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.

Unearthing the Truth

The Economist
A Zimbabwean archaeologist reimagines the story of a momentous African civilization. Great Zimbabwe should be a “symbol”, not just of Africa’s power and potential, but of how outsiders have too often told Africans’ stories—and got them wrong.

Yes, Social Media Can Help With Real-World Organizing

Eric Blanc Convergence
We can’t change the world just by posting on social media. But as the 2018 red state teachers’ strikes show, if organizers make strategic choices about their online organizing, social media can be used to build mass militant actions like strikes.

Friday Nite Videos | December 24, 2021

Portside
Chile 2021: Leftwing Millennial to Be New President. Chile 1973: Manifiesto | Victor Jara. ‘Surprising Is An Understatement’: Kim Potter Verdict. Why New York’s Billionaires’ Row Is Half Empty. Fauci Holiday Message Cold Open | SNL.

Donald Trump Has Normalized Fascism

Jason Stanley The Guardian
By giving a growing fascist social and political movement in the United States a classically authoritarian leader, Trump shaped and exacerbated it, and his time in politics has normalized it.

The Vigilante World of Comic Books

Scott Bradfield The New Republic
A sweeping new history of American comics traces the rise of characters caught in a Manichaean struggle between good and evil.

The Nazi Language of German Anti-Vaxxers

Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young Counter Currents
In reference to the cynical Nazi slogan Arbeit Macht Frei – Work Makes You Free that the SS had placed at the entrance of Auschwitz, Germany’s present-day anti-vaxxers use the slogan, Vaccinating Makes You Free – in German: Impfen Macht Frei.
Subscribe to Portside