Portside

Reader Comments - Victory for Americans: Walgreens Won't "Invert"; Rosetta Comet Rendezvous; Reflections on My Seven Months in Israel; Incipient Inflation Freak-Out Could Wreck Economy; Jews Who Protest Israeli Policy; Academic Freedom Under Attack - The Firing of Steven Salaita; Anti-Semitism; Virgin America Flight Attendants Vote To Join Union; Healthcare - the NHS; Market Basket Srtike - Why Its So Important; On This Day in History - FDR Signs Social Security Act

Reader Comments-Fast-food strikes; Cecily McMillan; Campus Unions; Vietnam War; Farley Mowat; Ukraine; Power of Imagination; Filipino Americans and Farm Labor Movement; BDS; Food; William Worthy - R.I.P Announcements - Strike! & New Forms of Worker Struggle -May 28; Bold New Era or Hard Times for Organized Labor? -June 4; Organizing 2.0 Conference -June 6-7; The Origins of Inequality: Grassroots Economics Training for Understanding & Power -June 14 (all New York)

Billy Frank Jr, fishing rights fighter; Piketty and critics; Demystifying abortion; Lessons from old school labor; Deconstructing the fashion industry

The movie, Cesar Chavez, documents his life and his role in the 1965 Delano Grape Strike. An aspect of the film is the largely forgotten contributions of Filipino Americans to the farm labor movement. Since the 1920s, when Filipinos first learned to organize into unions in Hawaii, Filipinos were important leaders in organizing farmworkers to fight against unfair working conditions.

The start of the twenty-first century has seen a continuing decline in union membership and strikes. But it has also seen the emergence of unpredicted mini-revolts. Activists in the Battle of Seattle took over downtown Seattle, put an end to the millennium round of the World Trade Organization, and redefined the question of globalization for millions of Americans.

What would it mean to extend solidarity to the ecosystem? That's the question at the heart of this conversation with union activist and environmentalist, Sean Sweeney. Even conservatives are saying that 50 years will be more than sufficient to witness the worst impacts of climate change. And if past is prologue, poor and working-class communities will be hit doubly hard. Climate change is a class issue, and yet the trade union movement continues to drag its feet.

Quote of the Day - Michelle Alexander: Dr. King was speaking out against the Vietnam War, condemning America's militarism and imperialism; Reader's Comments: March on Washington; Black Unionists; Full Employment; Bradley Manning; Syria; Wal-Mart Workers Winning; U.S.'s 1 Percent So Much Richer; Visualization of Every Protest Since 1979; Announcement - Memorial for Margrit Pittman - New York - Oct. 6

If Richard Parrish had his way, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom would have occurred in 1941 rather than 1963. We need to remember and celebrate the militant legacy of Richard Parrish -- not just because he understood that trade unions could be powerful forces for progressive change, but also that he did not shy away from challenging them when they failed to live up to their potential.