Portside

“A public bank would be a catalyst for the type of economic development that we frankly see too little of in New York City and cities around the country.” — Andy Morrison

Leftists need a new (old) pitch to lead America’s cities.

Concerned citizens should provide their local elected representatives with examples of pesticide reduction policies that have been successful elsewhere and ask them to pass and implement such a policy locally.

Read the Editor's Intro to our latest print issue of the NACLA Report, Radical Cities, focused on municipalism, housing movements, and local radical democracy in Latin America, from Mexico City to Montevideo.

Viewing energy as a common-held resource, rather than a privately-owned commodity, directly links production to consumption and re-engages our liability as energy users.

The Democratic Party didn’t choose Milwaukee for its 2020 convention because of its radical past. But the city’s history shows how socialism worked in the United States—and could work again.

There’s much to learn from local efforts — and good reasons why they’ll need to be part of the process, experts say. But can states do it on their own?

For much of the 20th century, Milwaukee was run by socialists—and Time magazine called it “one of the best-run cities in the U.S.”

In 2015, a wave of social movements lifted left-wing mayors to power in Spain. Their experience in office shows the importance of linking institutional power to bottom-up mobilization.

The time appears to be ripe for a new wave of urban reform. Both socialists like Seattle’s Sawant and progressives like New York’s de Blasio have a chance to popularize “left wing of the possible” ideas that seem bold but not preposterous. But as their socialist and progressive counterparts over the past century recognized, good ideas don’t become policy without social movements behind them.