left political movements