AUGUST 12, 2026: WOKE 1.0
The Return of Nationalism; Trying to Look Good; and Out to Africa
WOKE 1.0
A court ruling striking down Florida’s Stop WOKE Act is both a major affirmation of academic freedom and a window into the free-speech debates dividing the right. Republicans blew millions on an anti-woke program—it’s failing badly. College has a political problem, but it’s not woke brainwashing. Francesca Hong criticized Thanksgiving and unearthed a deeper debate on the left—does she have a “Woke 1.0” problem? Actually, AOC, Woke 1.0 did a lot of good things for this country. Jasmine M. Green on what woke got wrong—and right. Bentham’s Bulldog on effective altruism and what the woke get right. Meagan Day interviews Jay Lesoleil and Clementine Morrigan, cohosts of F–king Cancelled, on how a left that condemns internal dissent is a dead end for democracy. The left is rising, so centrist Dems are cynically woke again (and more). Paul Gottfried on how the woke left are enemies but they are not communists.
THE RETURN OF NATIONALISM
Ethnogenesis mania: Vuk Bacanovic on national identity and pseudoscience in post-Yugoslav Montenegro. A nation is a people (they just cannot agree which one): Angloid is a young ethnonationalist canvassing for Restore Britain and posting about homogenous cities; he thinks he understands what a nation is—he does not. Cyril Hedoin on neo-romanticism and the return of nationalism: A Berlinian perspective. Nationalist internationalism: Tony Chamas on the case for nationalism beyond the nation-state; Benjamin Studebaker on how nationalism is washed—a response to Tony Chamas; and a reply by Chamas. Universalism from the East: Opening editorial statement for Red Threads, an internationalist left publication, speaking from the former Second World to the planet, rooted in shared politics and struggles.
TRYING TO LOOK GOOD
From the New Yorker, our plastic-surgery nightmare: As cosmetic procedures become both more invisible and more extreme, our connection to reality is fraying; and should we do more to fight lookism? Discrimination against the unattractive is widespread—and widely tolerated. The incredible freedom of not trying to look good: Ilana Masad reviews Ugly: A Letter to My Daughter by Stephanie Fairyington. What happened to your face? How the human countenance became something to study, edit, optimize, and scan. What is the body? Celine Leboeuf on what we learn from pausing and reflecting on our bodily experiences. How the “body positivity” movement died: A few years ago, there was a push for acceptance of different body types—now not so much. When is it unhealthy for an individual or a nation to be so obsessed with health? Derek Thompson on the cult of the enhanced self.
OUT TO AFRICA
Africa’s last philosopher king: Although Nelson Mandela lacked the oratory of Nkrumah and the theory of Senghor, his contribution to the world of ideas was something rarer—pragmatism. Africa’s human rights institutions are electing leaders—Chidi Anselm Odinkalu on why this matters. Feyi Fawehinmi and Tobi Lawson review How Africa Works: Success and Failure on the World’s Last Developmental Frontier by Joe Studwell (and more). Abir Ibrahim on how Africa is not developing, it is recovering: The word we use to describe the continent’s trajectory is not a matter of semantics. Hugh J. Curran on the harms of post-colonialism on African nations. How the Communist Party of China reaches out to Africa. Between feminism and pan-Africanism: A charter twenty African governments just endorsed defends seed sovereignty and economic independence in one breath, and moves to gut abortion and queer rights in the next.