Skip to main content
Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it.

How Chicago's White Donor Class Distorts City Policy

Sean McElwee Demos
Chicago’s democracy is being distorted by an overwhelmingly, white, wealthy and male donor class. But public financing provides a clear solution. The “Fair Election Ordinance,” introduced on January 13, 2016 would match all small donor contributions up to $175, increasing the influence of the most diverse small and mid-level donor pool.

The Labor Movement’s May Day Promise

Erica Smiley The American Prospect
Some cast the labor movement as dying or even dead, but even amid attacks on collective bargaining workers are finding innovative ways to organize.

The Life and Death of Daniel Berrigan

Rev. John Dear Common Dreams
Rev. Daniel Berrigan, the renowned anti-war activist, award-winning poet, author and Jesuit priest, who inspired religious opposition to the Vietnam war and later the U.S. nuclear weapons industry, died at age 94, just a week shy of his 95th birthday.

TTIP: Chevron Wants Investor “Right” to Challenge Government Laws

Arthur Neslen The Guardian
As negotiators begin the 13th round of talks to close the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’s (TTIP) deal, new revelations surfaced regarding Chevron Oil’s attempts to incorporate Investor State Dispute Settlement Courts into the TTIP. These panels threaten national sovereignty because they can rule against a country’s social or environmental laws, if they are deemed to have reduced profits below those projected at the time of the investment.

Author Michael Chabon: On His Recent Visit to the Occupied West Bank

Naomi Zeveloff Jewish Daily Forward
Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Michael Chabon speaks with The Forward’s Naomi Zeveloff at the end of his weeklong tour of the Israeli Occupied West Bank earlier this month. Chabon was a member of a literary tour organized by the Israeli group, Breaking the Silence, which collects and distributes testimonies of Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories. He termed the occupation “the most grievous injustice I have ever seen in my life.”

Friday Nite Videos -- April 29, 2016

Portside
John Oliver: Puerto Rico. Bernie Challenges Dems. Pres. Obama's Language Games. How Did Life Begin on Earth? Samantha Bee | Twenty-Dollar Tubman.

Finally, Campaign Finance Reform Gets Some Political Respect

Kathy Kiely Bill Moyers and Company
Campaign finance reform, long a lonely political backwater frequented only by good government groups, is suddenly becoming a hot new address for some of this year’s candidates. Whether that will lead to a vibrant new political community remains the open question.
Subscribe to Portside