https://portside.org/2026-03-19/tidbits-mar-19-reader-comments-iran-war-quagmire-make-no-kings-3-largest-antiwar-protest

• Avenge The Soon-To-Be Fallen!  --  Cartoon by Ted Rall

• Trump Declares a "Little Excursion"  --  Cartoon by Ann Telnaes

• Excuses  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Rob Rogers

• Re: Workers Are Leaving the Trump Coalition  (Tim Dubnau)

• Re: Workers Can Organize Outside the NLRB  (L A Kurth)

• Off the Wall  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Lalo Alcaraz

• Re: Zohran Mamdani and the Rise of the Renter Politicians  (Maria Lisella)

• Kegsbreath is at it again...  --  Cartoon by Jack Ohman

• Come Along Kiddies  --  Cartoon by Monte Wolverton

• Man's Best Friend...  --  Cartoon by Bizarro

• Re: One Battle After Another  (David Tilsen; Geoffrey Jacques; Ethan Young)

• Future National Holiday  --  Meme

.

• Let’s Make No Kings 3 the Largest Antiwar Protest in U.S. History  (Leslie Cagan)

 

Resources:

• Statement by Mónica Ramírez, founder of Justice for Migrant Women, Regarding Allegations of Sexual Violence by Cesar Chavez

 

• We are being called to reckon with reports of sexual abuse and harm by the most visible figure in our civil rights history  (Cristina Ballí, Executive Director, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center)

 

Announcements:

 

• In America, we have No Kings. - We are showing up together again on March 28

• Support Kseniia Kagarlitskaya’s tour of Brazil - Help her speak out against Putin’s brutal repression of left opponents of his war on Ukraine at the March 26-29 International Antifascist Conference in Porto Alegre, Brazil
  
  
  .
  
  
  
  
   

 

Avenge The Soon-To-Be Fallen!  --  Cartoon by Ted Rall

Barely a day or two into the US–Israeli war against Iran, the deaths of half a dozen American servicemen were announced under mysterious circumstances. Administration officials immediately called for revenge—offering, retroactively, the very justification for war that had never been convincingly provided to the American public beforehand.

Ted Rall
March 16, 2026
Ted Rall
 

 

Trump Declares a "Little Excursion"  --  Cartoon by Ann Telnaes


which results in lost human lives and $11.3 billion spent (so far) ...(March 12)

Ann Telnaes
March 12, 2026
Open Windows- Ann Telnaes
 

 

Excuses  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Rob Rogers

 

Trump has given so many reasons for starting an unprovoked war with Iran it feels like he's making them up as he goes along to see what sticks.

Rob Rogers
March 13, 2026
TinyView
 

 

Re: Workers Are Leaving the Trump Coalition

(posting on Portside Labor)
 

Thanks for this

Yes these folks, the defectors from Trump, will sit on their hands unless  the Dems give  them someone worthy to vote for.

Tim Dubnau
Director of Organizing 
Communications Workers of America

 

Re: Workers Can Organize Outside the NLRB

(posting on Portside Labor)
 

So interesting. Thank you

L A Kurth

 

Off the Wall  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Lalo Alcaraz

 

I'm out of words for how many of us in the community and the movement are feeling about the shocking and disturbing allegations against labor organizer and icon Cesar Chavez. All I can say is that I stand with Dolores Huerta, the survivors and farm workers.

Lalo Alcaraz
March 18, 2026
CALÓ NEWS
 

 

Re: Zohran Mamdani and the Rise of the Renter Politicians
 

This article re renters and Mamdani and city councils and mayors across US is refreshing but Mamdani will never meet with co-ops or cooperators and refused to do so in his own district while he was our Assemblyman .. did we fall through the cracks? When will someone focus on his lack of sensitivity in this area ..

Maria Lisella
Queens Poet Laureate, 2015-2019
Academy of American Poets Fellow

 

Kegsbreath is at it again...  --  Cartoon by Jack Ohman

 

Jack Ohman
March 16, 2026
Jack Ohman's You Betcha!
 

 

Come Along Kiddies  --  Cartoon by Monte Wolverton

 

Monte Wolverton
March 17, 2026
Monte Wolverton
 

 

Man's Best Friend...  --  Cartoon by Bizarro
 

Bizarro (Wayno & Piraro)
September 27, 2005
Comics Kingdom
 

 

Re: One Battle After Another
 

One Battle After Another has won Best Picture.  I just have to comment because, well I have something to say.  At first I was just offended, then the more I think about it the more irritated I became.  Now, after the voters of the academy have enshrined it, well I am disappointed.

I was a radical anti-war activist 58 years ago.  The person the Leo Decaprio does a parody of.  Yes a parody us the best way I can think of it.  If I think it was a serious portrayal, then I would have to believe that the makers of this film and the members of the academy, believe that there is Truth in the portrayal.

That we gave no intelligent criticisms of US Foreign Policy.  That the atrocity of the Vietnam War did not justify organized mass opposition.  That the government was cartoonish sexually immature men like Sean Penn and his cohorts.  That we grew up to be pot smoking, confused, incompetents, who still live in the glory days of promiscuous sex and playful violence.  As I say, this us offensive.

Perhaps it is useful to the current generations to dismiss us stoned, stupid, sex crazed children.  That we didn’t thoughtfully bring down two presidents, stop a war, develop cogent and accurate analysis of imperialism and US culture, join the Civil Rights movement, create a co-op movement, a women's movement a LGBTQ movement, supported an indigenous movement for sovereignty and justice,  and have continued to work through the present day.  We have run this country, raised families, became teachers, scientists, house builders, politicians ,businessmen, bureaucrats artists, and workers.  We tried to leave this place better than we found it.  So yes I am offended by this depiction.

To make this worse it beat the movie Sinners.  Sinners is a movie about justice, about racism, about the history and power of music to help live through authoritarianism, cruelty, and slavery.  So much so that it almost makes vampirism arguably a reasonable choice.

Yes we should never exalt a history of people successfully confronting oppression.  If we did that the people might believe it is possible.

David Tilsen
March 16, 2026
Post on Facebook

(re-posted with permission of the author)

     =====

[posted in response to re-post of David Tilsen's post on Facebook]

"It is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened, but what may happen- what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity. The poet and the historian differ not by writing in verse or in prose. The work of Herodotus might be put into verse, and it would still be a species of history, with meter no less than without it. The true difference is that one relates what has happened, the other what may happen. Poetry, therefore, is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular" (Aristotle, Poetics IX, trans. S. H. Butcher).

There is a long-standing tendency among those of us in the left to confuse poetry with history, to treat all poetry as if it ought to be history, and to condemn it for not being so. The effect is to blind people to poetry as well as to history. With left wingers, this can be the expression of a disability inherited from the sectarians of earlier eras. It's one of those 20th century notions that we should ditch, rather than revive, in the 21st century.

Geoffrey Jacques
March 18, 2026
Post on Facebook

(re-posted with permission of the author)

     =====

[posted in response to re-post of David Tilsen's post on Facebook]

I think Anderson set out to make a movie that dives into the cultural divide by imagining extreme forms on every side and their interconnecting contrasts and flaws. He succeeded, in the tradition of Fritz Lang and Spike Lee. As a lifer in the cause of humanity, and a boomer, I'm appalled that anyone thinks our generation needs to be lionized. I'm aware what we accomplished (no, we didn't end the Vietnam war, but our enemies were right: we helped). Anderson did not have to dig deep to find a stereotype street revolutionary, or a stereotype racist militarist. In both cases there were real people who fucked up and betrayed their own side due to circumstances mostly beyond their control (in the movie, Teyana's snitching, and interracial sex for Sean). I am glad they made this flick and I wish my cohort would take it more seriously. Three bottom lines: the system destroys people regardless; the oppressed will find their own means of withstanding that; red diapers are the hope of the left!! Right on.

Ethan Young
March 18, 2026
Post on Facebook

(reposted with permission of the author)

 

Future National Holiday  --  Meme
 

 

Let’s Make No Kings 3 the Largest Antiwar Protest in U.S. History

 

Leslie Cagan

March 16, 2026
Portside

 

The Trump regime bombs Venezuela and we hear calls for a strong antiwar/peace movement in this country. Trump threatens a forceable takeover of Greenland and we hear calls for a strong antiwar/peace movement in this country. Trump and his gang join forces with the Israeli government and launch a full-blown military assault on Iran…and once again we hear the calls for a strong antiwar/peace movement in this country.

I agree that we need a movement that is strong enough and bold enough to stop this current war in the Middle East. There are peace and antiwar groups hard at work, but it is not enough. We can – and should – try to understand why we have not been able to maintain a robust antiwar movement in this country. But I’m not focusing on that right now. Instead, there are two specific things I want to address.

The first is that I’ve been thinking we don’t need a revitalized, mass movement against one specific horrible war, or even working to stop the historic use of military force by the U.S. government. What we need is a peace and justice movement. A movement that deepens our own understanding of how militarism in all its forms is as fundamental to this country’s policies as anything else. We need a movement that helps people see the ways that domestic struggles for justice and equity and freedom are connected to the urgent need to stop the madness of U.S. foreign policies and practices. We need a peace and justice movement that is committed to making the links not just in theoretical or abstract ways but also in our organizing efforts.

Which leads me to one step – I believe, I hope, it’s a pretty easy step – we can take right now. On March 28^th millions of people in every corner of this country will participate in NO KINGS 3. Many people will most likely come with banners and signs and tee-shirts and chants calling for an end to the war against Iran. As good as that will be, I think we can make it even bigger…so big that it cannot be ignored. Let’s do everything we can to help make March 28^th the largest peace and justice protest in this country’s history.

A few specifics: 

• Make your own signs and banners.
• Invite your friends over to do a poster and banner making afternoon. Ask any group(s) you are connected to also make posters and banners.
• Ask the organizers of your local No Kings 3 events if they are having a rally and if so will there be speakers addressing the war in Iran, will there be visible banners at the front of the march calling for an end to the war, will the media spokespeople be encouraged to make it clear that we’re marching for peace, for an end to the war.
• Contact any of the national organizations that are partners in the March 28^th mobilization and ask them how they are addressing the urgent need to end the U.S./Israeli war against Iran. (Click here to see that list.)

Given widespread opposition to this war, it shouldn’t be hard to bring this issue into the messaging of this No Kings mobilization. Now is the time to do it!

[Leslie Cagan has been an organizer in the antiwar and peace efforts since the Vietnam War. Over many decades she’s also been centrally involved in a range of social change movements.]

Feel free to share with message widely.

 

 

Statement by Mónica Ramírez, founder of Justice for Migrant Women, Regarding Allegations of Sexual Violence by Cesar Chavez

 

This is a painful moment for many in the farmworker community and beyond. We must confront what has been reported, support survivors, and ensure that our actions reflect the values we uphold.

Read the full statement in our post. To learn about resources that are available, please visit the link in our bio.  

 

We are being called to reckon with reports of sexual abuse and harm by the most visible figure in our civil rights history
 

Cristina Ballí
Executive Director
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center

 

March 18, 2026

Today has been a deeply painful day for U.S. Latine communities, Mexican Americans, and all those who have been shaped by the legacy of Cesar Chavez.

We are being called to reckon with reports of sexual abuse and harm by the most visible figure in our civil rights history—and more significantly, to feel the weight of the voices that were silenced, dismissed, or forced to survive alone for far too long.

This is a moment of grief, of shock. For many of us, it feels like a betrayal.

And yet, it is also a moment that calls us to stand firmly on the side of those who have suffered. We can only imagine the kind of courage and conviction it takes to endure harm and still lead, fight for justice, protect the whole, or simply survive.

We are proud of our community for responding swiftly and with moral clarity, refusing to look away, demanding accountability, and insisting that justice must center those who were harmed.

Our fight for justice has always been bigger than one person. It is carried by the people, and it does not, will not, stop here.

We will continue to demand justice within and beyond our communities, to build power with one another, not power over others. We stand firmly together and do not shrink from the hard work that remains.

In a time when this country urgently needs moral leadership, we respond with courage and compassion, fully aware of our history, our strengths and our weaknesses, and of how we must set an example in rebuilding movements and communities.

May the enduring spirit of our ancestors—of all who have fought for justice and all who have suffered—continue to heal us and guide us forward.

Con paz y amor,

Cristina Ballí @cristina.balli 
Executive Director
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center

 

 

 

 

In America, we have No Kings. - We are showing up together again on March 28.

 

We are showing up together again on March 28.

When our families are under attack and costs are pushing people to the brink, silence is not an option. We will defend ourselves and our communities against this administration’s unjust and cruel acts of violence. America does not belong to strongmen, greedy billionaires, or those who rule through fear. It belongs to us, the people.

 

As President Trump escalates his attempts to control us, it is on us, the people, to show that we will fight to protect one another and our country.  If he believes we will roll over and allow him to take our freedoms, he is mistaken. We are coming together again on March 28 because we know we can overcome this repression when we unite.

Click here and scroll down  

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the New York sponsoring organizations

A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.

For inquiries, please contact info@nokings.org.

 

Support Kseniia Kagarlitskaya’s tour of Brazil - Help her speak out against Putin’s brutal repression of left opponents of his war on Ukraine at the March 26-29 International Antifascist Conference in Porto Alegre, Brazil
 

 

 

The Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign and the political prisoner support platform Freedom Zone are raising funds to defray the cost of Kseniia Kagarlitskaya’s participation in the International Antifascist and Anti-Imperialist Conference in Porto Alegre, Brazil (March 26–29, 2026).

Kseniia is a socialist activist from Russia, now living in exile, and the founder of Freedom Zone, a volunteer-run initiative supporting political prisoners and their families across Russia. She is also the daughter of Boris Kagarlitsky, the internationally renowned Marxist scholar who is two years into a five-year sentence in a Russian penal colony for his outspoken opposition to the war in Ukraine and the Putin regime.

The Porto Alegre conference is a major global gathering of progressive movements, activists, and thinkers. It will bring together hundreds of left organisations and leading international voices to confront the global rise of authoritarianism, fascism, and war. It is an important space for debating strategy and building international solidarity.

It is essential that the voice of the Russian anti-war left be heard there. Your contribution to this fundraiser will help ensure that those present have the opportunity to hear firsthand how renascent fascism and imperialism in Putin’s Russia is an integral component of the global menace the conference is dedicated to understanding and fighting.

Kseniia will use this international platform to discuss:

• The growing number of political prisoners in the Russian Federation and Occupied Territories
• The intensifying repression of the anti-war movement
• The reality faced by families of imprisoned dissidents
• Why international solidarity with these protesters against war must be urgent and practical and not merely symbolic.
   

Like many activists in exile, Kseniia has no institutional funding. Travel to Brazil is expensive, and the two groups helping to organise Kseniia’s presence in Porto Alegre cannot provide the funds needed to take advantage of this critical opportunity for the voice of opposition to Putin’s war-mongering regime to be heard.

Please contribute generously!
By donating, you are helping ensure that:

Political prisoners are not forgotten!

Their families are not isolated!

Russian anti-war voices are heard by the global left!
Internationalism remains practical, not rhetorical!