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

Gravitational Waves: The Inside Story

Martin Hendry The Conversation
More than a billion years ago and a billion light years away, two black holes merged. This was a truly cataclysmic event a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. In Star Wars Darth Vader tells us not to “underestimate the power of the dark side.” This amazing discovery shows how right he was.

How Social Change Happens; Mass Support Because You Agree with Bernie Sanders

Bill McKibben; David Cay Johnston
Change comes precisely when you do change hearts -- and once that change has come, then the laws and the "allocation of resources," and the "way systems operate" follow pretty easily. Large majorities of Americans are, like Sanders, "democratic socialists." Sanders favors private ownership and markets, but with rules that protect little people from abuses and uncertainties. Even substantial majorities of Republicans support much of the Sanders economic plan.

Israeli Labor Party Adopts the Apartheid Mantra

Neve Gordon Al Jazeera
The Labor Party plan, because they see it difficult to envision a Palestinian state in the foreseeable future, Israel should no longer be ashamed for adopting a Bantustanian approach. The Labor Party considered by many a viable alternative to the current Likud government, has unanimously supported a plan that would have been applauded by apartheid South Africa. It does not seem likely that a just solution to the Palestinian plight will come from within Israel.

Tidbits - Feb. 11, 2016 - What do Wealthiest Deserve; Bernie or Hillary - Ben Jealous, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Lee Saunders; Teaching with Protest Music; Uber Drivers Organize; Announcements; Resources; more...

Portside
Reader Comments: What do Wealthiest Deserve?; Bernie or Hillary - Ben Jealous, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Lee Saunders; Teaching with Protest Music; Israel Crackdown on Palestinian Peace Activists; Uber Drivers; B-52's Failed Against Hanoi; Announcements: Rebellious Lawyering; "The Fight to Vote Resources: New York Times Spoof Site Back Up; New Rosa Parks website; Black History Month - A Bad-ass from History; Tufts University Study on TPP'; The Armenian Genocide

Thomas Piketty: A New Deal for Europe

Thomas Piketty; translated by Anthony Shugaar The New York Review of Books
Only a genuine social and democratic refounding of the eurozone, designed to encourage growth and employment, will be sufficient to counter the hateful nationalistic impulses that now threaten all Europe. We should put together a conference of eurozone nations on debt-just like those that were held in the postwar years, to the notable benefit of Germany. The objective would be to reduce public debt as a whole.

Poitras Exhibit at Whitney Turns U.S. Government Threat to Liberty into Political Art

Lucy Komisar The Komisar Scoop
Art as politics in the powerful new exhibit at the Whitney Museum in New York by Laura Poitras. Museum director Adam Weinberg sets the show "in the tradition of socially and politically engaged artists - progressive artists such as Ben Shahn and Alice Neal." He said, "The aim of the projections is to provoke moral and ethical responses." Indeed, they do. Or they should.

New Hampshire: Populist Uprising

Robert Borosage Campaign for America's Future
The scope of Sanders victory took virtually all observers by surprise. He won on the issues. Democratic voters wanted to replace our health care system with a single payer system, are worried about the economy, consider inequality a major issue. He won on all those issues -- a stunning victory. For Sanders, the challenge now is clear: to introduce himself to African-American and Latino voters, whose support is essential for both the nomination and general election.

Lesson Plan: Teaching With Protest Music

By MICHAEL GONCHAR and KATHERINE SCHULTEN The New York Times
Studying the protest music of the past or present can be a powerful and engaging teaching tool for students, whether the goal is to better understand a historical time period, analyze the power of lyrics and poetry, understand forces of social change or respond to current issues.

Lesson Plan: Teaching With Protest Music

By MICHAEL GONCHAR and KATHERINE SCHULTEN The New York Times
Studying the protest music of the past or present can be a powerful and engaging teaching tool for students, whether the goal is to better understand a historical time period, analyze the power of lyrics and poetry, understand forces of social change or respond to current issues.

What I Didn't Read in the TTIP Reading Room

Katja Kipping War on Want
The secrecy surrounding the text of TTIP is revealing. Anyone who wants to enhance environmental protection, consumer protection and labor standards would have nothing to fear from transparency. Anyone who’s engaged in selling out democracy, on the other hand, is obviously going to want to avoid public scrutiny.
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