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@profpetercole.bsky.social

450 followers 160 following 320 posts

Historian of labor, race, and (dock)workers. Unionist. Vegan. None of us are free until all of us are free. Ubuntu

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · Nov 24

40 years ago today, SF dockworkers in @ilwu.bsky.social struck a blow against apartheid by refusing to unload S. African cargo. That kind of international worker solidarity is badly needed today to end Israeli genocide and apartheid. My latest for @jacobinmag.bsky.social jacobin.com/2024/11/ilwu...

How American Dockworkers Fought Apartheid in South Africa

Forty years ago today, San Francisco dockworkers struck a blow against apartheid by refusing to unload cargo from South Africa. That kind of international worker solidarity is badly needed today to en...

jacobin.com

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 11h

Donald Trump is weaponizing the DOJ against his political opponents.

Meanwhile, he's gutting the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section which assists U.S. attorneys’ offices around the country with investigating crooked government officials.

"Drain the swamp."

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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 11h

The US has finalized its $20 billion bailout for Argentina, a main US competitor in the soybean market.

This is a move that will only further screw over American soybean farmers, who're being priced out of their own market.

A 90-second crash course in Trump's betrayal of American soy farmers

Here’s the geopolitical beans.

www.motherjones.com

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 3d

A historian I know and respect was illegally fired after being targeted by right-wing groups policing free speech. Please sign this urgent petition calling for Tom Alter's full reinstatement sponsored by the Committee to Defend Tom Alter @lawcha.bsky.social docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Statement by the Committee to Defend Tom Alter

Statement by the Committee to Defend Tom Alter On September 10th, 2025, Dr. Tom Alter, a respected and tenured professor of history at Texas State University, was fired for remarks he made at a social...

docs.google.com

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 4d

If you're in Johannesburg this evening, this event will be amazing and kick off 3 days to mark the tenth anniversary of the 2015 student and worker movement! Re-membering Movements Colloquium at the Humanities Graduate Centre, Wits University.

profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 5d

Chicago stands up to fascists! resist! Another (country and) world is possible

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 5d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 5d

How to Stop a War. Megan K. Stack takes us deep into Northern Ireland's Troubles, how they successfully ended an ugly, seemingly unresolveable violent conflict. The implications for Israel-Palestine are deeply important www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Northern Ireland, Gaza and the Road to Peace

www.nytimes.com

profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 5d

Kudos to Rock Springs, Wyoming for erecting a new monument to violent, anti-immigrant history. The Rock Springs massacre of dozens of Chinese workers in 1885 was one of the bloodiest such anti-Chinese incidents of a stunningly violent, xenophobic time in the US West www.npr.org/2025/09/28/n...

New monument commemorates tragic anti-immigrant chapter in Wyoming history

At a time when President Trump is going after foreign laborers in the U.S, and saying unflattering accounts of U.S. history should be removed, Rock Springs, Wyoming has put up a new monument to ethnic...

www.npr.org

profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 5d

The Italian general strike to protest Israeli genocide and its interruption of food delivery to starving Palestinians was sparked by the dockworkers in Genoa who weeks ago declared that they would shut down the economy if Israel interfered with the peace flotilla

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 7d

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

bit.ly

profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 5d

These ICE raids remind me of the FBI and Chicago police murders of Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Panthers called American fascism as imperialism coming home

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 6d

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 6d

Multiple federal police forces engaged in a military attack on people living in Chicago. Military helicopters, weapons, and tactics were used. trump's war on America is ugly, illegal, unethical, immoral, and criminal www.wbez.org/immigration/...

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: ‘I feel defeated’

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

www.wbez.org

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 6d

When you drag a woman by the hair, beat her and force her to kiss your flag, that’s how you tell the world you are the Good Guys

Jordan Uhl @jordanuhl.com · 6d

Absolutely heinous.

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 9d

I deeply respected Jane Goodall as an incredible scientist and activist! Her empathy for chimpanzees & other creatures resulted in her choosing to become a vegetarian. I'm disappointed this obit failed to mention it; I bet she'd have been, too. Jane Goodall presente! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

Jane Goodall, Who Chronicled the Social Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91

www.nytimes.com

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Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 10d

WE WON: "This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall w/in..this district court squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in US..have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.”"

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 10d

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

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Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 10d

I can’t believe I’m watching interviews of city mayors talking about how they are coordinating with other mayors to discuss how to protect their residents FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

I know we are “used to it” but it is absolutely insane

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 12d

Speaking as someone who actually lives in Chicago, this politician clearly knows zilch. He's trying to build his base b/c he had the guts to point out that Trump's murdering of people in the Caribbean is illegal. So now he has to kiss trumpmaga butt by insulting a city w/ a Black mayor. just stop

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 12d

Rand Paul: "Chicago is a nightmare. It is literally a war zone."

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 13d

Take it from this historian who has written on dockworker power. Workers could block Israeli cargo and end this war right now! Fascinating that Dockworker unions from Europe and Africa are fast becoming an important factor in exerting pressure over the war in Gaza www.politico.eu/article/putt...

Dockworkers from across Europe gather to plan trade squeeze on Israel

Dockworker unions are fast becoming an important factor in exerting pressure over the war in Gaza.

www.politico.eu

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 13d

Heaven forbid we had FBI agents who cared about the fact that police murdered a Black man. We definitely don't want law enforcement to feel bad that a cop murdered George Floyd

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 14d

BREAKING: The FBI has fired agents photographed kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest that followed the death of George Floyd, AP sources say.

FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest, AP sources say

The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

bit.ly

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 14d

I met Quintard Taylor in late 1990s and was SO deeply impressed. Later he founded @blackpastonline.bsky.social which remains the go-to source for Black history online. I was honored to contribute multiple entries. My deepest condolences to Quintard's family. Presente! blackpast.org/blackpast-or...

Home

Welcome to BlackPast.org, the world's largest online encyclopedia of Black History. Explore African American & Global African History.

BlackPast.org

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AFL-CIO @aflcio.org · 14d

If Congress does not permanently extend the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits, then health care costs will go up for everyone.

Working people can’t afford inaction. Tell Congress: stop health care price spikes!

📲855-493-4407

CALL: Stop Looming Health Care Price Spikes!

On Nov. 1, Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces in most states will begin to open for enrollment for next year. Unless Congress acts, more than 90% of people enrolled in ACA health care plans w...

act.aflcio.org

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 14d

if you wrote a book on labor history published in 2025, I encourage you to apply for the Philip Taft Labor History Award. The term “labor history” is defined broadly to include the history of workers, institutions, and workplaces & working-class life www.ilr.cornell.edu/taft-award

Philip Taft Labor History Book Award

www.ilr.cornell.edu

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LAWCHA: Labor and Working-Class History Association @lawcha.bsky.social · 16d

Kevin M. Schultz and Daniel Kaliszyk describe troubling cuts at the Chicago History Museum.
chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...

Chicago History Museum cuts hinder research, exploration

The timing couldn't have been worse. The Trump administration has slashed museum budgets, the Smithsonian is being reviewed to align with Donald Trump's vision of America and the school year just star...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 15d

He talks about moving a World Cup game out of Chicago because it has high crime, which is interesting because there is no game slated for Chicago.

But Dallas has a World Cup game, and Dallas has a higher violent crime rate than Chicago, and Dallas has a Republican mayor

… oh, OK, I see it now.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15d

Trump threatens to move World Cup games out of blue cities due to "crime"

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profpetercole.bsky.social @profpetercole.bsky.social · 18d

Depressing AF that @chicagomuseum.bsky.social execs + board are union busting thugs. CHM fires workers, turns others to part-time to cut benefits, refuse to respect workers' legal right to unionize. & hurts the very public CHM claims to serve. I say #boycott chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...

Chicago History Museum cuts hinder research, exploration

chicago.suntimes.com

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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 23d

👀

FCC Chair Carr’s post from 12/30/23:

Free speech is the counterweight—it is the check on government control. That is why censorship is the authoritarian’s dream.

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