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Weekly Roundup | Feb 22th, 2026

Chaos and Conviviality

23 Feb 2026 — 6 min read

Happy Lunar New Year and Ramadan, everyone! We are thinking and acting in solidarity with Palestinians, Sudanese folks, and Chinese folks against Sinophilia (which is just Sinophobia). This week, we have three essays for you: An "arts and culture" one that discusses imperialism in videogames, a more political piece that critiques the idea of the rules-based order (RBO)/liberal international order (LIO), and a final piece that is more theoretical, exploring the relationship between capitalism and the state. We released another episode of the podcast as well, covering the RBO.

Continue reading for more, including urgent crowdfund requests, additional resources to dive deeper on this week's topics, and other stories that we missed. That's all for this week!

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Violence and Statecraft

Discussing the ways that markets, money, and culture interact with violence, using the state as the interface

Dip analyzes the US government’s move from a mostly “rules-based,” “rational” “management” posture in international policy to something more forceful, using the Trump admin’s “peace plans” for Palestine, Sudan, Western Sahara, and Ukraine, alongside the strong-arming of Venezuela.

"The focus on fascism’s spectacle can actually misapprehend how Spectacle works, which encompasses both slow/mundane violence and the fast/sensational/spectacular violence that we normally associate with it. There is no neat-and-tidy separation between the violence of a fascist machine of yore and the 'hegemonic statecraft' of the present."

"[...] games could reframe war so as to not dichotomize Good™ and Evil™ or center situations where everyone is equally wrong. This diffuse accountability allows war to be normalized, making it more difficult to question. Ludonarratives can be layered and explore systems that cause, perpetuate, and profit from war. The damage of war could be shown through the eyes of those who don’t or can’t fight traditionally."

"The state, meanwhile, acts as the gatekeeper, arbiter, and facilitator for capitalism’s interactions. All of the economic, legal, social, political, and cultural relations within a society are only seen as 'legitimate' in their interactions with their given state, in ways it deems valid or legible. Governments–a worthwhile component to mention–are the bodies that 'run' the state. They are the concrete form that the state takes in the world."

Marginalia

Resources to dive deeper on the topics of the week.

It seems that other people are analyzing the RBO/LIO as well, questioning if it will survive or what comes next in the aftermath of its "disappearance." It is interesting–given that what is often meant is the usage of tactics that revolve around visceral violence–what liberals like to imagine ended with World War Two. This is where it is worth having an awareness of the violence that has happened since 1945, which is well-explored by Fourth World War concept.
As we mentioned in the piece, war and games have been bed-buddies since the beginning. Some good resources to explore what this means are the books Gameplay Mode: War, Simulation, and Technoculture and Games of empire: global capitalism and video games. These can be paired with articles on imperialism in First Person Shooters and the relationship between these shooters and military recruitment. Across the medium, there needs to be different approaches, from the making to the playing. As overused as they are, calls to decolonize play are correct.
The conversation around capitalism and the state is critical, and part of an ongoing effort to contextualize our editorial perspective on the topics we're discussing. The main recommendation here is one you'd hear from many a leftist: read theory. Some suggestions are What is Anarchism, Why Socialism?, and Means and Ends: The Anarchist Critique of Seizing State Power (there's also a video version). Otherwise, figure out what you care about (housing, health, food, safety, art, work, etc.), and do research into those topics!

Weekly Roundup | Mar 1, 2026

Finding Your People: How to Get Involved in Radical Change (Intro to Radicalism)

I'm Tired of "Cycles of Violence" Stories

Podcast: Trump Delivered A Killing Blow to the Rules-Based Order. Was it Ever Alive to Begin With?