[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, toots … you name it]
[Videos]
A Mother’s Escape: A Langur’s Dangerous Climb – “TEH CUTEST BABIES EVER”
[Music]
Telepathic Fish: Early 90s Ambient 15th March 2026 [nts] – “Essential ambient techno and chillout tracks from the seminal South London ambient music party Telepathic Fish, hosted by the late Chantal Passerman aka Mira Calix.” Linking to this For Mira.
[Podcasts]
« Plutôt voleurs de poules que voleurs de vies » – Antitsiganisme, État-nation et éthique de la révolte [lundi.am] Un lundisoir avec Ritchy Thibault – “Pour comprendre d’où lui [Ritchy Thibault] vient une telle énergie et pourquoi elle ne se départ par de beaucoup d’humour, il faut livre son dernier livre : Voleurs de poules, combattre l’antitsiganisme (Libertalia). Cette irréductibilité au pouvoir autant que cette disposition au coup d’éclat, on ne peut la comprendre qu’à partir du récit historique et éthique qu’il fait de l’antitsiganisme et de la guerre livrée depuis toujours par l’État contres les populations Roms, Sinti, Manouches, Gitans, Yéniches et Voyageurs. Des formes de vie, qu’il a toujours fallu surveiller, contrôler, réduire et même éradiquer tant elles incarnent ce petit caillou dans la chaussure d’une civilisation qui ne peut tolérer qu’elle-même.” I so hope they won’t break Ritchy.
88. Subtext: Anthony Kiedis: Backstage Behavior – “For over 40 years, Anthony Kiedis and his band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, have been the soundtrack for frat parties and music festivals with their brand of funk influenced alternative rock. However, behind the music is a dark history of sexual assault, drug abuse, and a lack of accountability.” The vibe was clear, but the extent of his abuses were still shocking to hear.
[Toot Threads]
[Pandemic Roundup]
Covid: March 26, 2026
Covid: March 19, 2026
Covid: March 12, 2026
Covid: March 5, 2026
[The Must Read[s] This Month]
How the Covid Disinformation Ecosystem was established [substack] – “But as the science got clearer, disinformation and the development of an alternative narrative became more coordinated, the media platformed these contrarian voices with false equivilence and created a space for conspiracy theories to thrive. Its important to understand that there was a coordinated campaign to undermine public health in the midst of a pandemic even when the bodies were piling high in January 2021, and it has led to antivax sentiment becoming a fixture of the radical right.” This is crucial analysis, disinformation doesn’t just spread, it gets manufactured.
I Wrote a Movie Review. Cops Took It From A Protester’s Home to Make the Case That He’s a Terrorist. [intercept] – “It seems, though, that the FBI didn’t read beyond the cover of what it calls my “booklet. That was the description of my review-in-zine-form when it appeared in an itemized receipt for seized property, alongside cellphones, computers, weapons, and other bits of technology — for the sole reason that it is willing to throw anything, no matter how absurd, at anti-ICE activists to paint them as vile terrorists.” Imagine zines tuning into grounds for persecution. Yet here we are. Imagine you wrote one of those zines.
The world wants to ban children from social media, but there will be grave consequences for us all | Taylor Lorenz [the guardian] – “Over the past year, more than two dozen countries around the world have proposed bans on social media use for vast swathes of their public. These laws, often proposed under the guise of “child safety”, are ushering in an era of mass surveillance and widespread censorship, contributing to what scholars have called a “global free speech recession”.” This debate carries all the characteristics of a moral panic.
[Articles English]
The Epstein Class [dissent magazine] – “Presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hold the powerful to account, we are teetering on the edge of lunacy. Yet the real scandal of the Epstein saga is not that a billionaire cabal runs the world. It’s that there is a billionaire class. The moral of the Epstein files is that nobody should be that rich.” We should eat the rich. No seriously. Should we not?
Persistence of Post-Acute COVID-19 Sequelae (PASC) symptoms in healthcare workers four years after ancestral SARS-CoV-2 infection: a prospective multicentre cohort [springer] – “PASC symptoms persisted up to four years after aSCV2 infection in a substantial proportion of HCWs.” 60% of the healthcare workers in this study have at least one persistent symptom up to four years after initial COVID infection. What more information do we need to take COVID serious again?
Progressives need to take up COVID fight [hamilton spectator] – “Governments modelling abandonment and cruelty in a time of crisis signal support to fascist, eugenicist and Nazi logic. This follows past research showing pandemics can give rise to fascist political economies. People and groups fighting for equitable democracy must challenge COVID minimization. Challenging this status quo isn’t easy, but things worthwhile can take time, and events like Long COVID Awareness Month/Day can help.” They need to, but they won’t. Because progressives are just as defined by convenience as anyone else. [insert screaming fit]
Iran war shows how AI speeds up military ‘kill chains’ [conversation] – “The embedding of AI into military kill chains intersects with other alarming developments. After years of inaction, the US military spent more than a decade developing an infrastructure to avoid civilian casualties in war, but it has been almost totally dismantled under the Trump administration.” AI may be a hype, but it will have this type of RL consequence.
Donald Trump’s Racism Mirrors Jeffrey Epstein’s [counterpunch] – “Epstein built (or at least tried to build) ties and develop friendships with some of the most notorious eugenicists and White nationalists around the globe, including Nobel Prize laureate and geneticist James Watson, political scientist Charles Murray, and artificial intelligence researcher Joscha Bach, among many others. He also circulated posts from White supremacist websites that promoted bogus, supposedly genetically-based intellectual differences between the races.” Joscha Bach gets a brief mention. How was i ever impressed by them?
Billiards Master Sequencer – Sequencer made with real billards samples.
Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Spike is Associated with Localized Immune Dysregulation in Long COVID Gut Biopsies [biorxiv] – ” We confirmed the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 Spike transcript and protein in the gut tissue of all LC cases and controls tested.” A small study for the viral persistence cohort.
“The Zionist movement has become a death cult” | Annabel Ross [substack] – “For the past two years, writer and dance music historian Tim Lawrence has been an unusually clear and uncompromising voice in support of Palestine, speaking out publicly about Israel’s genocide in Gaza at a time when many in dance culture have stayed silent. In this interview, he discusses his journey from a Zionist upbringing to anti-Zionist activism, the backlash he has faced since October 7, the influence of Edward Said, and the connection he sees between protest movements and the dancefloor.” Anti-zionist jews can lose so much by taking a stance like this.
Serious Threat to the First Amendment as Trump Admin Wins First Antifa Terror Charge [common dreams] – “When the villain is a made-up boogeyman then the target becomes ‘anyone who disagrees with Trump’—and this is the result.” This is so scary. But also, those who are against antifa are fa.
Long Covid Awareness Day 2026 | Disabled Ginger [substack] – “They run from any reminder of the pandemic, and sadly those with Long Covid are one of the starkest reminders there is. As a result folks with Long Covid and related chronic illnesses slip away. Quietly disappeared from people’s lives. Ghosted, ignored and forgotten.” Yup, gaslit and forgotten, ridiculed and overlooked.
Bubble Sorted Amen Break by Vee 🥑 – So satisfying.
History Is Repeating Itself [crimethinc] – “Those of us in the diasporas can make the link between the authoritarianism of Israel and the authoritarianism of Iran without equating the two. This is crucial, because we need to be sensitive to the experience of those who are victimized by both regimes. To a Palestinian in Gaza, it could sound offensive to say that Iran is as bad as Israel, and vice versa to the Ayatollah’s victims in Iran. The absence of such nuance makes it easier for those—including parts of the Iranian diaspora—who promote the idea that Israel will liberate Iran.” Yes, but people also need to be allowed to vent.
The COVID-19 pandemic at 6 years: Mass death, debilitation and media silence [wsws] – “Six years ago this week, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the global outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. In the six years since, the pandemic has killed over 30 million people worldwide, left more than 400 million suffering from Long COVID and inflicted incalculable damage on the social fabric of every country on Earth. It is one of the most catastrophic events in modern history—and it is not over.” These tankies were one of the few outlets to commemorate six years of COVID.
Global Climate Report | February 2026 [ncei] – “In February 2026, the global surface temperature was 1.18°C (2.12°F) above the 20th-century average, ranking as the fifth-warmest February in the 177-year record. The 10 warmest Februarys on record have all occurred since 2016. This month also marked the 47th-consecutive February with an above-average temperatures.” La niña effect?
The Broligarchy's First World War? [substack] – “Gaza is the blueprint for everything we are seeing right now. There are no words to describe what happened there. And yet, it’s happening all over again.” Is there an overton window for war policy?
Tinnitus Is Somehow Connected to a Crucial Bodily Function – “Our findings indicate that deep sleep may indeed help mitigate tinnitus and could reveal natural brain mechanisms for modulating abnormal activity," said Milinski.” Sure, i need deep sleep. But how can i get it surrounded by asshole neighbors who keep me awake, wake me up and bully me after i try to talk to them.
Neurodiversity beyond the social model [freedom news] – “Everything won within this system can be taken away by this system, because none of it touches the underlying reality. that our survival depends on our economic usefulness to others, and that makes us permanently subject to their judgement of our worth. So long as that’s true, we will be measured, assessed, found wanting, and accommodated conditionally or not at all. Diagnosis becomes a bureaucratic process to determine eligibility. Inclusion becomes a performance. And we remain supplicants, asking permission to exist on terms set by others. So long as that’s true, we will be measured, assessed, found wanting, and accommodated conditionally or not at all. Diagnosis becomes a bureaucratic process to determine eligibility. Inclusion becomes a performance. And we remain supplicants, asking permission to exist on terms set by others.” System change.
Francesca Albanese, Gaza, and the Military-Propaganda Nexus Behind the US-Israeli War on Iran [counterpunch] – “Francesca Albanese has incisively corrected the record and debunked Israel’s denials and justifications for genocide so often repeated in the Western Press. It took her one eloquent sentence to expose media’s role in facilitating Israeli attacks on the enclave when she wrote, “Israel has written one of the darkest pages of human history and the world is still holding the pen.” The world participates with glee.
Statement following Saturday Night Live – “THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Mocking a disability is never acceptable. It would not be tolerated for any other condition, and it should not be tolerated by people with Tourette’s. Tourette’s is a complex neurological condition, of which there is no cure. It is not a joke. It is not a personality trait. It is not a source of entertainment. It is a condition that can be extremely debilitating, causing pain isolation and huge amounts of discrimination. Mocking a disability is never acceptable. It would not be tolerated for any other condition, and it should not be tolerated by people with Tourette’s. Tourette’s is a complex neurological condition, of which there is no cure. It is not a joke. It is not a personality trait. It is not a source of entertainment. It is a condition that can be extremely debilitating, causing pain isolation and huge amounts of discrimination.” After the Baftas and ensuing mockery.
Temporarily Embarrassed Sex Criminals | Laurie Penny [substack] – “Women’s sexual power over men is the only power men are permitted to chafe at. The power, specifically, to withhold sex and everything that is supposed to come with it: pleasure, care, intimacy, validation, belonging, status, self-respect. Sex – specifically straight, penetrative sex and the social capital to command it – is supposed to replace everything late capitalism strips from you if you weren’t born rich. Everything that you are, in fact, entitled to. Entitlement and frustration are utterly reasonable things to feel. Patriarchy takes care to translate that feeling into the key of misogyny.” Can we just give up though? It can’t just be a temporary embarrassment.
[Articles German/French]
No pasarán! [woz] – “Nur Faschisten haben Angst vor der Antifa – das stand auf einem der vielen Plakate, die uns bei der Arbeit an diesem Heft begegnet sind. Als US-Präsident Donald Trump im September 2025 «die Antifa» zur Terrororganisation erklärte, begannen wir, eine Reise zu planen. Eine Reise zu fünf Schauplätzen in Europa – und durch hundert Jahre antifaschistische Geschichte. Sie führte uns von Madrid über Reggio Emilia, Brüssel und Berlin bis nach Budapest. Den Spuren einer Bewegung nach, die heute so notwendig ist, wie sie es seit ihren Anfängen immer war.” A timely magazine. With incredible graphics.
Trumps Maga-Faschismus: Der Körper als Waffe [woz] – “Im Inneren, und das ist besonders unheimlich, werden zugleich tiefere Triebstrukturen, Gelüste und Begierden deutlich, die im rationalen Weltentwurf der Demokratien verdrängt sind. In der Demokratie regiert, der Theorie nach, der Beste, nicht der Stärkste. Der Faschismus hebelt diese Rationalität aus: durch eine emotionale Energie, die stärker ist, archaischer auch und mit Stolz primitiver als die Raffinesse der Demokratie.” Theweleit light. His book is rather wordy.
Aktivismus und Kritik: Welche Linke darf es denn sein? – “Die, die uns am nächsten sind, kritisieren wir am härtesten. Nachvollziehbar, aber der guten Sache nicht dienlich. Von denen, die die wenigsten Ressourcen haben, verlangen wir oft am meisten. Perfektionismus hält alle davon ab, überhaupt mit der Arbeit zu beginnen. Im Kampf gegen rechts können wir uns das nicht leisten.” Yet critique is crucial for a pluralistic left.
Wer will, dass Medien die Demokratie stärken, muss zuerst die Medien demokratisieren [daslamm] – “Im Kapitalismus ist es nicht nötig, Budgetentscheidungen offiziellen politischen Organen in die Hände zu legen, um politisch Einfluss zu nehmen. Da die allermeisten Medien als gewinnorientierte Unternehmen in Privatbesitz aufgebaut sind, geschieht politische Einflussnahme auf ökonomischem Weg: Die Redaktionen produzieren Medien aus der Sicht ihrer Besitzer*innen, deren übergeordnetes Ziel es ist, ihre Profite zu steigern. Gleichzeitig können sich extrem reiche Personen Medien kaufen, um so ihre ideologischen und politischen Interessen zu verbreiten.” Again, the problem is the system. As it stands public service media is not much of a service when they keep pushing capitalist, euro-centrist, racist, sexist, ableist, ageist etc. narratives.
Rüstungsexporte nach Israel: Die fatale Lücke [woz] – “Mitten im Gazakrieg bewilligte die Schweiz über hundert Exporte von Dual-Use-Gütern nach Israel. Alles gesetzeskonform, sagt das zuständige Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft. Genau das ist das Problem.” Swiss neutrality has been a joke for ages. Don’t believe the hype.
[Older articles, still great]
Mothering against motherhood – Sophie Lewis [zinelibrary] – “As I understand it: mothering is simply care labour; motherhood, an institution of private property. So, the fundamental question thrown up by both Heti and zuchinno could be formulated as follows: does (1.) automatically make you (2.)? Conversely, does doing (2.) entail having (1.)? Is momming identical to being a mom? If not, why not? Should momradeliness simply be comradeliness (but then, comradeliness vis a-vis whom)? Does it only apply to persons who happen to have procreated – or legally adopted – progeny? Or is pulling one’s weight with regard to the so-called reproductive labours of life the only meaningful definition of comrade in the first place? Can a comrade be called a comrade if they are not a momrade? What, in that case, of people like my late mother, a sometimes-left activist who had children, owns legal papers to prove it, but does scant caring- or reproductive labour for those children, let alone for the movement?” A very personal and powerful essay by one – checks notes – Sophie Lewis. [Pretending not to be a fan boy]
R.I.P.
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Header Photo: An overhead shot of the carnaval populaire et deter 2026 in Lausanne, more photos here.