We will be there, and we will be reading

"Penrose recognised that defeating eugenics was not just a scientific problem, but a political one too... If the history of the interactions between eugenics & genetics tells us anything, it is that political movements may continually adapt in response to a constantly changing scientific landscape"

The Dialectics of Multi-Level Selection in Evolutionary Biology - Dialectical Systems Introduction Dialectical thinking in biology has famously been put forward by the eponymous book of Levins and Lewontin (1985). Much of the book was dedicated to the interpenetration between organisms...

The dialectical underpinnings of multilevel selection

Evolution isn’t flat: new levels arise through conflict and then reshape the very dynamics that brought them into being

Episode 16: Who Paid The Riddler of Western Marxism? (Part 1) | Critical Theory Working Group Get more from Critical Theory Working Group on Patreon

You asked, we listened! J.E. & I tackle “Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?” in 2 pts: EP16 on the motive & method of the project; EP 17 on how far the book falls short of its own mission re: the Frankfurt School. Tried to keep it civil-ish but as you can see lol www.patreon.com/posts/156140...

A ★ review of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) Video games, a cultural form literally born out of RAND projects to survive a nuclear war with the Soviets (so in a sense, plausibly anti-communist), are a perfect neoliberal technology. Every video g...

I found the new Super Mario movie so boring that I started working out a (somewhat cheeky and reductive) theory of video games during it, and then went home and typed it up letterboxd.com/gavinsaywhat...

Kuwait Declares Force Majeure on Oil Shipments on Hormuz Halt Kuwait declared force majeure on shipments of crude oil and refined products as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz makes it impossible to meet obligations to customers that can’t bring vessels into ...

heating up

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

But they have also argued that it was President Trump’s decision to attack Iran that entangled their country in a destructive conflict whose effects may not be over, some of the officials said. Emirati officials told the U.S. officials that if the U.A.E. runs short of dollars, it may be forced to use Chinese yuan or other countries’ currencies for oil sales and other transactions, some of the officials said.

Emiratis are threatening to use petroyuans.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

British universities paid security firm to ‘spy’ on pro-Palestine students Investigation reveals how Horus, a company led by ex-military intelligence officials, was hired during protest movement.

www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/...

this kind of thing is happening too often and too widely, and we're just sitting ducks in the face of it. good on al jazeera and liberty investigates for their work in uncovering it.

Domain Expansion: Goblin Town

The coming global food crisis Hunger and even famine are foreseeable consequences of the war on Iran. Now the world must act to shield the poorest from effects that will continue long after the fighting stops

"The old image of the Gulf monarchies as little more than oil and gas exporters no longer holds. Today, the region sits at the centre of modern agriculture, not only as a major producer of fertilisers... but also as a force shaping fertiliser industries across neighbouring countries." - Adam Hanieh

A YouTube comment from the above linked video that says: “im 2-unemploid”

Greece's pivot to Israel: Spyware, war corridors, and a risky alliance From Predator spyware to arms deals and military corridors, Athens has tied its future to Tel Aviv at the very moment the US-Israeli order is losing ground across West Asia.

A very depressing read on how Greece and Cyprus have become bosom buddies with Israel on arms production, surveillance, military alliances, natural gas, and shipping:

thecradle.co/articles/gre...

I have a confession I have fallen in love with a sport. Under communism, there will be one sport and it is table tennis.

I feel the same with all of Megumi Ishitani’s work. Incredibly talented artist

Update lol: So in the last month this turned into a project of producing something like a hist-crit ed of the ‘39 “The Jews and Europe” essay, incl its concept/reception as not just an anti-fascist work but also as an anti-Zionist & communist one. Some Hork lines from the latest batch:

Is this first or second nature?

decommodify everything

Getem!

Also it is Marx *and* Engels, both were naturalists! Thinking how they differed and agreed is highly instructive, but people don’t know how to talk about nature w/o whitness/religion, so we are stuck.

Natural history is more than Aristotle! It just so happens most people don’t know a bio-philosophy except through Xitan/Islamic version of him (so theology)

Wishing you a swift recovery!

Not likely but quite frankly casual. The anti-Shia crackdown is also accompanied by a loud antipathy to Palestinian resistance

Kuwait detains journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin over social posts Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s detention in Kuwait raises concerns over a widening crackdown on press freedom during the Iran war.

"The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kuwaiti authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin."

Prominent Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin Has Been in Jail for Six Weeks in Kuwait, Faces Trial in Special Tribunal Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s arrest comes as part of a wider crackdown on online speech in Kuwait and other Gulf countries during the Iran war.

Ahmed's arrest and prosecution are happening against a renewed drive of mass denaturalisation, temporarily paused because of the Iranian strikes on Kuwait.

Over 50,000 Kuwaitis have been denaturalised, rendering them not only stateless but incapable of cross-border movement.

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In 2024, the Dig launched Thawra, a 19-part series on 20th century Arab radicalism.

We are now releasing the Thawra digital study guide, replete with readings, films, archival materials, & discussion Qs for collective or individual study.

Check it out➡️ thawraproject.com

A baby born in a Beirut displacement camp now struggles to survive A newborn baby struggles in a tent along Beirut’s waterfront. Her mother says Shiman was born 16 days ago there.

"A baby born in a Beirut displacement camp now struggles to survive"

K*wait is genuinely a stupid ass country

Departures: Space in the Frankfurt school - Margath A Walker, Key MacFarlane, 2026 The theme issue Departures charts the formative significance of space, spatiality, and geography in the Frankfurt School tradition of critical theory and its po...

This looks good! journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Wishing you a speedy recovery! ❤️‍🩹

Thread on the South Korean president’s evolving stance on Israel, as he faces increasing economic pressure from the war in Iran: