Published on Portside (https://portside.org/)

Tidbits-Apr 2-Reader Comments: More War, Cuts to Social Safety Net; on the “Left” Criticism of No Kings 3; More States Taxing Ultra-Rich; Happy Farm-Workers Day; Community As Strategy: 10 Ways To Create Belonging, Power; Teaching Antifascist History

https://portside.org/2026-04-02/tidbits-apr-2-reader-comments-more-war-cuts-social-safety-net-left-criticism-no-kings-3
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“What the hell did he just say?”  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Nick Anderson


Trump’s speech last night had all the reassuring clarity of a guy trying to explain why his house is on fire while clutching a gas can and a book of matches.

Was the war almost over? Maybe. Would it intensify for another “two to three weeks”? Also yes. Was the goal destroying Iran’s nuclear program? Absolutely. Was it regime change? Of course not (pay not attention to his mention of “regime change” on the first day of the war). Unless, perhaps, the regime happens to change while we’re blowing things up.

Nick Anderson
April 2. 2026
Pen Strokes
 



 

On the "Left" Criticism of No Kings 3

Geoffrey Jacques

March 28, 2026

Post on Facebook
[Re-posted with permission of the author]


I'm impressed by the anti-No Kings rhetoric that seems to be a feature of social media today, as those protests unfold across the country. This rhetoric has come in a number of different iterations: "you can't vote your way out of a situation you didn't vote your way into," goes one of the favorite bot-meme social media influencers. A well-known historian taunts us with the mantra that it's all just feel-good performance: "are we resisting, or are we being managed?" Another comment, from a leading left wing figure in advance of today's protests, characterizes them as being in the hands of the "liberal bourgeoisie." Others criticize the demonstrations because there aren't enough signs that address the critic's particular, individual, and peculiar issue of the day, as if the other demonstrators were preventing the critic from bringing their own sign to the rally.

What all this calls to mind is the fact that each of these responses has a history. Each of these criticisms was leveled at civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests in the 1960s, against the movement that kept our country from going war in Central America in the 1980s, against the anti-nuclear movement of those years, and against every other truly mass social movement of the last three quarters of a century. The "liberal bourgeoisie" taunt has an even earlier pedigree, as it was used by the Party of Irreconcilable Opposition, and even by Socialist Party leader and perennial presidential candidate Norman Thomas, with whom the PIO was briefly allied, against the New Deal during the 1930s. This taunt was to some extent reprised thirty years later, by the PIO and others, against the Great Society reforms.

None of these criticisms are all that impressive, as they seem to miss the mark of what's actually happening today in our country. For one thing, none of them is substantial, but are merely descriptive. They are like criticizing water for being wet. Even if we say yes, yes, and yes to the critique that the demonstrations are performative, that liberals participate in them, and that they will have no immediate effect, such critics seem unwilling to concede that none of this fault-finding is germane to the issue at hand, which is the mass mobilization of the population to, as the Constitution says, "peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Such critics aren't considering the fact that social movements are not like a light switch, in which one moves one's hand along the wall and the room is suddenly filled with light. Social movements are a process. "The weary traveler who asks for bread is really seeking the dawn," Martin Luther King, Jr., once said. "Our eternal message of hope is that dawn will come."  In social movements, unlike in nature, the dawn doesn't come on its own. "It is not enough to know," W.E.B. Du Bois puts it. "People have to act." To denounce masses that are acting in motion and are seeking the dawn, just because they have not yet found it, seems to me to reveal that the critic is placing themself at a distance from those masses, with the implicit claim that they themselves have seen the light that the people cannot see. Yet one can only wonder whether it is the critic themself that does not see. If you think the Trump government has not responded to social movements of the past, if you think nothing has changed, then let me ask you to think more deeply about the Minneapolis Revolt of last winter, its causes, its course, and its consequences.

We are in the midst of a historic mass struggle in the United States, of which today's No Kings protest is one episode in a long string of episodes. Mass demonstrations of this type have an impact on public opinion, which then goes on to reshape the political landscape. We face a government run by fascists, racists, and Confederates, whose desperation is more evident with each passing hour, and whose panic is manifested in what students of history would see as all-too-predictable ways.

Donald Trump's illegal war against Iran is a failure, no matter what he does from this point on, and that failure will have political consequences, not least of which could be what happens in the Midterm elections. If the demonstrations today and in the next few months succeed in raising the consciousness of the people high enough regarding the President's confiscation of Congress's authority, and if that results in a new Congress that reclaims its authority and turns toward finally holding Trump responsible for his crimes, that would be a significant change, and would, as a collateral matter, put today's critics to shame.




 

Iran War Announcements  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Nick Anderson
 


Donald Trump built his political career by telling Americans that the system was rigged. He was right. He just forgot to mention that, under his presidency, it’s rigged for the people around him.

Over and over again, mysterious trading spikes seem to occur just before Trump makes a major announcement that sends markets lurching.

Nick Anderson
March 31, 2026
Pen Strokes
 




 

Re: More States Are Taxing the Ultra-Rich—Washington Is the Latest
 

We'll be making history on March 28th. I am a patriot. I love our country. Speaker Johnson, I DO NOT hate America. I "hate" the direction our country is headed, and I will be participating in my third No Kings event. It's time for US to unite to defend and restore our democratic republic. In George Orwell's novel "1984," the totalitarian government ("The Party") uses the "Ministry of Truth" to rewrite history, destroy documents, and use a language called "Newspeak" to eliminate words that could facilitate rebellious thought. The Trump administration, a Republican-controlled Congress, and a conservative media are orchestrating a non-fictional production, "2026," to enact this prophetic narrative. No Kings Day protests challenge the authoritarianism of the Trump administration. The second protest drew approximately 7 million people nationwide to defend our democracy against a "king-like" presidency.

The 3.5% rule, formulated by Harvard Kennedy School professor Erica Chenoweth, is a concept that states that when 3.5% of the population of a country protests nonviolently against an authoritarian government, the government is likely to fall from power. March 28th will be the largest protest in US history. This epic gathering may very well surpass the 3.5% threshold, which is approximately 11.75 million people, and be a defining moment in the history of our country. We need to share in our prosperity.

Jim Coddington III, LCSW
US Shared Prosperity
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
 




 

The New Guy  --  Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

 


Mike Luckovich
March 26, 2026
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
 




 

Trump's Iran War Press Conference(s)  -- Cartoon by Dr. James MacLeod
 



 

Dr. James MacLeod
March 26, 2026
MacLeodCartoons
 

 


 

Re: Iran War: Experts Offer ‘Exit Plan’
 

I started reading, and one huge thing hit me: "making a commitment “to denominating at least half of its oil sales in US dollars rather than the Chinese yuan.”

Where, until now, it was all dollars. The hegemony of the dollar as the world's reserve currency is going away, and it only took Trump 14 months to accomplish that.

mark




 

Re: Trump’s Distorted Reality on Iran War Runs Into a Brick Wall
 

"This is war and you can't just will a win into existence in war," said Tara Setmayer, cofounder of the Seneca Project, a women-led political action committee. "The American people are not on board with what's going on because he cannot articulate an argument for why we're there or what victory actually looks like."

Tara Setmayer is dead wrong.  this dismay over war is not a failure of articulation .  How do you articulate an international war crime?

Cathy Deppe




 

Happy Farm-Workers Day  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Lalo Alcaraz
 


After the horrible revelations about farm labor leader Cesar Chavez,  many felt that we should not put anybody on a pedestal. I slightly disagree. In the spirit of the renaming of the March 31 holiday in California, I believe that immigrant farmworkers are worthy of our praise. Under the hardest working conditions, and pay that is not close to what they deserve, they show up to work day after day to feed this country. 

Lalo Alcaraz
March 30, 2026
CALÓ NEWS
 




 

Re: This Is a Historic Opportunity for Democrats To Get Immigration Right
 

Of course there will always be a few bad apples but in general the U.S.'s strength is that it is a nation of immigrants with the energy and initiative to come here.  Additionally, immigrants have a far lower criminal record than the general population.

Nora Lapin




 

Re: With the Third Reich at War, Most Berliners Just Carried On

(posting on Portside Culture)
 

Men's wars are all the same for girls and women, on all sides of the wars, victors and vanquished.  Rape is the weapon used on all of them.

E.Krell
Baltimore MD




 

Bottle of Gasoline  --  Cartoon by Adam Douglas Thompson
 



Adam Douglas Thompson
March 31, 2026
The New Yorker
 




 

Community as Strategy: 10 Ways to create belonging and power where you live
 



Sarah van Gelder
How We Rise, with Sarah
March 27, 2026
 

Download a free zine below

Why this zine, and why free?

I believe organizing together is our best hope for building resilience, resisting fascism, and creating a better world. But working together isn’t always easy.

This zine contains some of the most effective ways I’ve found to help make groups more connected, equitable, and effective, whether you’re just starting out or have worked together for years.

👉 Print it * Share the PDF * Leave copies in your community *

It’s FREE and in the Creative Commons.

Inside the zine

Digital version to download. 

Print version to download

Print version in Black & White to download 




What is the story of this zine?

The ideas for “Community as Strategy” come out of decades of work in activist groups, nonprofits, a cohousing community, a training collective, and media—including co-founding YES! Magazine, which is marking its 30th anniversary this year.

I’m proud of the work we did together — but I also experienced the struggles that too often set back our work, and cause exhaustion and burn out.

Self-care alone can’t solve burnout. What we need is community care, and this zine has some simple techniques you can use right now.

Read more about why we need community care at this link.

Here’s the link to the download




 

Webinar: Marx and the America Question: Then and Now  -  April 5  (Arise - A Festival of Left Ideas)
 



Online event
Sunday, April 5 from 10 am to 11:30 am EDT

With August H. Nimtz, professor at the University of Minnesota.

Part of the 'Marx Matters' series. August H. Nimtz will look at the influence of Marx's ideas in terms of how we can understand American capitalism today - and develop struggles there, here and globally for a socialist future.

August is professor of political science & African American & African studies at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Marx & Engels: Their Contribution to the Democratic Breakthrough ; The Ballot, the Streets—or Both: From Marx & Engels to Lenin & the October Revolution; Marx, Tocqueville, and Race in America: The 'Absolute Democracy' or 'Defiled Republic' & Marxism vs. Liberalism, plus a number of related articles in edited volumes & journals.

Join the debate & discussion as he continues the monthly 'Marx Matters' series, helping us understand the connections between Marx's ideas and the America Question - plus what they could mean for us today as we seek to transform the world.

Marx Matters is a series of in-person and online talks from prominent writers on Marxism exploring the relevance of Marx's work today. You can buy a ticket to help fund the whole series here.

Organised by volunteers from Arise, a festival of left ideas', it is designed to give socialists taking up struggle today a deeper understanding of the tools Marx and Engels gave activists to understand the political, economic and social world around them, and how to advance the cause of humanity.

Get tickets 




 

Online Event - ¡No Pasarán! Teaching Antifascist History in Higher Ed Today: Challenges and Opportunities - April 16  (ALBA - Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives)



Part of the Peter N. Carroll Anti-Fascist Education Fund

Thursday, April 16 at 4:30 PM ET / 1:30 PM PT

Online Event!

An ALBA Roundtable

Register here 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/no-pasaran-teaching-antifascist-history-in…

Featuring Guest Speakers

Please join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities around teaching anti-fascist history at this important moment in time.

We will explore these challenges with several of the most prominent practitioners of anti-fascist history in the field.

Moderated by ALBA Board Member Sebastiaan Faber

If you have any issues accessing the Zoom, please contact info@alba-valb.org.

Kirsten Weld is a professor of Latin American history at Harvard who writes and teaches about the region’s 20th-century struggles over inequality, justice, and historical memory. Her first book, Paper Cadavers: The Archives of Dictatorship in Guatemala (2014), chronicled how Guatemalan activists rescued a massive cache of police archives and tried to use it to fight postwar impunity; her second book, Ruins and Glory: The Long Spanish Civil War in Latin America, will examine the Spanish Civil War’s many afterlives in the Americas. She is the president of Harvard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Bill V. Mullen is Professor Emeritus of American Studies at Purdue. He is a long-time activist and organizer. He is currently a member of the editorial collective for the United States Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and is a co-founder of the Campus Antifascist Network. His other books include James Baldwin: Living in Fire, Un-American: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Century of World Revolution, Popular Fronts: Chicago and African American Politics, Afro-Orientalism, and Against Apartheid: The Case for Boycotting Israeli Universities. He lives in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Deborah Cohn is Provost Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Indiana University Bloomington, and the author of The Latin American Literary Boom and U.S. Nationalism during the Cold War and History and Memory in the Two Souths: Recent Southern and Spanish American Fiction, as well as coeditor, with Hilary Kahn, of International Education at the Crossroads, and, with Jon Smith, of Look Away! The U.S. South in New World Studies. Cohn has published numerous articles and book chapters and received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Archive Center, and the American Philosophical Society, among others.


Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) 
P.O. Box 1245 
New York, NY 10113




 

Online Event - Trump's War Drive - Globalise the Resistance - April 30  (Arise - A Festival of Left Ideas)
 



 

Online event
Thursday, Apr 30 from 1:30 pm to 3 pm EDT

International online rally on the eve of May Day 2026.

Diane Abbott MP // Danièle Obono, La France Insoumise MP // Saed Erziqat, General Secretary, General Union of Palestinian Teachers // Ismara Mercedes Vargas Walter, Cuban Ambassador to the UK // Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, Progressive International // Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition // Roger McKenzie, Morning Star International Editor // Kate Hudson, CND & more.

Annual international eve of May Day rally hosted by Arise - a Festival of Left Ideas - for solidarity, struggle & socialism. Free event but solidarity donations here essential to hosting & streaming costs.

Get tickets 

 

Source URL: https://portside.org/2026-04-02/tidbits-apr-2-reader-comments-more-war-cuts-social-safety-net-left-criticism-no-kings-3