Portside

1. Mobilizing the Anti-Racist Majority in UK
2. Unprecedented Wave of Outrage
3. Free Marwan Barghouti!
4. Lula’s Unfinished Democracy
5. Xi and Feminism in China
6. Repoliticizing Burkina Faso
7. Euro Strikes Make History
8. Pacific Islanders and the Climate Crisis
9. Polarized Venezuelans Face War Threat
10. The Lost History of Antifa

__________
Mobilizing the Anti-Racist Majority in UK

Chris Webb / Tribune (London)

After the largest far-right protest in British history, the labour movement must abandon its complacency — and begin organising with football fans and community groups to stub out the politics of hatred and despair. The unions have outsourced their anti-racist strategy for years, and with nothing tangible to show for it. 

__________
Unprecedented Wave of Outrage

 • Morocco   Vincent Bollenot and Charif Elalaoui / Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (Paris)

 • Nepal   Sushovan Dhar / transform! Europe (Vienna)

 • Peru   Ben Radford / Green Left (Sydney)

 • Philippines   Herbert Docena / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)

 • Ecuador   Manuela Picq / NACLA Report (New York)

 • Kashmir   Haris Qadeer / Alternative Viewpoint

__________
Free Marwan Barghouti!

Daniel Tester / Middle East Eye (London)

Marwan Barghouti rose to prominence as a top Fatah official and is Israel’s most high-profile prisoner. Barghouti is the most popular Palestinian politician, according to opinion polls, and is regarded as being able to command unity across Palestinian society. But he has been imprisoned in Israel since 2002, serving five life sentences for his alleged role in murders during the Second Intifada. 

__________
Lula’s Unfinished Democracy

Andre Pagliarini / Dissent (New York)

Over four decades, President da Silva’s long-standing commitment to popular sovereignty has remained constant, even as the political terrain around him has changed. He no longer seems certain that democracy will founder where inequality reigns. Instead, he argues that fighting inequality is democracy’s animating mission.

__________
Xi and Feminism in China

Amy Hawkins / The Guardian (London)

At the global women’s summit to mark the 30th anniversary of the historic UN’s world conference on women, which took place in Beijing, Xi Jinping praised the “historic achievements” of women’s rights in China. But while Xi hailed a “glorious chapter of women’s progress”, in recent years, Chinese feminists have found it increasingly difficult to advocate for, or even speak about, women’s rights.

__________
Repoliticizing Burkina Faso

Aziz Salmone Fall / Africa is a Country (New York)

Thomas Sankara’s brief but transformative presidency (1983–1987) reoriented Burkina Faso’s political economy. Thirty-eight years after Sankara’s assassination, the struggle for justice and self-determination endures—from stalled archives and unfulfilled verdicts to new calls for pan-African renewal and a 21st-century anti-imperialist front.

__________
Euro Strikes Make History

 • Greece   Gabrielle Nadler / France 24 (Paris)

 • Spain   / Euronews (Lyon)

 • Italy   Tasnima Uddin / Jacobin (Brooklyn)

 • Belgium   Mateo Alaluf / Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières

__________
Pacific Islanders and the Climate Crisis

Edward Hunt / Foreign Policy in Focus (Washington DC)

The leaders of the Pacific Islands are forging a united front against President Donald Trump’s climate denialism and leading the world in the battle against the climate crisis. The leaders of the Pacific Islands responded by refuting his falsehoods, identifying the existential threats to their homelands, and urging the international community to fulfill its legal obligations to act.

__________
Polarized Venezuelans Face War Threat

Steve Ellner / Links (Sydney)

In Venezuela, one bloc of the opposition consists of leaders who, from the outset, have been vehemently anti-Hugo Chávez and anti-Nicolás Maduro, but are now distancing themselves from Washington. They find themselves at odds with the pro-Washington bloc, aligned with Trump on everything from immigration to regime change by any means possible.

__________
The Lost History of Antifa

Loren Balhorn / Jacobin

This 2017 essay describes the European roots of the movement and brand that has dogged fascism since 1932. During a period of bitter rivalry among left parties, Antifa presented the possibility of a united front.