Portside

Reader Comments: Fukushima Five Years Later; Clinton and Black Voters; Trump - Fascist; Bernie and Women; Misrepresenting the Working Class: Protest and Trump; In Praise of Impractical Movements; Why Virginia's Open Shop Referendum Should Matter; Protest Against Closing Down the Lukács Archives; Announcements: Welcome Federation of Cuban Women; CUNY Writers Against Austerity; Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration; "Food Chains" Film Screening; and more...

The topic was protesters, and Trump's frustration was clear. "They're being politically correct the way they take them out," he sighed. "Protesters, they realize there are no consequences to protesting anymore. There used to be consequences. There are none anymore."

Can disruptive social movements change the world or are we better served by take-it-slow, wait-a-year-or-more-to-speak-up, incremental change? Mark and Paul Engler make a case for the former, arguing in their new book, This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century, that supposed pragmatism often stands in the way of genuine progress. The grand slogan of Paris, 1968 -- "Be realistic, demand the impossible" -- is sage and sober advice.

Fifty years ago, young people inspired and moved our whole country away from Jim Crow, war and McCarthyism in the 60s. Today a new generation of young activists are inspiring and moving our country. Today's youth are active for justice, jobs, immigrant rights, against police murder and racism, peace, and are revitalizing the labor movement. Just this week, from Missouri to the Fight for $15 actions, young people are again inspiring a generation and the whole country.

If the state says you go to bed by 10 o'clock, then you should make sure that by 11, the streets of our cities are filled with human protest and bodies! The fact that some might have a restless night with the noise downstairs or find it inconvenient because people blocked traffic, well that's the point - to snap you out of your indifference! So those who are turned off by radical thinking, or radical behavior, well, as a matter of fact, in many ways, you are our target.

Reader Comments: #BlackLivesMatter and Bernie Sanders; The Value of Protest; US Cited for Police Violence, Racism; Private Prisons; Euro Agreement and Greece; Urban Renewal and Public Space; Announcement: Rosa Luxemburg Conference - New Takes on a Longtime Classic - New York - August 21 - 22 (Moderator's Note - There will be no Tidbits for the next three weeks)

Reader Comments: The Condition of Black Life...Our Real Problem with Race; Take Down Your Flag 140+ artists post videos; Black Churches Being Burned; Greek Referendum; Columbia Divests From Prisons; Naomi Oreskes and Changing Climate; World War II Chemical Experiments Tested Troops By Race; Iran Nuclear Deal; About George Soros and the Ukraine...More Comments; Donate to Rebuild the Churches Fund; Announcement - Art Exhibit of Boycott Posters - Tacoma - July 2-16

Reader Comments - Baltimore, other cities as "Occupied Territory"; Drop the Charges against those arrested; Government-Sponsored Segregation; Bernie Sanders - a Long Tradition of American Socialism; Alberta NDP Victory; $15 per Hour or Bust; Israeli Soldiers Speak Out-Gaza Atrocities Were Orders; Labor Union Membership Now Just 11%; Feliks Tych - R.I.P.; Announcements - New York, Boston