Pilsen is the greatest neighborhood in this country bar none, anytime of the year, but the community really comes into its own in the Summer. Pilsen is one of those front porch neighborhoods that were common place in working class communities 40 or 50 years ago, before the proliferation of central air, smaller families and gentrification turned even urban neighborhoods into imitators of their insular suburban cousins. But in Pilsen, were air conditioning is still often a luxury, apartments are still over crowded and the outdoor culture of the zocalo or centro is a still recent memory, life is in the streets in the Summer time. The chatter of families on their front steps spreading family gossip, the giggle of kids playing in a spraying fire hydrant, the tinkling bells of the paleta vendor, the smell of barbecue grills, and the laughter of a bunch of grandmas engaged in a game of cards on their front sidewalk into the wee hours of the morning, all this has given way in most communities

On Labor Express we have been trying to keep current with developments in Honduras. On June 28th, the Honduran military kidnapped the democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, and put him on a plane to Costa Rica. Zelaya, a member of the Liberal Party was elected to the Honduran presidency in 2006 on a relatively conservative political platform. A member of Honduras’ landowning political and economic elite, no one expected Zelaya to be much different than all the past presidents and dictators of Honduras who have ruled the nation to the advantage of the oligarchy and to the determinant of the poor majority. However, over the past two years, Zelaya has embraced the left turn in Latin American politics of the last decade and pushed forward some moderate social reforms like a raise in the minimum wage. This shift leftward of the president’s politics was immediately attacked by the political establishment, even by other members of the Liberal Party. Honduran social movem

Well a good portion of the American Left is currently doing its best to embarrass themselves, as they often do, by embracing a twisted "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" logic in regards to recent developments in Iran. Rather than declaring solidarity with the biggest uprising of progressive, pro-democratic forces seen in Iran since 1979, including a much repressed labor movement, much of the American "anti-war", "anti-imperialist" Left has decided to ally themselves with one of the world's must virulently misogynist, homophobic, militarist, chauvinist, anti-semitic and repressive regimes on the planet. Of course they were given the green light for such a position by St. Chavez of Venezuela who was the first to congratulate Ahmadinejad on his fraudulent election (unfortunately just the latest example of the limitations of Chavez as the standard bearer of the global movement against neo-liberalism). On the next episode of Labor Express (Sunday, July 1

Hi pilsenprole readers, Sorry for the long hiatus. The end of the school year and a month long vacation to see family in Los Angeles prevented me from regular updates, but I plan to make up for my lack of posts in the coming weeks. So please keep checking back for new material.