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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.

Lessons From the Struggle Against the Old McCarthyism

Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin Inside Higher Ed
Political participation is key to resisting efforts to prohibit the discussion of “controversial” ideas. Those flexing their political muscle to regulate what gets taught in classrooms understand this. Those of us doing the teaching need to as well.

How Odetta Revolutionized Folk Music

Sasha Frere-Jones The New Yorker
She animated the horror and emotional intensity in American labor songs by projecting them like a European opera singer.

When Baseball Players Formed Their Own League

Robert B. Ross, Michael Arria Convergence
Major League Baseball is mired in a lockout, as team owners refuse to budge just weeks before Opening Day. It’s a perfect time to look back at when the players revolted against the owners and started their own league: the 1890 Players’ League.

Worse Than a Crime; It’s a Blunder

Anatol Lieven, Harold Meyerson, Ryan Cooper The American Prospect
The meaning and consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s response

Band-Aid on a Tumor

Jake Johnson Common Dreams
Critics Blast Biden Rebrand of Trump's Medicare Privatization Scheme . "Changing the name doesn't change the fact that the Direct Contracting program is backdoor privatization of Medicare," said one progressive advocate.
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