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Articles by Sid Plotkin
Venezuela, Project 2025 and Big Oil’s Trump Investment
If you think Trump’s threat to invade Venezuela is about stopping the influx of drugs into the United States, you need to take a closer look at Project 2025. That document advocates American hegemony over the Western Hemisphere. But Trump does not read documents or strategy papers. He wants to bully the hemisphere and control its vast natural resources. His “Gulf of America” apparently includes the vast oil reserves of Venezuela. The socialist nation has the world’s largest proven reserves.
The Neofascist Economy is Here
Donald Trump is creating a new form of capitalism. His economic policy is driven by his personal whims rather than the needs of capital, the results of which are likely to bring disaster to our economy and extreme hardship to American workers and the American people. Trump voters have consistently overlooked or dismissed his glaring failures as a businessman who squandered his great family wealth.
Regime Change 2025
The popular protest sign “They’re eating the checks, they’re eating the balances” exactly captures the destruction Donald Trump has wrought in his first six months in office as he follows the Project 2025 roadmap to change every aspect of American government and American life.
Labor Movement Means More Than Unions
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / June 16th, 2023 Since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, headlines have focused on union organizing victories at Starbucks and Amazon. But a recent New York Times story declaring “New York Delivery Workers Are Getting a Bump in Pay” reminds us that workers outside the union movement are part of the labor movement too.
Forward to the Past
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / May 24th, 2023 Outrage continues over Justice Neil Gorsuch’s recent remarks that policy responses to COVID-19 may represent “the greatest intrusion of civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.” Slavery, the historical exclusion of women and non-property owners from voting, Jim Crow, the abuses of the Red Scares and an infinite list of other violations of civil liberties are nothing to Gorsuch compared to asking people to wear masks and get...
Steering the Titanic into the Iceberg
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / May 23rd, 2023 Patty Chayefsky’s film Network, an acid-laced spoof of capitalist media, reaches its climax when Chairman Arthur Jensen, leader of the fictional mega-corporation CAA, thunders his disapproval to the crazed but wildly popular anchorman, Howard Beale.
May Day Resurrected
Another May Day has come and gone, and most Americans never noticed. It wasn’t always like this. In decades past, thousands of workers of different ages, ethnicities and genders celebrated the first of May by marching in support of worker rights. Workers traditionally wore red on May Day to show unity in their struggle against the power of capital and to remember the blood shed by thousands of workers in the struggle for human dignity.
Radio Free - Independent Media for People, Not Profits.
Another May Day has come and gone, and most Americans never noticed. It wasn’t always like this. In decades past, thousands of workers of different ages, ethnicities and genders celebrated the first of May by marching in support of worker rights. Workers traditionally wore red on May Day to show unity in their struggle against the power of capital and to remember the blood shed by thousands of workers in the struggle for human dignity.
Aggression, Guns, and Marcuse
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / April 25th, 2023 Better not knock on the wrong door or drive into the wrong driveway, you may get shot. Kids are afraid to go to school for fear of getting killed, as the body count from mass shootings climbs every day. Hate crimes are increasing, and just driving to work is potentially dangerous. Think of tailgaters honking their horns and flipping you the bird as they speed past.
Playing with Financial Fire
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / March 29th, 2023 Capitalism, Marx said, is unceasingly prone to crisis. His observation applies as much to financial capital as to industrial capital, as the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank of New York attest. In their pursuit of profits, banks make loans that borrowers cannot repay or back the loans with assets that lose value.
American Labor: Prospects and Possibilities
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / March 25th, 2023 Starbucks workers at over 100 sites greeted Spring and the company’s new CEO by walking off the job. Some pundits hail this action as a reflection of labors’ growing new strength. Public approval of unions is at a fifty year high, petitions for union elections are on the upswing, and the recent well-publicized organizing victories at Trader Joes, Amazon, outdoor outfitter REI, and almost 300 Starbucks stores, among others.
Class and Diversity in the Left
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / March 1st, 2023 A recent expose in The New York Times documenting how U.S. corporations exploit migrant children sheds light on a crucial issue facing the American Left. Nowadays, many activists on the Left rightly focus on identity politics. To them, diversity is the order of the day. No argument here. Richard Penniman said it succinctly: diversity is a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
DeSantis as Gradgrind
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / February 24th, 2023 Florida’s Governor DeSantis educational scheme that students need to learn the facts and nothing but the facts is likely to make teaching and learning in Florida more challenging than ever before. DeSantis’ “fact only” pedagogy mirrors that of Thomas Gradgrind, a character in Dickens’ Hard Times who sustained the Victorian status quo by teaching students how not to think.
Republican Attacks on Education and Critical Thinking
by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / February 20th, 2023 Have you ever been grilled by little kids asking the question, “Why?” Why is the sky blue? Why does Heather have two moms? Why are you going to work? Why do you need money? Before you know it they have you questioning basic social values you never even thought about. That’s why right-wing Americans attack public education from kindergarten through college.
Tidbits - Jan. 5, 2023 - Reader Comments: MAGAers Hold Congress Hostage; Roots of American Fascism; Open Letter to Young UniOrganizers; Come Work With Railroad Workers United; Jan 6th Justice: Our Freedoms, Our Vote - Nationwide Events; Cartoons; More… |
If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary. (One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.) And just so you know, unions do work..... (A. Philip Randolph Institute) Re: Jan.
Bussing Immigrants to Vice President Harris’ Home
How fascism has become an acceptable part of American politics by Bill Scheuerman and Sid Plotkin / January 4th, 2023 Migrants traveling from Texas arrived by bus outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence in Washington, DC. Fox News Migrants traveling from Texas arrived by bus outside Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence in Washington, DC, on Thursday.
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