Bungacast: Recent Episodes
Bungacast
The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History. From a left perspective. Join us as we chart a course beyond the age of ’bunga bunga’.
On politics and football.
Alex is joined by Karl Sharro, Juan David Rojas, Tim Abrahams, and Euan Marshall to pick over the stories of this World Cup.
- If the World Cup is a branding exercise for the hosts, what exactly is the USA selling here? And Mexico? Canada?
- Are conspiracy theories good, actually?
- Is Argentina evil? Should you support the global South against the colonisers?
- Are evangelicals responsible for Brazilian failure?
- Do you need central planning to become good at football?
- When 23% of players at the WC are foreign born, how can globalisation be ending?
For more like this, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast <<
Links:
- Football won’t rescue the nation, Alex Hochuli, Africa Is a Country
- Note to Leftists, Do Not Squander The World Cup!, Juan Rojas, Substack
- Blood ties and opportunity: Why more World Cup players than ever are not representing their birth nations, BBC
On 'imperialist realism'.
Daniel Bessner, historian, is back on to discuss the relation between US foreign policy and ideology. He talks to Alex and Lee about his forthcoming book and other writings.
- Why has acceptance of imperialism accompanied declining support for empire?
- What is the US's sense of mission and how does this coexist with cynicism?
- Is US politics stuck between liberal guilt and conservative suprematism?
- Does nothing ever actually change? Is the US even a democracy?
- What would an effective anti-imperialist politics look like?
The full episode is for subscribers only, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Power without Ideology, Daniel Bessner, The Ideas Letter
- Imperialist Realism: Politics and Culture at the End of the American Century, Daniel Bessner, Zer0 Books
- /464/ Decline Under The Donald ft. Daniel Bessner
On Roland Barthes' Mythologies.
(This is an unlocked episode from our Reading Club. Subscribe for more like this.)
Alex, George, and contributing editor Catherine Liu delve into Barthes' 1957 classic to understand the form of ideology critique it proposes – and particularly as it relates to left and right.
- If the bourgeoisie generates myth, is revolution a cathartic act that gets us beyond myth?
- Is the direct producer also unable to speak myth, or is this a romanticisation?
- What are predominant left-wing myths today? Is "left vs right" a myth of sorts?
- Is the critic of myths condemned to live a "theoretical sociality"? Should people just be allowed to enjoy things?
On writing the history of capitalism.
Political theorist Corey Robin talks to Alex H and Alex G about what is wrong with Sven Beckert's monumental new Capitalism: A Global History.
- Have historians returned to writing about big themes and grand narratives?
- Why does Beckert date capitalism's emergence to 12th century Arabia?
- Is capitalism essentially about free markets and free trade – or about the state, coercion, violence?
- If capitalism has no beginning and no end, then does that mean we're still at the end of History?
Links:
- The Long Revolution, Corey Robin (review of Sven Beckert), The Nation
- /481/ Everything is Plausible: Oligarchy – or Worse ft. Corey Robin
On global shortages and their political consequences.
Benjamin Bradlow, assistant professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton, talks to Alex and Lee about the world-historic impact of the Hormuz Strait closure.
- How will shortages – beyond oil and gas – reverberate through global supply chains?
- Why are markets so sanguine about all this? Are financial economic elites too insulated from consequences?
- Will China be the big beneficiary as more countries turn to importing its tech for renewables?
- Do countries want to trade dependency on the Middle East or US for dependency on China?
- Would a world of energy autarky be more or less peaceful?
- Are "electrostates" a thing?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The Winners and Losers of the Iran Energy Shock, Benjamin Bradlow, Foreign Affairs
- The energy crisis may just be starting, Martin Wolf, FT
Audio from the live event held at Verdurin, London, on 28 May 2026.
The OG Bunga Boys - Alex, George, and Phil - present their takes, followed by responses from contributing editor Lee Jones and friend-of-the-pod Nina Power - and audience questions.
On Roland Barthes' Mythologies.
Alex, George, and contributing editor Catherine Liu delve into Barthes' 1957 classic to understand the form of ideology critique it proposes – and particularly as it relates to left and right.
- If the bourgeoisie generates myth, is revolution a cathartic act that gets us beyond myth?
- Is the direct producer also unable to speak myth, or is this a romanticisation?
- What are predominant left-wing myths today? Is "left vs right" a myth of sorts?
- Is the critic of myths condemned to live a "theoretical sociality"? Should people just be allowed to enjoy things?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
On world money and war.
Costas Lapavitsas, professor of economics at SOAS, London, talks to George and Alex about financialisation, arrested development, and the Strait of Hormuz.
- What is the state-led stabilisation of finance capital?
- How does today's imperialism differ from prior versions – even if they also inhibited development outside the core?
- What is the "liquidity tribute" that developing countries must pay?
- How is the war on Iran a perfect case of dollar imperialism: "the dollar and the F35"?
- Why is the talk of "colonialism" today a distraction?
London event: History's Back, Baby!
Links:
- A Topography of the New Dollar Imperialism, Costas Lapavitsas, NLR
- Trump’s Chaotic Imperialism: Economic Warfare, Geopolitical Truculence and Domestic Authoritarianism, Costas Lapavitsas, Socialist Register
- For forthcoming Monthly Review article, see here
- /139/ Dollar Empire ft. Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder
- /142/ Dollar Empire (2) ft. Daniel Bessner
History’s back, baby!
Thu 28 May, Verdurin, London
Tickets: https://verdur.in/store/historys-back-baby-admission/
It is obvious today that the “end of history”, postulated by Francis Fukuyama in 1992, is over. Liberal democracy as the final form of human organisation? Pah! The arc of history tending towards justice? Pah!
Will the end of twentieth-century modernity be the start of something new? The building blocks of the past – political parties, ideologies, and institutions – are decaying around us, and nothing new emerges to take their place.
Yet history now has new protagonists: states, corporations, and oligarchs, often acting in synthesis. What if history’s back but not as we wanted it? The stakes are high: the sunset of the US hegemony is in sight and even Fukuyama now agrees on the impending primacy of the “Chinese model”. Yet even such geopolitical shifts aren’t leading to the creation of a new hegemony – disorder is the order of the day.
Five years on from the publication of The End of the End of History, its authors and hosts of Bungacast reflect on a world in a state of accelerated decay, with responses from guests Lee Jones and Nina Power.
They say that “nothing ever happens”. Pah! Something ever happens.
On angry young women.
Ashley Frawley, sociologist and senior editor at Compact, joins Alex and George to delve more deeply into young people's political polarisation on gender lines.
- Why is there a lack of mutual understanding or goodwill between young men and women when we have never been more equal?
- Why do differing political views on anything from Israel/Palestine to Donald Trump cause such interpersonal rancour?
- Young women are centrally concerned with pain, trauma, and empathy – and see men as lacking. What's behind this?
- How is the conservative explanation (bad lefty ideas) just as faulty as the lefty one (patriarchy)?
- What will the political consequences be of gender polarisation?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Revealed: the new radicalism among young women, Scarlett Maguire, New Statesman
- Meet the Angry Young Women, Emily Lawford, New Statesman
- Why young women are so angry, Pippa Bailey, New Statesman
- Don’t panic about “Angry Young Women”, Jack Davey, The Critic Magazine
- Why do young women hate men?, New Statesman, YouTube
- /394/ Girls, Left / Boys, Right ft. Nina Power (see for additional links)
- Girls and Boys are becoming very different, Alex Hochuli, Substack
On the gig economy, big tech, and ideology.
Sociologist Will Charles talks to Alex about a form of social organisation that has stopped trying to justify itself.
- How should the gig economy work and how does it actually work?
- Is any worker in this economy a 'true believer'?
- Why isn't digital sophistication a proof of economic efficiency?
- What's the relationship between secular stagnation, value capture, and rentierism?
- Do workers hold to a latent moral economy that could provide the basis for revolt?
Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up: patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- Muskism and the Myth of Productive Revolution, Will Charles
- Post-Legitimate Society, Will Charles & Ryan Gunderson
- Muskism Is the Specter Stalking Our Present, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin
Relevant episodes:
- /538/ Muskism ft. Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff
- /522/ At the Bottom of the Tar Pit ft. Benjamin Studebaker
- /540/ Welcome to the Apolar and Post-Multilateral World ft. Tom Chodor
- /546/ Reading Club: Are We All Post-Liberal Now? ft. Geoff Shullenberger
- /547/ What Are the Politics of Stagnation? ft. Dylan Riley
On political capitalism and divided workers.
Sociology professor at UC Berkeley, Dylan Riley, talks to Alex and Lee about economic stagnation, the state propping up capitalism, and class politics.
- What is "political capitalism"? And is it true that plunder and predation matter more now than exploitation?
- Why hasn't the ruling class purged the system through mass bankruptcies and unemployment?
- How does Chinese state capitalism fit into the story of stagnation and excess capacity?
- What is the difference between economic interests and class interests? How is the working class divided today?
- Is there a way out of the impasse? What possibility is there of a pro-growth politics?
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Links:
Relevant Episodes
- /312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley
- /515/ State Capitalism Is Now ft. Ilias Alami
Riley & Brenner
- Seven Theses on American Politics, New Left Review, 2022
- The Long Downturn and Its Political Results, New Left Review, 2025
Some Key Responses
- Reflections on Political Capitalism, Lola Seaton, New Left Review, 2023
- Notes on ‘Political Capitalism’, John Ganz
- Seven Theses on Brenner and Riley's "Political Capitalism", Tim Barker
- Robert Brenner’s Unprofitable Theory of Global Stagnation, Seth Ackerman, Jacobin
- From Politics to Theory and Back, Benjamin Fong, Damage
Notable pieces in Sidecar by Dylan
- Lenin in America
- First Principles
- Contra Arendt
On postliberalism, MacIntyre and Gray.
- How was the 1950s "end of ideology" (Bell, Lipset) different from the Fukuyaman 1990s "end of history"?
- Is John Gray correct in his characterisation of Alasdair MacIntyre as a prelapsarian?
- Does hyperliberal individualism lead to a search for meaning, and thus to communitarianism?
- Is the competition between liberalism and post-liberalism now our political spectrum?
- Is contemporary liberalism now reducible to professionalisation of the state and civil society?
- If liberalism has failed – a basic point of this podcast from the start – has post-liberalism now also failed?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The End of History and the End of the End of History, Alasdair MacIntyre
- How to Save British Liberalism, John Gray, New Statesman
- What ever happened to post-liberalism, Nicolas D Villarreal, Substack
- /533/ Reading Club: Illiberalism?
On Hungary's elections.
Hungarian political analyst and editor of Partizan, Szilard Pap, talks to Alex about the end of 16 years of Fidesz in government.
- What is the scale of Fidesz’s wipeout?
- Who is Péter Magyar, and is he actually to the right of Orban?
- What was Orban’s rule built on, and what parts of it have been rejected?
- Does Orban mark a shift from national-populism to radical conservatism? From anti-politics to hyperpolitics?
- What is the impact on global radical right? Was there a global Orbanism, and is it over?
- How will this impact European “unity” and will Orban's defeat lead to escalation in Ukraine?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The Mittel Man, Ivan Krastev, Equator
- Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian Model Has Collapsed, David Broder, Jacobin
On the brave new world we have entered.
Historian Arash Azizi is back on the pod, talking to Alex H and Lee Jones about the ongoing war. We try to draw out some firm consequences, beyond the immediate situtation.
- Why did Trump go to war?
- Is this Netanyahu's war? And will he continue it regardless of the US?
- Will the Islamic Republic become more conservative now?
- What has the war revealed about asymmetric warfare? About US vulnerability?
- What is the state of the Hormuz weapon now?
For more like this, join us at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
Arash Azizi:
- Reasons to be Hopeful in Iran, Arash Azizi, The Atlantic
- /24/ #IranProtest ft. Arash Azizi
- /150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi
- /444/ Opportunism & Revenge in the Middle East ft. Karl Sharro & Arash Azizi
Analyses:
- How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, NY Times
- Netanyahu’s Iran War Is Also the War of Global Neocon Elites, Nimrod Flaschenberg, Jacobin
- Trump's War, Daniel Luban Dissent Magazine
- The world energy shock is coming, Isabella Weber and Gregor Semieniuk, New Statesman
- One battle after another: Netanyahu’s new security doctrine, FT
- /532/ Is This a Paleocon Foreign Policy? ft. JF Drolet
- Atlas Shrugged: Decoding Trump's National Security Strategy, Lee Jones, American Affairs
On abolishing queer theory.
Ran Heilbrunn talks to Lee Jones and Alex Hochuli about his chapter, "Abolish Queer Theory!" in the edited collection Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual.
- What is queer theory and why should it be abolished?
- What is the meaning behind the shift in terms: invert, to homosexual, to gay, to queer?
- How does queer theory politicise sex and why is this bad?
- Do our libidos care about social inclusion? Can they?
- Is identity okay but identity politics bad?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual, Aman Namaman and Pierre d’Alancaisez (eds.), Verdurin, 2025
We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month.
Key issues:
- The difference between radical conservatism and the far right
- Racism in class society in decomposition
- Tech bro übermenschen (or just Uber men)
- Who is doing the work of justifying this order?
- And Ursula, the villainous Cecaelian sea witch, about whom songs must be sung
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- To Keep and Bear Arms, Garry Wills, The New York Review
- David Graeber vs. Peter Thiel: Where Did the Future Go?
- /495/ Heritage America vs the World? ft. James Pogue
On Amazon, labour & logistics, and trains.
Benjamin Fong, of ASU's Center for Work and Democracy, as well as an editor at Damage and co-author of the substack On The Seams, talks to Alex and George about organising workers in locations of corporate vulnerability.
We also preview the forthcoming print issue of Damage, Trains, by discussing modernity and its avatars, and development and de-development in Brazil.
- Why target Amazon above all else?
- What are the "seams" and why are they important?
- Can labour still "go after the big targets"? Do these still exist given the dispersion of production and distribution?
- How much public appetite is there for blockages at pain points?
Links:
- On the Seams, Substack
- The Labor Movement Must Go All In on Organizing Amazon, Benjamin Y Fong, Jacobin
- Organizing Logistics Chokepoints: Hitting Them Where It Hurts, Benjamin Y Fong, New Labor Forum
- The Apotheosis of Point of Sale Data, Benjamin Y Fong, Phenomenal World
On "non-hegemony" and world disorder.
Tom Chodor, IR & politics scholar at Monash University, joins us to talk about a world that still retains the formal shells of multilateral institutions but whose contents have been hollowed out.
- What is "multilateralism"? Why is it an important concept to capture the US-led order that is now falling apart?
- If multilateralism was always in crisis, what is new today?
- Is the emerging (dis)order multipolar or apolar? What's the difference?
- Is multilateralism the historic exception that we wrongly take to be the norm? Why is there no going back to the post-1945 – or post-1991 – order?
- What are the prospects for a new hegemonic order? Isn’t prolonged chaos and decay more likely?
The full episode is for subscribers. Join at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Non-Hegemony, Tom Chodor, Jack Taggart and Ilias Alami, Phenomenal World
- /377/ The Locked-Up Country ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor
- /357/ Lucky, Meaty Nations ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor
On the slowing rate of technological progress.
Alex, George and contributing editor (and science writer) Leigh Phillips discuss David Graeber's 2012 essay, Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit. This builds on two of this year's themes: state capitalism (how planning and growth – or their absence – intersect with technology) and the pre-political (how technology shapes
• Were we right to expect jetpacks? And are we looking in the right place for technological advances today?
• Has technical progress actually slowed in the way Graeber says?
• Are the explanations he gives for slowdown correct?
• What political tasks does this reality impose on us?
• What is the role of geopolitics and war in the rate of technological development?
Links:
- Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit, David Graeber, The Baffler
- Science Is Getting Less Bang for Its Buck, Patrick Collison & Michael Nielsen, The Atlantic
- /59/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 3 ft. Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski
- Progress is in the balance between innovation and implementation, Phil Bell, LSE
- Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction (On Robert C. Allen)
- Engels’s Second Theory: Technology, Warfare and the Growth of the State
On the operating system of the 21st century.
Historian Quinn Slobodian and tech writer Ben Tarnoff talk to Alex Hochuli and Alex Gourevitch about their new book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, and why we should ask "what is Musk a symptom of?"
- If Fordism characterised the mid-20th century, are our times those of Muskism?
- What are the touchstones of Muskism that the authors identify: fortress futurism, financial fabulism, state symbiosis?
- Who is the real Musk, that of vehicles, energy, infrastructure, or that of the post-industrial stuff of social media, finance, AI?
- What does Muskism promise people? How does it legitimise itself – if at all?
- Is the state actually dependent on Musk, or is Musk dependent on the state?
- How much of Musk's right-wing turn is necessary to Muskism, and how much is contingent? Is the racial component central?
Links:
- Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff, Harper Collins
- /57/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 1 ft. Alex Gourevitch
We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month or so. Key issues this month are:
- What are the wrongs of the postmodern right – aand left?
- Will the civilisational paradigm become hegemonic?
- Is Trump's foreign policy techno-populist?
- Whether, and how, to protest anti-immigration policing
- To defend or to smash the professions?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
On anti-racism, communism, and philosophy.
Alex Gourevitch talks to political philosopher Paul Gomberg about his original and deep Marxist arguments for what makes racism wrong, why racism cannot be eradicated without overcoming capitalism, and the limits of many contemporary anti-racist arguments.
- What does it mean to "alienate" race?
- What is the harm in racism? How does it harm everyone, not just its obvious victims?
- Why does Gomberg argue that can racism cannot be overcome in capitalist society?
- Has official racism been replaced by official anti-racism in the neoliberal era?
- What does it mean to understand anti-racism as communism?
- How did Gomberg's communist militancy impact his philosophy?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Anti-Racism as Communism, Paul Gomberg, Bloomsbury
- How to Make Opportunity Equal: Race and Contributive Justice, Paul Gomberg, Blackwell
On postmodern conservatives.
Matt McManus talks to Alex and George about a Right increasingly shaped by the parameters of postmodern culture – and his Damage article on this.
- Who are the key thinkers of postmodern conservatism?
- Does truth matter anymore?
- Is "flooding the zone" an act of post-truth politics?
- Does all that is solid melt into advertising – and is it Charlie Kirk's fault?
- Is postmodern conservatism an adequate response the dissolution of the traditional “sources of the self”?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Conservativism as Postmodernism, Matt McManus, Damage
- Why only Socialism can redeem Conservatism, Maurice Glassman, Together For The Common Good
On Trump and Rubio, Venezuela and Cuba.
Writer Juan David Rojas talks to Alex and Lee about the abduction of Maduro, what next for Venezuela, and Trump's "hemispheric" foreign policy.
- What is the Trump administration's policy toward Latin America?
- Is the attack on Venezuela a war for oil? Or a war vs 'narcoterrorism'?
- What are the internal divisions in Venezuela, and could it fall into civil war?
- What are the armed groups in the country?
- Who's calling the shots in Washington: neocons or paleocons?
- Is the US open-border policy for Cubans going to cause a rift within the Trump admin?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- How Maduro Sealed His Own Fate, Juan David Rojas, Compact
- Atlas Shrugged: Decoding Trump’s National Security Strategy, Lee Jones, American Affairs
- From Rogue State to Failed State?: The Perils of Intervention in Venezuela, Juan David Rojas, American Affairs
- Trump’s Venezuela Actions Are About More Than Oil, Matt Huber, Jacobin
On "thin ideologies" in a postmodern age.
The Reading Club kicks off with an exploration of illiberalism, a "new ideological universe" that exists in "a permanent situational relation to liberalism."
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership
- What are examples of this backlash against liberalism?
- How is illiberalism different from populism, conservatism, or the far right?
- What is a thin versus a thick ideology? Are we condemned to a 21st century of only thin ideologies?
- Is 'illiberalism' a useful term to describe what is going on in politics today?
- Is liberalism versus illiberalism just a terminal culture war?
Links:
- Illiberalism: a conceptual introduction, Marlene Laruelle, East European Politics (2022)
- /114/ Reading Club: The Light That Failed | Patreon
On Trump & radical right ideology.
Jean-François Drolet, a leading researcher into the 'World of the Right', talks to Alex and Lee about Donald Trump's coveting of Greenland, and puts the move into its ideological context.
- What is the paleoconservative worldview, how is it different from the neoconservative one, and which is more influential in the Trump regime?
- How does paleoconservatism translate into actual foreign policy? What's in Trump's new National Security Strategy?
- Are we back to a 19th century-style 'spheres of influence' arrangement?
- Does the radical right's foreign policy lead back to a populist kind of isolationism – or to a 'civilisational nationalism'?
- Will Trump solidify the transatlantic alliance, or generate a rift?
Links:
- /461/ Welcome to the World of the Right ft. Michael C. Williams
- World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and World Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024).
- International Relations and the Geopolitics of the European New Right, European Journal of International Relations, JF Drolet
- From Critique to Reaction: The New Right, Critical Theory and International Relations, Journal of International Political Theory, JF Drolet & Michael C. Williams
- Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy: Goodbye, Liberal International Order; Hello, Radical Right, Lee Jones, American Affairs (forthcoming
On ICE, Minneapolis – and your questions & comments.
Contributing editor Ryan Zickgraf is back from Minnesota and tells us what is happening on the ground. We also discuss:
- If this was Trump picking a fight, why Minnesota?
- Do the slayings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti mark a step-change in who can be killed in the US with relative impunity?
- What are the implications for the 2nd Amendment and will this divide MAGA World?
- Does a hard border necessarily entail a hard, militarised society too? Is the interiorisation of the border inevitable?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
We then discuss listener questions on:
- What is important that Bungacast cover?
- The benefits of citizenship
- Capitalists paying themselves for labour
- The post-doomer personality
Readings:
- South Minneapolis has had enough, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd
- Enforcement Regime, Michael Macher, Phenomenal World
- Minneapolis Is a Second Amendment Wake-Up Call, Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic
- ICE unloads, Ken Klippenstein, Substack
On the social turn in psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysts Christie and Ricky talk to Alex and George about their article in issue #5 of Damage, on ill-fated attempts at solving social problems through therapy.
- What is the 'social turn' and is it another case of immediacy?
- Why are the social problems to be dealt with treated as both urgent and impossible to resolve?
- Is this a case of hyperpolitics? Is psychoanalysis actually white supremacy?
- Do the professions need defending? Do they need to accept their limitations?
Subscribers to this podcast get 15% off print subscriptions to Damage magazine – and access to to this episode. Go to patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The Regression in Psychoanalysis’s “Social Turn”, Christie Offenbacher & Ricky Levitt
- /210/ Reading Club: Psychoanalysis & Spirit of Capitalism
On Southeast Asia's scam compounds.
Mark Bo, organised-crime researcher and co-author of Scam, talks to Alex and Lee about his book, his experiences and why this fusion of gangsterism and speculation has taken root in the contemporary economy.
- What is the scale of the scam industry?
- How do scams like pig butchering, fish butchering, or law-enforcement impersonation work?
- How does organised crime structure itself on corporate lines? How does this fit with modern slavery?
- Do illicit zones signal the coming of a kind of "compound capitalism"? Is scamming a symptom of the death of the developmental state?
The full episode is only available to subscribers. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds, Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li, and Mark Bo, Verso
On the making of independent India – and its lessons.
Assistant professor of politics at The New School, Sandipto Dasgupta, talks to contributing editor Alex Gourevitch about this new book, Legalizing the Revolution: India and the Constitution of the Postcolony.
- Why was the postcolonial movement insufficiently anti-colonial?
- What is the difference between the legal and political meaning of popular sovereignty – and why does it matter?
- What was the hidden, repressive element to the Indian Constitution?
- Did post-colonial leaders create something novel, even heroic? Or did they fail even on their own terms?
- Where do the democratic and counter-revolutionary aspects of the Indian revolution express themselves?
- How do symbolic substitutes for genuine popular participation play themselves out in Modi's India?
Links:
- Legalizing the Revolution: India and the Constitution of the Postcolony, Sandipto Dasgupta, Cambridge UP
- /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
- /417/ Has India passed peak Modi? ft. Achin Vanaik
On the collective subject at the end of the End of History.
Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism editorial board member and assistant professor at the University of the Aegean, talks to Alex and Lee about class and the "national-popular".
- Is the way to recover popular sovereignty to "return" to the nation?
- Is there a contradiction between this and declaring oneself to be "in favour of open frontiers for migrants and refugees"?
- What is the meaning of citizenship in this case?
- What's the difference between Gramsci's conceptions of people-nation and nation-rhetoric?
- Does the radical right's "civilisational nationalism" offer the left an opportunity to reclaim a popular notion of nationhood?
Links:
- Rethinking the “We” of Emancipation, Panagiotis Sotiris, Communis
- /471/ Reforming the Deformed ft. Nathan Sperber & George Hoare
On US derangement on screen.
The OG Bunga boys get togther for the annual end-of-year film episode. We discuss Ari Aster's Eddington, as well as a bit of Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another and Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia: the three films that together marked 2025, and which deal with paranoia, conspiracy, disinformation and unmoored political activity.
- Is this hyperpolitics on screen?
- Do these films serve any critical purpose?
- Is Eddington a faithful depiction of the society of immediacy or is it guilty of immediacy itself?
- Are we all fkin r*ed?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- /520/ Conspiracy Culture & Paranoid Styles ft. Catherine Liu
- Hell in Ari Aster, Tara Heffernan & Felix McNamara, Corporate Total Art
- /458/ The Society of Pure Vibe ft. Anna Kornbluh (on 'immediacy')
- America’s Unraveling on Screen, Monica Marks, New Lines Magazine
On homoploutia and national market liberalism.
Branko Milanovic, Research Professor at City University of New York, talks to Phil and Alex about his most recent book, The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World.
- What unites the political trajectories of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump?
- How is global inequality, growth and political conflict evolving in the aftermath of globalisation?
- How are hierarchies of global income shifting as the world rebalances towards East Asia?
- What kind of political theories can we use to model the emergence of this new multipolar world – Adam Smith, Lenin, Luxembourg or John Rawls?
- And what is Homoploutia?
Links:
- The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World, Branko Milanovic
- Global Inequality 3.0 and More, Branko's substack
- An Economist’s Case for Open Borders, Branko Milanovic, Dissent Magazine
- The ‘homoploutic’ elephant, with Branko Milanović, FT
On overmedicalisation and the crisis of authority.
Amber Trotter, practicing psychologist and an editor at Damage magazine, and George Hoare tell Alex about their co-written article in the print issue of Damage on "the pre-political".
- What is driving the explosion in mental health diagnoses? Why are people seeking diagnosis?
- How is it the product of the subjective and the purely scientific?
- Does capitalism make us ill? Is blaming 'capitalism' abstractly part of the problem?
- What is the crisis of authority? Whose authority?
- Can we solve pre-political problems with politics? And political problems with pre-political approaches?
Damage, Issue 5: The Pre-Political
On post-woke strategies.
Ryan Z is back on, talking to Alex and George about the US Democrats' attempt to respond to Trump/MAGA.
In association with Damage magazine.
- Can the Democrats escape the shadow of woke?
- Is Big Woke dying? Everywhere?
- Who are the groups and think-tanks pushing for a reorientation, and what are they proposing?
- Will the Dems adapt to Trump’s challenge or pretend nothing is happening?
We then take listener questions and comments on transport infrastructure, left-wing gatekeeping, and the crisis in education everywhere, high and low.
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Can the Democrats Escape the Shadow of Woke?, Ryan Zickgraf, Damage
- Inside the Democratic identity crisis, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd
On legitimacy and chronic crisis.
Benjamin Studebaker talks to Alex and Lee about his book, Legitimacy in Liberal Democracy – and why the absence of the threat of revolution makes the crisis drag on.
- What's wrong with 20th century accounts of legitimacy crises? What's changed?
- Why is contemporary politics so stuck? Is it inescapable?
- How does the breakdown of consensus make the emergence of a social majority so difficult?
- Is there no common programme we can agree on, focused on bread-and-butter issues?
- Do we need to stare despair in the face? Is catastrophe the only way out?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Legitimacy in Liberal Democracy, Benjamin Studebaker, Edinburgh UP
- UNLOCKED: /361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker
- Debilitated democracy: When the legs get ripped off, Dirk Jörke and Benjamin Studebaker, European Journal of Social Theory
On the crisis in literacy.
Poet, podcaster and teacher, C. Derick Varn – who has taught in Mexico, Korea, Egypt and the US, at various levels – joins Alex and George to interrogate the coming "post-literate society".
- What do we mean when we say 'post-literate'?
- This seems a global problem – so is it a problem of the education system?
- Is it as simple as blaming smartphones?
- How else has education become degraded? How have progressives and conservatives combined to do this?
- Are we becoming on oral culture again? What are the consequences?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Are we becoming a post-literate society?, Sarah O'Connor, FT
- Have humans passed peak brain power?, John Burn-Murdoch, FT
- Visible Learning (synthesis of meta analyses), John Hattie
- Why Knowledge Matters, ED Hirsch, Harvard
- Seven Myths about Education, Daisy Christodoulou
- Insensitivity Readers!, Nina Power
In this special episode, we present talks given by contributing editor Catherine Liu and co-host George Hoare on the paranoid style at a recent conference at UC Irvine, co-hosted by the Palm Springs School for Social Research.
- 00:01:23 – Catherine Liu: Opening Remarks, on Richard Hofstatder’s classic essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”
- 00:12:18 – George Hoare: The Paranoid Style in British Politics
- 00:36:06 – Catherine Liu: "Zombies Clowns and Gangsters"
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
[We are unlocking this episode from the Bungacast Reading Club, originally released Nov 2025, which is normally available only to Reading Club subscribers. If you'd like to join, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast]
On the middle classes and cultural compression.
For the concluding episode of the 2024/25 Reading Club, we discuss C. Wright Mills' White Collar, plus some additional short texts on what mass culture is like today.
credit: Ryan Zickgraf, based on The Wilson Quarterly/Russell Lynes 1949* Does Mills' account of the “economic psychology” of the White Collar worker still ring true today? * What about their "political psychology"? * What is the state of White Collar trade unionism today? * Is there no possibility of the middle class leading a political movement? * Do the distinctions of high- middle- and low-brow still make sense today, in our era of levelling-down and slop? * Should we defend democracy in the economy and elitism in culture?
Readings:
- White Collar: The American Middle Classes, C. Wright Mills, 1951 (esp final two chapters)
- Highbrow, Middlebrow, Lowbrow, Russell Lynes, Wilson Quarterly, 1976 reprint of 1949 article (pdf attached)
- Post-Mass Culture, Dylan Riley, Sidecar
- Unionizing the “Cultural Apparatus”, Nelson Lichtenstein, Jacobin
On technology, transhumanism, and progress.
James Hughes (Exec Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies) and Eli Sennesh (postdoc, Vanderbilt) present a futurist approach to Alex and contributing editor Leigh Phillips.
- What is wrong with the acronym TESCREAL?
- Why is it wrong to worry about future transhumanism when we need to grapple with the technologies of now?
- What are the limits of bourgeois futurism? What is an alternative futurism?
- Has AI changed everything? Will it?
- Are we actually living in an age of rapid technological advance?
Links:
- Conspiracy Theories, Left Futurism, and the Attack on TESCREAL, James Hughes & Eli Sennesh
- /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power
- /335/ AI & the End of the End of History
- /446/ The Techno-Fantasy of Perfect Freedom ft. Amber Trotter
- /488/ Homo-Techno, Homo-Solo ...Post-Homo? ft. Alex Gendler
- The Obama-to-Yarvin Pipeline, Geoff Schullenberger, Compact Substack
On free speech, the tech right, and politicisation.
Geoff Shullenberger, managing editor at Compact, joins Alex and George to talk about Peter Thiel, René Girard, victimhood and the antichrist.
- Does it make sense to talk of "right-wing cancel culture"? Is it different from the left's?
- Is countercultural trolling in tension with "defending Western civilisation"?
- What does René Girard argue about mimesis and scapegoating? Why have his theories become popular?
- Is right-populism still politicising? How does it relate to libertarian anti-politics and hard-right militarisation?
- How has Silicon Valley libertarianism adapted to the new state-capitalist disposition?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- René Girard and the Rise of Victim Power, Geoff Shullenberger, Compact
- The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession, Laura Bullard, Wired
- The Faith of Nick Land, Geoff Shullenberger, Compact
On places of ritual.
Architect Pier Paolo Tamburelli talks to Alex about his project to catalogue modern wonders – structures that are very big, that pretend to be ancient, and are mostly ugly.
For the full episode subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
- How has architecture lost its ritual dimension?
- Why are these "modern wonders" kitsch? And why are they found the world over, from Munich to Malaysia, South Dakota to Dakar?
- Do 'wonders' speak to a world where places remain distinct, and where conflicts and history seem to have returned?
- Are disillusioned and cynical postmodern subjects searching for wonder?
- Can architecture rebuild society?
Links:
- Wonders of the Modern World, Arch+, issue 259
- Wonders of the Modern World: Notes for a Research Programme, Pier Paolo Tamburelli, Arch+ (pdf attached in patreon)
- What's wrong with the primitive hut?, Pier Paolo Tamburelli, San Rocco (pdf attached in patreon)
On 20 years since the 2005 riots.
Fred Lyra, philosopher and musicologist based in Paris, joins Alex to talk about France through 4 moments: 1995 – the last moment of classic class struggle; 2005 – riots in the banlieues; 2015 – Islamist terror; 2025 – government collapse.
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
- How were the riots normalised? And what was the state's response?
- Why did the riots prompt debates about "models of integration"?
- Why is there an "excess" of state in the banlieues, and an absence of state in left-behind smaller cities?
- How did France go from the Nuits Debouts protests to the Gillet Jaunes – and how did they differ?
- What about Bloquons Tout protests and the repeated fall of governments today?
Links:
- The Peripherisation of France, Fred Lyra, A Terra É Redonda
- Two, Three, or More Fractures in French Society?, Fred Lyra, A Terra É Redonda
- Bonapartist Solutions, Dylan Riley, Sidecar
- Nuits Debout: Up All Night, Fred Lyra, Lavra Palavra
On the weakness of state and capital – and their fusion.
Ilias Alami joins Alex and Lee to talk about his essential co-authored book, The Spectre of State Capitalism.
- Why is state capitalism not just a China story, but is global?
- What does the rise of state capitalism tell us about the health of contemporary capitalism?
- How did globalisation and stagnation combine to give birth to it?
- Is this an extension of neoliberalism or something new and different?
- Does this represent a 're-politicisation' of the economy – and does it open up more hopeful political futures?
Links:
- The Spectre of State Capitalism, Ilias Alami & Adam D Dixon, Oxford UP [OPEN ACCESS]
On living with modernity.
Richard J Williams talks to Alex and George about his new book, The Expressway World and how cities have adapted to the infrastructural legacies of the mid-20th century. We talk about New York, London, São Paulo, Madrid, Glasgow and Seoul.
- Why do people hate expressways – and who actually loves them?
- What are Big Man cities? How do expressways bring together populism, authoritarianism, and capital?
- Why is the antidote to 20th century car-centricity always gentrified and sanitised public space?
- What are the class struggles that emerge over the expressway world?
- Is there a basic lie behind many "ecological" infrastructure projects?
Links:
- The Expressway World, Richard J Williams, Polity
- Intersections, Owen Hatherley, Sidecar
- /113/ Globoville ft. Richard Williams
On the Bolsonaros, Milei and MAGA.
Alex talks to Guilherme Casarões, Associate Professor of Brazilian Studies at Florida International University, about Bolsonaro's sentencing, Trump's tariffs on Brazil, and the bailout of Milei.
- Is the motivation behind the tariffs on Brazil just partisan interest?
- How has Jair Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo, become point-man for the Latin American radical right's connection to MAGA?
- Is Bolsonarismo the closest to MAGA among the global radical right?
- Will a "Populist International Order" follow the Liberal International Order?
- Why is the nationalist Trump bailing out the libertarian Milei?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Then George, Alex and Ryan Zickgraf discuss the global radical right and whether Charlie Kirk's killing was its "George Floyd moment".
Finally, the boys take listener questions & comments from the past month. (NB recorded 25 September)
On Göran Therborn's article, "Dreams and Nightmares of the World's Middle Classes".
The penultimate episode of this block on the middle class, we discuss the differing fortunes and politics of the global North and South middle-classes – as well as ways they may be similar.
Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
- Is the middle-class dream increasingly only a dream?
- Can the "ever-rising middle-class wave" in China and India sustain itself?
- Is being middle-class defined by one's consumption? By income? By something else?
- How have fears changed: from being politically "squeezed" between to proletariat and bourgeoisie, to being economically "squeezed" and fearing falling?
- What politics do the middle-classes generate? What kind of populism?
On the UK's working-class unrest.
Sociologist Lisa McKenzie talks to Alex and contributing editor Lee Jones about why the country feels like a powder-keg.
- What's behind protests like Unite the Kingdom? How responsible are far-right agitators?
- Why are threats posed to women and children such an explosive issue?
- What is the type of nationalism that is behind the proliferation of English and British flags?
- What are Farage's Reform promising and will they deliver? What of the immigration question?
- How is Corbyn's "Your Party" going, and why can't the Left seem to speak for or to the working class?
Links:
- Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain, Lisa McKenzie, Bristol UP
- Lockdown Diaries of the Working Class, Lisa McKenzie
- James Treadwell thread on raising of flags, X
On critiques of entertainment.
New contributing editor Ryan Zickgraf joins Alex and George to talk about the history of media critique and contemporary cases.
- How does consensus-age comedy like King of the Hill deal with hyperpolitics today?
- Is the reliance on archetypes a problem, or inherent to all comedy?
- Why is Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death still relevant?
- Is the Gen X critique of 'couch potatoes' and TV-watching similar to today's techlash?
- Have we become insensible to contradiction?
Links:
- We’re still distracting ourselves to death, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd
- King of the Hill reboot is ill-suited to the Trump age, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd
On slavery, racism, and the politics of freedom.
Renowned sociologist Orlando Patterson talks to contributing editor Alex Gourevitch about themes brought up by his recent The Paradox of Freedom as well as his works as a whole.
- Why is the study of slavery too affected by the exceptional US American experience?
- In what way is violence a constitutive feature of slave relations that aren’t true of others?
- Are we still mired in a politics of ethnic chauvinism?
- What does it mean for ethnic minorities to engage in self-criticism?
- Is there a politics of freedom that is hopeful today or has it been eclipsed?
The fifth and final part of a series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we examine the Millennials and Generation Z. Uniquely, generation war today seems to be a conflict over resources more than over values. Is there any basis for this, and what do Millennials actually want? With generational and class conflict seemingly bound together today, we analyse 'Generation Left' and 'Millennial Socialism'. And we ask what the effect of the pandemic may be on the creation of a Gen Z consciousness.
Guests include:
- Paul Taylor, former director, Pew Research
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
- Clive Martin, journalist who has written for VICE Magazine
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Jennifer Silva, assistant professor in sociologist, Indiana University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Cacti / I Will Be Waiting / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Filthy the Kid / Vampire / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
The fourth in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we examine Generation X – the generation of the End of History. How was this generation overshadowed by the Boomer's failures? In the Eastern Bloc, the fall of Soviet regimes was a traumatic moment – how did this shape consciousness? And how did the Iranian Revolution – and subsequent war – shape the political perspectives of Iranians?
Guests include:
- Maren Thom, film scholar
- Alexei Yurchak, professor of anthropology at Berkeley
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Arash Azizi, historian of Iran at New York University
- Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Kit Kruger / Freakin' Freefall / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
The third in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. In this episode, we examine the Baby Boomers – myth and reality. The revolt of the '60s has been misunderstood in many dimensions. Was it betrayed or did it always express capitalist ideology? Were the Boomers the ones who really did the 1960s anyway? And what world have the Boomers created as they passed through life – and institutions? Guests include:* Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University * Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative * Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow * Jeffrey Alexander, professor of sociology at Yale University * Holger Nehring, chair in contemporary European history at the University of Stirling * Kristin Ross, professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey Additional music:* Medité / A Change in My Heart / courtesy of epidemicsound.com * Ondolut / Blumen / courtesy of epidemicsound.com * Elliott Holmes / Bull Chase / courtesy of epidemicsound.com * Kick Castle / Kick Down / courtesy of epidemicsound.com * T. Morri / Nuthin' but Nuts / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
Other Clips:* American Pastoral Trailer © 2016 - Lionsgate * Mai 1968 © France 3 Paris Ile-de-France * Imitation de Daniel Cohn-Bendit © C'est Canteloup * Baader Meinhof Complex © 2008
The second in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we look at the emergence of 'youth' as political concept in the age following the French Revolution, and its shifting meanings. How important was generational consciousness in the Young Italy movement and its imitators in the 19th century, and how should we understand the so-called 'Lost Generation' of 1914?
Guests include:
- Niall Whelahan, Chancellor’s Fellow in History, Strathclyde University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Leimoti / Don't Leave It Here / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
- Leimoti / The Small Things / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
- Philip Ayers / Trapped in a Maze / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
- Walt Adams / Dark Tavern / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
Other Clips:
- Black 47 Trailer © 2018 - WildCard Distribution
- Arracht Trailer © 2019 - Break Out Pictures
- The Sun Also Rises © 2019 - 20th Century Fox
- Mr Lloyd George Speaks To The Nation (1931) British Pathé
The first in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages.
Guests include:
- Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
- Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Joshua Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc.
Liru / For the Floor / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
On disruption, disturbance, decline, decay.
We continue our attempt to conceptualise the present moment by looking at Silicon Valley-style disruption, geopolitical disturbances and 'polycrisis', and decline & decay along two axes: normative vs descriptive, and geopolitical and universal.
Then we deal with your questions and comments over the past month on: religious authority; Russia, imperialism, and the USSR; and the limitations to 'the national interest'.
Subscribe for the full episode: patreon.com/bungacast
[Bungacast is on holiday, so we're unlocking/re-releasing a July 2021 episode that was previously only available to higher-tier subscribers]
We discuss Michael Lind's The New Class War.
Lind identifies new lines in the class war, between working class and managerial overclass, between those in the "heartlands" and those in the "hubs". How convincing is this account? What is his critique of technocratic managerialism and its symptom, populism? How convincing - and realistic - is his solution of "democratic pluralism"? And is this only achievable as a result of a new cold war with China?
On The National Interest.
Aufhebunga Bunga co-founder and contributing editor Phil Cunliffe joins us to talk about his new book about politics after the age of globalisation. We ask questions about his book – and then put him on trial for wrongthink.
SUBSCRIBE: PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST
- Who is the 'national interest' good for? Is it a domestic or a foreign policy concern?
- Why did the 'national interest' disappear from our political vocabulary?
- Is the national interest an abstraction anyone can rhetorically claim? Is that not dangerous?
- What happens if leading politicians – or elites in general – adopt the national interest? Would this be good or bad?
- Will Trump's re-assertion of US interests push others to defend theirs?
- Does the national interest stand against class interests? Is this anti-socialist?
- Was Stalin-style socialism-in-one-country actually correct? Has Phil come around to supporting Roosevelt-style social democracy?
Links:
- The National Interest: Politics After Globalization, Philip Cunliffe, Polity
On image-enhancing drugs.
Jason Myles of This Is Revolution is back on, talking to George and Alex H about his article in Damage on increasing steroid use.
- What does the discourse around 'fake natties' tell us about authenticity? Do SSRIs provide "fake happy"?
- If steroids are a short-cut, how do we understand the "work" in "working out"?
- Is the taboo on drug use completely gone?
- Are we medicating to counter the side-effects of other meds?
- How do issues such as steroids and trans reveal contradictory attitudes to the body?
- Have the links between body, image, sex, and eroticism been erased?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Self-Catfishing with Steroids, Jason Myles, Damage
- Shedeur Sanders and the Marketization of College Sports, Jason Myles, Damage
- /359/ Apollo Gets High ft. Benjamin Fong
On Franz Jakubowski's Ideology and Superstructure in Historical Materialism.
We focus on a very short section from Jakubowski's 1936 book, and delve into wider questions regarding ideology, social totality, and the middle classes.
- Is ideology “false, partial consciousness”?
- Is Jakubowski right that capitalism is the least ideological social form so far?
- Is it true that the middle classes only come into contact with the commodity when it is in circulation?
- How is the middle class' social position reflected in its worldview? How has this changed over 100 years?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Ideology and Superstructure in Historical Materialism, Chapter: “Ideology and the Classes of Bourgeois Society” (pp. 49-52)
- OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations (FULL)
- The Middle-Class Leviathan: Corona, the "Fascism" Blackmail, and the Defeat of the Working Class, Elena Lange & Joshua Pickett-Depaolis
- The Rise of the Professionals, George Hoare, Compact
On resistance and reform in southeast Asia.
Historian Sean Fear talks to Alex H and Lee Jones about Vietnam on the 50-year anniversary since the end of the war.
- How is Vietnamese identity wrapped up with the notion of resistance?
- Is Chinese influence as great as resistance to China?
- How is the ‘American War’ thought about in Vietnam today?
- How similar is Vietnam to China: defying Fukuyama’s thesis by retaining a state-socialist political system while adopting capitalism?
- Why has Vietnam achieved rapid growth and development while neighbours have failed?
- How is Vietnam reacting to being at the centre of Trump tariff disputes?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The Republic of Vietnam, 1955–1975: Vietnamese Perspectives on Nation Building, Sean Fear, Tuong Vu (eds.), Cornell UP
- /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
- Post-Cold War Vietnam: stay low, learn, adapt and try to have fun – but what about the party?, Adam Fforde
On the end of the end of history and what comes next.
Phil is back on the pod, talking with George and Alex about the big themes of the podcast. In particular, we look at a recent essay in Foreign Policy by historian Christopher Clarke called "The End of Modernity".
- To what extent was the 1989 moment as significant in Beijing as Berlin?
- Is Trump actually Stalin (but in a good way)?
- Is Russia the revisionist power? And if so, in what regard and what are the consequences?
- Who says the choice is between "liberal democracy" and "authoritarian populism"?
Then, we take your questions and comments from the past month.
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The End of Modernity, Christopher Clarke, Foreign Policy
- The End of the End of History: Politics in the Twenty-First Century, Bungacast, Zer0 Books
- Into the Abyss, Ed McNally, Tribune
On the "return of religion" in Britain.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Journalist Lamorna Ash talks to George and Alex about how and why young people might be turning to religion today.
- Have things moved on from the New Atheists and their critique of religion?
- What are the divides in Christianity today? How do culture wars over sexuality play out?
- Why do ritual, quiet, and the 'new monasticism’ hold appeal today?
- Is Gen Z's pessimism a type of apocalyptic thinking? Is it related to environmentalism?
The After Party, following the interview, is at 00:51:30.
Links:
- Don't Forget We're Here Forever, Lamorna Ash, Bloomsbury
- The Tyranny of Structurelessness, Jo Freeman, Damage
- Reading Club on Martin Hägglund’s This Life: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
On Arno Mayer's "The Lower Middle Class as Historical Problem".
We kick off the third block of the 2024/25 Reading Club, which is dedicated to the question of the middle class:
The abatement of class struggle between workers and owners has shone a light on the role of the middle classes. Beyond the resurgence of the debate around the much-maligned professional-managerial class (PMC), what is the true role of the middle class in politics and society? Who rules today – and how would we go about answering that question?
In this episode we discuss:
- Is the lower middle class still the main recipient/consumer of popular culture?
- Is the condition of the lower middle class in fact universalised across society today?
- Is the lower middle class a "classless class"?
- Is this class united or in fact divided? Is is the main site of political contestation today? Of culture wars?
For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The Lower Middle Class as Historical Problem, Arno Mayer
- Regime Crisis: The Persistence of Arno J. Mayer, Verso Books blog
We celebrate 500 episodes of Aufhebunga Bunga with a cold, hard look at the decay around us.
Alex and George plus contributing editors Lee Jones and Alex Gourevitch wrangle with four principal questions:
- What does it mean to say our era is one of decay or decline?
- How does this relate to the non-death of neoliberalism – its intellectual destitution, its practical weakening, but also its mutation and perpetuation?
- How does neoliberal decay relate to the decline of a unipolar world under total US hegemony, and the decline of the liberal globalist order?
- To what extent is the decay of representative democracy cause or consequence of the above?
And finally, as we have been asking since we started this podcast in 2017: what comes next?
For all Bungacast content, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast, and for our monthly newsletter, click here.
Readings:
- Geopolitics at the End of the End of History, Lee Jones, The Northern Star
- Technofeudalism vs Total Capitalism, Alex Hochuli, American Affairs
- Regime Change in the West, Perry Anderson, London Review of Books
- Changing the Regime, Building the Nation, Phil Cunliffe, The Northern Star
- An Audacious Book, Roberto Schwarz (review of Robert Kurz's 1991 Collapse of Modernisation), Meditations Journal
- The new historical simultaneity, Robert Kurz, Libcom
Past landmark episodes
- 100: What was the end of history?
- 200: Which country crystallises world-history from 1900-2020?
- 300: The threat of nuclear annihilation
- 400: The political oppositions of the next decade
On shame, guilt and responsibility.
Taylor Hines, an editor at Damage magazine, talks to George and Alex about his essay "Fool Me Twice" in Issue 4 of the magazine, which deals with the theme Responsibility.
Remember, subscribers to Bungacast get a complimentary online subscription to Damage!
We discuss:
- Why is Robert Eggers' Nosferatu about shame? What about the Rape of Lucretia?
- What can Frédéric Gros’ A Philosophy of Shame tell us?
- What's the difference between shame and guilt?
- Do psychoanalytic thinkers like Christopher Lasch and Melanie Klein clarify the matter?
- Why do we need to Make Guilt Great Again – but not as affect, as a sense of responsibility?
For the full episode subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Fool Me Twice, Taylor Hines, Damage
- Issue 4: Responsibility, Damage
- Do you often feel ashamed? Maybe you should, Nina Power, Daily Telegraph
On Iran and its Axis of Resistance.
Historian Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi talks to Alex about the leadup and aftermath of the so-called "12-Day War between Iran and Israel and the US.
- Hamas and Hezbollah have been humbled, Assad is gone from Syria – how weakened is Iran?
- Did the 12-Day War actually happen? What prevented it becoming a wider war?
- What is the meaning of Israel's maximalist aims of regime change and regional dominance?
- Why is Iran now leaning into Iranian nationalism, even using pre-revolutionary symbols?
- Is a nuclear Iran now inevitable? What lessons will it draw?
- How has the region been reconfigured over the past two years? What about Saudi and the Gulf states?
Subscribe to this podcast at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Iran and the ‘Axis of Resistance’: A Brief History, Eskandar Sadeghi, Jadaliyya
- Culmination, Eskandar Sadeghi, Sidecar
- The Failson and the Flag, Golnar Nikpou & Eskandar Sadeghi
On technology, transhumanism, and progress.
James Hughes (Exec Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies) and Eli Sennesh (postdoc, Vanderbilt) present a futurist approach to Alex and contributing editor Leigh Phillips.
- What is wrong with the acronym TESCREAL?
- Why is it wrong to worry about future transhumanism when we need to grapple with the technologies of now?
- What are the limits of bourgeois futurism? What is an alternative futurism?
- Has AI changed everything? Will it?
- Are we actually living in an age of rapid technological advance?
For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Conspiracy Theories, Left Futurism, and the Attack on TESCREAL, James Hughes & Eli Sennesh
- /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power
- /335/ AI & the End of the End of History
- /446/ The Techno-Fantasy of Perfect Freedom ft. Amber Trotter
- /488/ Homo-Techno, Homo-Solo ...Post-Homo? ft. Alex Gendler
- The Obama-to-Yarvin Pipeline, Geoff Schullenberger, Compact Substack
On the war on Iran that wasn't (yet).
Alex and George review the past month in the world and on Bungacast:
- The crazy will-they-won't-they of a potential US war on Iran
- The ex post facto justifications on all sides
- Where does "sanewashing" come from
- Ways to understand and not understand US political polarisation
And we deal with your questions and comments from the past month:
- Woke Dungeons and Dragons
- Being Safe versus Feeling Safe
- More on victimhood, authenticity and the PMC
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Links:
- Trump’s Tariff Gamble and the Decay of the Neoliberal Order, Lee Jones, American Affairs
- Sanewashing, and how Defund The Police stopped meaning Defund The Police, Inverse Florida, Substack
- Did Iran win the 12-day war?, Sohrab Ahmari, UnHerd
- A Comprehensive History of Woke D&D, Mark of the Weather-Sun, Substack
On land conflicts, MAGA , and the frontier.
Journalist James Pogue talks to George and Alex about his book Chosen Country: A Rebellion in the West. The book concerns the events surrounding the 2016 armed occupation of the Oregon Malheur National Wildlife Refuge led by the rancher Ammon Bundy. We discuss:
- Why were these 2016 events so important and so telling?
- Is the Jacksonian concept of America still relevant?
- Does knowing how these people think enable you to predict what Trump – or JD Vance – will do?
- How is Mormonism the encapsulation of a certain America?
- Is the division on the Right about 'winners' versus 'losers' (or lost-causers)?
- Is this story also America First versus Globalists?
- How unique is the US's forms of political polarisation?
On the dual crisis of the world.
Wolfgang Streeck, renowned economic sociologist, is back on to talk to us about the crisis of capitalist growth and of democracy. We focus on the solutions proposed in his brilliant new book, Taking Back Control? States and State Systems After Globalism.
Then, Lee and Alex discuss three key themes emerging from the interview: federalism and small states; the national interest; and the redefinition of democracy.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
With Streeck we discuss:
- Why is the revival of nation-state democracy "possible, although not very probable"?
- Have Europe’s right-wing populists given up on restoring governance to the national level?
- Why are Europe's globalists turning towards a militarised bloc with securitised external economic relations?
- Why haven’t left-wing populists been able to exploit the "dual crisis"?
- How has democracy been redefined to mean a set of discursive and moral principles rather than power struggle?
- Can we have an orderly de-globalisation?
Links:
- Taking Back Control?: States and State Systems After Globalism, Wolfgang Streeck, Verso
- Notes on the political economy of war, Wolfgang Streeck, Review of Keynesian Economics
- /218/ Stability Über Alles ft. Wolfgang Streeck & /219/ Stability Über Alles pt. 2 ft. Wolfgang Streeck
- /160/ Enemies of the People (Large & Very Small) ft. Wolfgang Streeck
- /170/ Reading Club: Streeck's Critical Encounters
On the right to protest.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Contributing editor Alex Gourevitch talks to Alex H and George about restrictions on speech and protest at US universities and beyond – particularly with regard to Palestine solidarity demonstrations.
- How have uni administrators not just undermined by seemingly attacked the right to protest?
- Why is Trump going after the universities this way?
- How have progressives undermined the right of protest by talking up the role of 'harm'?
- How have pro-Israel groups been complicit in treating political speech as an attack on identities?
- Why have so many authorities chosen the defence of Israel as their hill to die on?
Links:
- The Right to Be Hostile, Alex Gourevitch, Boston Review
- /409/ Palestine, Protest, Repression: The Wider Context
On Poland's election, its history, its self-conception.
Philosopher Maciej Szlinder joins us to talk about Polish politics, society and history. Maciej is a member of the general council of the left-wing political party Razem ("Together"), as well as the president of the Polish Basic Income Network, so we discuss these matters as well as the general context.
- How did Poland represent a beacon of neoliberal democracy to Western liberals in the 80s and 90s – and what happened next?
- What does Poland represent, to Poles and to the rest of Europe, today?
- Is the political duopoly of the centrist Civic Platform and the right-wing Law and Justice falling apart?
- Why is political turnout up – and what anti-establishment parties are the young voting for?
- Why is Poland the most pro-American country in Europe, and how does Trump affect that?
- What is Poland's huge economic success felt like on the ground?
- How does precarious employment and emigration impact Polish politics?
Links:
- In the Polish Mirror, Gavin Rae, New Left Review
- In Poland, Presidential Hopefuls Battle for Young Voters Who Don’t Like Them, NY Times
On the former Yugoslavia and the ethnography of anti-nationalists.
[For the full episode, subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast]
[Reading Club LIVE: Sat 14 June, 9am LA, 12am NY, 5pm London, 6pm Berlin]
In the third installment of this block on inter/nationalism in the 21st century, we take a look at the other side of nationalism, through scholar Stefaan Jansen's “Anti-nationalism: Post-Yugoslav Resistance and Narratives of Self and Society”.
- Who are the Somewheres and Anywheres in post-Yugoslavia?
- How does Jansen understand the marginalisation of anti-nationalism in Serbia and Croatia?
- Is understanding nationalism and anti-nationalism as discursive practices a useful lens for understanding post-Yugoslav identities?
- Why is the act of forgetting or misremembering significant in the context of post-Yugoslav anti-nationalist narratives?
- How did the contrast between pre-war Yugoslavia and post-war realities shape anti-nationalist identities?
- Must individuality be anti-nationalist?
Reading Club 2024/25 Syllabus: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TRn6kWzICbqUBo64Jp-c8TS0K4axTy3M/view
On the end of the (very) long 1960s.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Contributing Editor Lee Jones joins Alex and George to talk through the themes and stories of the month, including MAGA's war on universities, right-populists in power, and culture war. Plus we deal with your questions and comments on: lawfare, video games, and the 'new class'.
- What is TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out)?
- How should we respond to rightist attempts to rewrite the past?
- Why are Angela Merkel and Donald Trump representative of the age, in similar and different ways?
- Are people sick of subversion and just want order?
- What happens as the Boomers leave public life? Can we bracket 1960-2020?
- When should we throw the book at politicians?
Links:
- Trump’s Tariff Gamble and the Decay of the Neoliberal Order, Lee Jones, American Affairs
- The Techno-Populist Convergence, Alex Hochuli, Compact
- How Labor won the preference war (and screwed the Greens), Financial Review
- Saving Britain’s Universities: Academic Freedom, Democracy and Renewal, Lee Jones and Philip Cunliffe, Cieo
On tech and the last hu-men.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Writer Alex Gender is back, talking to Alex and George about his recent essay, "Homo Algorithmicus", as well as reflecting on how incel culture has widened and deepened in the past five years.
- How does healthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione exemplify a “rationalist” worldview?
- What is "TESCREAL" and how are those distinct ideologies underpinned an anti-human rationalism?
- Is "tech" or Silicon Valley split between liberal effective altruists and neo-reactionary libertarians?
- Is tech moving from trying to escape the state to trying to capture it?
- What is it about “Gen Z boss and a mini” that generated such ire among "masculinists"?
- What is to be done about the Man Question?
Links:
- Homo Algorithmicus, Alex Gendler, The Point Magazine
- /215/ Organize the Incels?! ft. Alex Gendler
- The perennial surplus, Alex Gendler, Substack
- The New Legislators of Silicon Valley, Evgeny Morozov, The Ideas Letter
On what is next for 'PMC theory'
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
The social media avatar known as Christopher Lasch's Angry Ghost joins us to unpick the conjuncture: as the Trump administration makes cuts and seeks to do away with progressives in bureaucracies, where does that leave the left-wing critique of the PMC?
- What would Lasch's ghost be telling us now?
- Is the PMC a class? Is it distinct people? Or is it more like procedures, and ways of thinking?
- Is woke over? Will the MANGOs (media, academia, NGOs) carry on?
- Can the PMC still advance oppositional politics or it hopeless compromised?
- What will be the effect on AI doing away with professional class jobs?
- Is vice-signalling replacing virtue-signalling?
Links:
- Death of a Yuppie Dream, Barbara Ehrenreich, RosaLux (pdf)
- It’s Our Fault, Dustin Guastella, Damage
- Trump’s purge of the professionals, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd
- This obsession with a ‘new elite’ hides the real roots of power, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
- The Techno-Populist Convergence, Alex Hochuli, Compact
On Romania's annulled election – and the repeat.
Academic and housing activist Enikő Vincze talks to Alex about why December 2024's election result was annulled, and how Romanian politics is following the script of European politics: lawfare, misinformation, techno-populism, and "sovereigntists" who provide the same neoliberal solutions.
- Who are the contenders in the May 2025 election and what do they represent?
- To what extent do Simion and AUR represent an 'anti-system' candidacy? How do they compare to other European radical rightists?
- Is Romanian politics really torn between Brussels and Moscow, or is something else at play?
- How is the Ukraine War, and EU militarisation, playing out in Romania?
- Why does the Right's promise of sovereignty only provide new capitalist alternatives to neoliberal globalism?
- What is the state of the Left and of struggles over housing in Romania?
Links:
- Romanian elections and the agony of neoliberalism: militarization and austerity, with or without “sovereigntists”, Enikő Vincze, Internationalist Standpoint
- Fractured Romania, Costi Rogozanu, Sidecar
- Romania Redivivus, Alexander Clapp, New Left Review
On the promise of videos games.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Pawel Kaczmarski – a literary critic who teaches modern and contemporary Polish literature at the University of Wrocław – talks to George and Alex about his piece in Damage, "The Promise of Video Games".
- How are things gearing up for Poland's election later this month?
- Are video games moving culturally "upstream"?
- How does a game like Helldivers 2 promise to teach us agency but fails?
- Is the problem with video game criticism, and literary criticism, not so much their difficulty but rather that they are boring today?
- Has anyone managed to write a good "novel of the internet"?
Links:
- The Promise of Video Games, Pawel Kaczmarski, Damage
- /162/ Gaming & Politics ft. Jonas Kyratzes
- Gospels of the Flood
On the charges against France's Marine Le Pen.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Alex and George discuss some main stories from the past month. After the death of Pope Francis, what's behind left-wing sympathy for the late Pope – and more widespread appreciation for Catholicism? Why do we want a progressive Pope, and would a reactionary one be better for us? Why is the US deporting people to Nayib Bukele's Salvadorian prisons, and what makes this so dystopian?
Then Alex calls up Jacobin's Europe editor David Broder to understand the charges against Marine Le Pen.
- Is Marine Le Pen a victim of lawfare, or has she been hoist by her own petard?
- What are the consequences for the Rassemblement National, and for French politics?
- What has the European radical right's response been to Trump II so far?
And we respond to your questions and comments from the past month on:
- Holding politicians to account on free speech
- Listening to poetry
- Redistribution as the obvious solution to the crisis
- Clientelism and hyperpolitics
On the mass-production of loyalty.
We are exceptionally making this episode of the Reading Club freely available. See the full syllabus here: 2024/25 Reading Club. If you'd like to join, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership.
The second reading in this block on Inter/Nationalism in the 21st Century is The Invention of Tradition (eds. Eric Hobsbawm & Terrence Ranger, 1983), specifically Hobsbawm's chapter "Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe 1870-1914".
- How much did ordinary people buy into invented national traditions?
- Why did industrialisation allow for mass-producing traditions?
- Does the sense of belonging fostered then still exist today?
- If nation-states don't require active participation any more, what does this mean for the mass-production of loyalty?
- Are things like social media campaigns, national holidays for diversity, or even global events like the Olympics the new “mass-produced” traditions?
On Filipino politics and geopolitics.
Renowned public intellectual Walden Bello talks to Alex and contributing editor Lee Jones about his recently published memoirs, former president Rodrigo Duterte's arrest, warring political dynasties and more.
- What's behind Duterte's arrest? Is it lawfare?
- How did the Philippines comes to be an ‘anarchy of families’?
- What are the barriers to doing left-wing political work in the Philippines?
- How has Walden been involved with the social-democratic party Akbayan?
- What does China's rise mean for developing countries and the global South?
- What are Walden's key lessons for the ‘end of the End of History’?
Links:
- GLOBAL BATTLEFIELDS: Memoir of a Legendary Public Intellectual from the Global South, Walden Bello, Clarity
- Duterte Is Right to End the U.S.-Philippine Military Exercises, Walden Bello, NYT
- /52/ Duterte’s Despotism ft. Nicole Curato
- /351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs
On Trump's government, his motives and his modus operandi.
Political theorist Corey Robin talks to Alex H and contributing editors Lee Jones and Alex Gourevitch about Trump II from a domestic perspective. We look at the three main things he's done so far: cutting the civil service, imposing economic sanctions domestically, and his immigration terror politics.
- Is Trump a strong president? Does the reliance on executive orders indicate weakness?
- What happened to the #Resistance?
- Why has the tariff issue, instead of uniting Republicans as in the 19th century, divided them?
- Is the bond market the main force limiting Trump's agenda?
- Has Bernie Sanders' prediction come true – this is now an oligarchy?
- Does Trump just represent patrimonialism and even gangsterism? A degradation of democracy?
- What does reaction looks like when there’s very little left to react against?
Links:
- /129/ The Right Is Weak ft. Corey Robin | Bungacast
- Notifications, Corey Robin, Sidecar (on Trump & tariffs)
- Corey Robin's facebook posts
- The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics, Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld, Princeton UP
On Perry Anderson's "Internationalism: A Breviary".
[For the full episode subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
We kick off the second block/theme of the 2024/25 Reading Club on Nations & Internationalism in the 21st Century by looking at a 2002 essay which charts nationalism against internationalism from the Atlantic revolutions through to the age of globalisation. It is particularly apposite to revisit this text in light of an acceleration in de-globalisation brought on by the second Trump presidency.
- What are the cultural aspects of "internationalism"?
- While nationalism can be good or bad, internationalism is usually seen as positive. Is this still the case?
- How has internationalism accompanied, seperated from or stood against nationalism throughout the latter's history?
- How is internationalism different from cosmopolitanism today, if at all?
- How could we update Anderson's charting of internationalism along 5 coordinates: capital, geography, philosophy, nation-definition, and class relations?
Internationalism: A Breviary, Perry Anderson, New Left Review
On Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs and the end of globalisation.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Contributing editor Lee Jones talks to Alex about the tariffs, as they try to reconstruct the Trump admin's thinking, and consider avenues and consequences.
- Why is this a retro-80s moment, and how much does China take the role that Japan used to in Trump's thinking?
- How much strategy is there to this? Is it possible to disentangle the competing logics?
- Is this a return to the 19th century: small state, no income tax, high tariff walls?
- How credible an attempt at reindustrialising the US is this?
- Is Trump trying to weaken the dollar? What store to put in the Mar-a-Lago accord?
- Do Europeans kick the can down the road and hope for the best?
- Is this a global restructuring or just a reset in terms more favourable to the US? The end of neoliberalism or a new iteration on it?
Links:
- Will anybody buy a ‘Mar-a-Lago accord’?, FT
- A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System, Stephen Miran, Hudson Bay Capital
- Is Trump 2 the End of ‘Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome’?, Lee Jones, TNS
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Breaks Down Trump's Tariff Plan and Its Impact on the Middle Class, Tucker Carlson, YouTube
- Back to the ’80s?, Andrew Liu, n+1
- MAGA and the Fragmentation of Europe, Tim Pendry, Substack
On revolution, epic poetry, John Milton, and freedom.
George and contributing editor Alex Gourevitch talk to Orlando Reade, who teaches English at Northeastern University London. We discuss Orlando’s new book What In Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Life of Paradise Lost and the history of readings of John Milton’s great epic poem.
- Is Paradise Lost a poem about darkness?
- What does a poem written in the seventeenth century have to tell us about the age of Trump and the contemporary Right?
- What can we learn about freedom today from the rebellious Satan in the poem? Or the disobedient Eve?
- What did Malcolm X get from the poem and why is Jordan Peterson so hot on epic poetry?
Links:
- What In Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Life of Paradise Lost, Orlando Reade, Penguin
- John Milton’s Paradise Lost Mourned a Revolution Betrayed, Orlando Reade, Jacobin
- Why Is the Right Obsessed With Epic Poetry?, Orlando Reade, The Nation
On Erdogan's World and the revolt against it.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Historian Djene Bajalan joins George and Alex to review the past month – ceasefires in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, winning and losing US patronage, Trump's inconsistent strategy and leaks, and the gold rush. We then turn to a country exemplary of the contradictions of the end of the End of History: Türkiye. And finish by answering your questions and comments on internationalism, free speech, Die Linke, anti-immigration, and domination.
- What's driving the protests and how do they compare to past revolts against Erdogan?
- What is the meaning of charges – corruption & terrorism – against Istanbul mayor and potential opposition leader İmamoğlu?
- Who is the opposition?
- What has sustained Erdogan's rule – repression, conservatism, modernisation, growth?
- Why is Erdogan one of the winners of the past 20 years, and how is he a world-historic figure?
Links:
- Erdoğan's new world order, Lily Lynch, UnHerd
- /339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu
- Kultur Kampf TR, Selim Koru, Substack
On critical theory and autonomy.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Jensen Suther, a junior fellow at Harvard working in philosophy and literature, talks to Alex H and contributing editor Alex Gourevitch about art, culture, and socialism. He also offers a riposte to previous guest Anna Kornbluh's discussion of immediacy, and its cultural forms such as autoficition.
- What does Suther think Kornbluh gets wrong – and right – in her critique of contemporary culture?
- How autonomous is art from society and the economy?
- To what extent can we tie cultural forms to deep changes in the economy?
- What is the right response to the historical defeat of the working class? What does it mean for critical theory?
- What is the difference between immanent critique and critique from the outside – and how dow this relate to freedom?
- And what does it matter if you read Hegel right?
Links:
- The Theory of Immediacy or the Immediacy of Theory?, Jensen Suther, Nonsite.org
- /458/ The Society of Pure Vibe ft. Anna Kornbluh
- /473/ Make Alienation Great Again ft. Todd McGowan (features a different response to the question about critical theory after the defeat of the working class)
- Jensen's thread on X on capitalist totality and the end of the working class
- Jensen's thread on X on the return to Hegel, against economic determinism
On class formation, fragmentation, pessimism and optimism.
George and contributing editor Leigh Phillips talk to Dan Evans, a writer and academic based in South Wales. We discuss his piece in the New Socialist, ‘Is the Working Class Back?’ and themes emerging from it.
- How important are definitions of class?
- If the working class remains weak and fragmented, and its politics increasingly chaotic, what is to be done?
- How does Gabriel Winant's pessimism about the industrial working class compare to Evans'?
- What are the class contradictions of the contemporary Left?
- Who is the real oppositional class today? Should we be more positive about the petite bourgeoisie?
Links:
- Is the Working Class Back?, Dan Evans, New Socialist
- A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petty Bourgeoisie, Dan Evans, Repeater Books
- /349/ The PMC & Their Politics ft. Dan Evans & Catherine Liu
On cities and the politics of development.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Ben Bradlow, assistant professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton, talks to Alex about his book Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg.
- If our future is urban – and it is – why is it different to what we imagined?
- Are Johannesburg and São Paulo representative of what is going on in cities?
- How did democratic promise and neoliberal disappointment go together in the 1990s, through to today?
- What has been the role of social movements (e.g. for housing) in transforming cities and municipal government?
- Is the radical right in the global North and South fundamentally different? What is the urban dimension?
- What does China's lead in industries like electric vehicles mean for countries like Brazil?
- Is industrial upgrading possible under post-neoliberalism?
Links:
- Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg, Benjamin Bradlow, Princeton UP
- A processual framework for understanding the rise of the populist right: the case of Brazil (2013–2018), Tomás Gold and Benjamin Bradlow, Social Forces
- Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation, Peter Evans, Princeton UP
On Embracing Alienation.
Todd McGowan is back on the pod, talking to George and Alex about his book, Embracing Alienation: Why We Shouldn't Try To Find Ourselves.
- Why is alienation good actually? What does it give us?
- How is alienation related to subjectivity and freedom?
- What is the problem with anti-alienation politics of Left and Right?
- What happened to the 1960s concern with alienation, where did it go?
- Why is an embrace of the public realm, against therapy culture, the right response?
- What is the task of critical theory today?
Links:
- /167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
- Embracing Alienation: Why We Shouldn't Try To Find Ourselves
On Trumpworld: Vance in Munich; Musk in South Africa.
[This contains only the interview on South Africa – for the full episode subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Alex, George and Ryan Zickgraf round up events in Germany: first the elections, then US Vice-President JD Vance's speech to the Munich Security Conference where he called out Western elites' hypocrisy on liberalism and democracy.
Then Alex speaks to Will Shoki, editor at Africa Is A Country, about what Musk wants from South Africa, why the global radical right has fixated on land reform in South Africa, and what is really at stake for South Africans.
We round out by taking your questions and comments – and by welcoming in carnival by discussing drinking & socialising, and its anti-social enemies.
Running Order
- 00:03:10 – German elections
- 00:08:20 – Vance's Munich speech
- 00:26:00 – Will Shoki on South African politics
- 01:04:55 – Musk and the global radical right
- 01:13:20 – Letters to the Editors
- 01:23:10 – Carnival and social drinking
Links:
- Trump’s Tool: The Limits of Bannon’s Postmodern Nationalism, Alex Gourevitch, The Northern Star
- Make Afrikaners great again! National populism, democracy and the new white minority politics in post- apartheid South Africa, Danelle van Zyl-Hermann, Ethnic and Racial Studies
- Why Trump loves corrupt Democrats, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd
- The Case for Social Drinking, Ryan Zickgraf, Jacobin
- The Hangover and Life as a Commodity, George Hoare, Damage
- Segregation Is Still Alive in Mardi Gras’s Birthplace, Ryan Zickgraf, Jacobin
On Gramsci in the 21st century.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Sociologist Nathan Sperber and our own George Hoare talk to Alex H and Lee Jones about the new edition to their book, An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci: His Life, Thought and Legacy, which includes a new chapter on Gramsci's relevance to contemporary politics and events and a new section on Gramsci's influence on the New Right. We discuss:
- How does this book differ from other introductions to Gramsci?
- What is wrong with the post-Marxist, post-colonial or culturalist version of Gramsci?
- What are Gramsci's top 3 insights into politics?
- How has Gramsci been taken up by the political Right?
- How has Gramsci been used and abused by the Left? What to make of the post-Marxist radical democracy of Laclau and Mouffe ("left-populism")?
- Why is the concept of the "national-popular" that Gramsci takes from the Jacobins so important to rediscover?
This episode, originally published in June 2024 only for subscribers, is crucial backdrop to this Sunday's (23 Feb 2025) snap elections in Germany.
For more like this, join us at patreon.com/bungacast
On German political derangement.
Independent researcher and writer Gregor Baszak joins us to talk about German centrism being squeezed under pressure from both left and right — Sahra Wagenknecht and the AFD. Meanwhile the German economy is getting squeezed between the US and Russia, and NATO pressures Germany to up its defence spending.
- Is German public life remilitarising?
- What are the prospects for Sahra Wagenknecht’s new ‘left-conservative’ politics?
- What was the original political vision behind the Nordstream 2 pipeline?
- Why are Marine Le Pen and Giorgia Meloni trying to carve the AFD out of pan-European national-populist cooperation?
- Where does Germany now stand in relation to the Ukraine War?
Links:
- Europe After America, Gregor Baszak, The American Conservative
- What’s the Matter With Germany?, Gregor Baszak, The American Conservative
- The Left-wing maverick who could stop the AfD For many, Sahra Wagenknecht is a tribune of the people, Gregor Baszak, UnHerd
On the world under Trump, and British responses.
Tim Pendry, author of the Unstable Times substack, as well as an international affairs consultant, talks to Alex H and Lee Jones about the world under Trump II, the massive shifts underway, and his own policy work with the Workers Party of Britain.
- How has intra-bourgeois struggle shaped the past decades in politics?
- What is "American imperial nationalism (MAGA)" plus a "real-estate negotiation style"?
- Who are the winners & losers of a "rational" return to classical great-power, sphere-of-influence politics?
- Why are the UK's tensions and problems an extreme version of what may soon apply to any ostensible American ally?
- What is the Workers Party of Britain's pitch and strategy?
- Are the bulk of British people really "left on economics, right on culture", and how does the WPB try to appeal to workers?
- What are the practical challenges of building and organising a new party?
Links:
- Manifesto – Britain Deserves Better, Workers Party of Britain
- The Foundations of the Liberal Polycrisis, Unstable Times, Tim Pendry
- Taking Trump Seriously, Unstable Times, Tim Pendry
- Trumpism and Geo-Politics, Unstable Times, Tim Pendry
On European decline and inertia.
[For full episode: patreon.com/bungacast]
Anton Jäger is back, talking to Alex and George about Belgium's new right-wing government, American hyperpolitics, and the lack of a European future.
- The radical right has prevailed in Belgium, despite having factors that should impede this, like higher union density, lower inequality and so on. Why?
- Why is the US particularly 'hyperpolitical'?
- Are those who say hyperpolitics is over correct?
- Why is Europe now a pale imitation of authoritarians in the East and the unbridled capitalism to its West?
- Is it Europe's capitalists – not its workers or pensioners – who are in need of strict market discipline?
Links:
- Things Are Terrible in Europe, and They’re Only Going to Get Worse, Anton Jäger, NYT
- Goodbye, ‘Resistance.’ The Era of Hyperpolitics Is Over, Ross Barkan, NYT
- My Country Shows What Europe Has Become, Anton Jäger, NYT
- Hyperpolitics in America, Anton Jäger, New Left Review
- Is Trump 2 the End of ‘Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome’?, Lee Jones, The North Star
- /454/ The Last Man at the Euro Tango ft. Michael Wilkinson
On David Harvey's The Condition of Postmodernity (1989).
[Patreon Exclusive - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
We focus in particular on Part III: The Experience of Space and Time – and reflect on the general themes of this section. The central question is:
How do we rescue a sense of ‘place’ – in a political, forward-looking and future-oriented way – after the age of globalisation?
- The age of globalisation generated and emphasised placelessness. But if oppositional struggles need to start from a definite place, where is that?
- And how do they not get restricted by that same sense of place – that is, not becoming particular, nostalgic or backward-looking?
- And if walls are now being put up, halting globalisation, then does this provide a more propitious scenario for struggle?
On Syria, the fall of Assad, and nationalism in the Middle-East.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Historian Djene Bajalan talks to Alex about a major rearrangement in the Levant. We discuss:
- Who are Syria's new rulers HTS, and what is their vision – if any?
- Did geopolitics really determine the fall of Assad and the Ba'ath Party?
- How HTS's victory is so profoundly different from Islamism in Iran 1979
- Why 2025 finally closes the book on the Arab Spring – and on secular Arab nationalism
- Were the Kurds wrong to rely on US protection?
And in the full episode we continue by discussing...
- Is Turkey the big winner of the decade?
- What the Left gets wrong on nationalism
- Civic versus ethnic nationalism, revisited
- What was democratic, liberal and revolutionary about nationalism – and whether it can be again
- How conservatives recuperate left-wing ideas, which were always conservative from the start
Links:
- Djene's writing at Jacobin
- /95/ The Fall of Rojava? ft. Dani Ellis / Alexander Norton
On disinformation, NATO vs Russia, terrorism + more.
[Full episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast]
We look back at a turbulent last month or so with the help of guest and "disinformation bot" Tara McCormack. We put it all in the context of Trump's return, post-neoliberalism and deglobalisation.
- 00:13:52 – Jacob Siegel talks to Alex about Meta's policy U-turn on censorship and what it means for the public-private partnership on digital surveillance.
- 00:50:11 – How will European powers react to the US's relative withdrawal of its protection? Will France, Britain and Germany double-down on the Ukraine war?
- 01:06:21 – Why is Luigi Mangione not understood as 'terrorism' while the Magdeburg Christmas market attack is? What drives terrorism and is that even the right term to understand explosive anomie?
- 01:15:24 – Letters to the Editors: on the global radical right, and Trump's foreign policy
Links:
- /369/ Information-War and War-Politics ft. Jacob Siegel
- /34/ War Propaganda ft. Tara McCormack
- To the Finland Station, Branko Milanovic, Substack
- Trumpism & Geopolitics, Tim Pendry, Substack
- Class Patricide, Dustin Guastella, Damage
On the martial law crisis in South Korea.
For the full episode: patreon.com/bungacast
Jamie Doucette, who researches contemporary political economy and Korea's development at the University of Manchester, talks to Alex and George about December 2024's coup attempt and the past 50 years in the Republic of Korea.
- Why is South Korea western capitalism's best propaganda tool?
- Did Yoon Suk Yeol want to institute a dictatorship? Did he want to militarise all of society, or only politics?
- How "unreconstructed" is the South Korean right? Do they dream of dicatorship?
- What was the Park Chung-hee regime of the 60s and 70s like? What is authoritarian developmentalism?
- Why did S. Korea democratise? Did the workers win it or did elites concede it?
- What is the post-developmental state, how neoliberal is ROK, and what does the left-right spectrum look like now?
- What was the Candlelight movement of 2016?
Links:
- /420/ Fertility Freefall & Gender Strife in South Korea ft. Hyeyoung Woo
- The Postdevelopmental State: Dilemmas of Economic Democratization in Contemporary South Korea, Jamie Doucette (OPEN ACCESS)
- The Logic of Compressed Modernity, Chang Kyung-Sup
On Trump's foreign policy, the 2nd time round.
Historian and podcaster Daniel Bessner joins Alex Hochuli and contributing editor Lee Jones to ask how this era of rot and decay will proceed under Trump II, from Ukraine to China and beyond. We discuss:
- Will we see "America First transactionalism"?
- Does Trump have a capable cadre to bend the state to his will?
- What will Trump’s relationship be to the deep state?
- How important are generational splits in attitudes to the US empire?
- Will there be a peace deal in Ukraine? Where does that leave 'Atlanticism'?
- Is confrontation with China baked in?
- Is the Middle East the key to world peace?
Links:
- Empire’s Critic: The Worlds of Noam Chomsky, Daniel Bessner, The Nation
- American Prestige podcast
- EU blows hot and cold over Trump, Benoît Bréville, Le Monde diplomatique
- America First, Russia, & Ukraine, Lt. General (Ret.) Keith Kellogg, Fred Fleitz, AFPI
- /171/ Fukuyama & the End of History ft. Daniel Bessner
- /142/ Dollar Empire (2) ft. Daniel Bessner
On The Fall of Public Man.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We continue working through the 2024/25 syllabus and the first theme, The Future of Place. We ask is politics possible without a sense of place. Here we discuss chapter 13, "Community becomes uncivilised", and deal with listener questions.
- How does the changed relationship between public and private impact notions of community and of place?
- How does the maintenance of impersonal relations signify 'civility'?
- Is impersonality really the summation of all the worst evils of industrial capitalism?
- What is wrong with yearning for community, or specifically “love of the ghetto, especially the middle-class ghetto”
- How does "fratricide" become "logical" when people use intimate relations as a basis for social relations? Why is fratricide "system-maintaining"?
Links:
- 2024/25 Bungacast Syllabus (with links to readings)
- Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence, Christina B. Hanhardt
- The Making of a New Political Subject, George Hoare, Café americain
On President Jimmy Carter's responsibility for neoliberalism.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Writer and historian Tim Barker talks to Alex Hochuli and contributing editor Alex Gourevitch about the former president's life and legacy.
- What do people get wrong about Carter? Was Carter, not Reagan, the start of neoliberalism?
- How is Carter's much-admired 'decency' of a piece with his neoliberalism?
- What is 'austerity' and how does it relate to questions of public and private, vice and virtue?
- What was the alternative to the neoliberal pivot in the late 1970s?
- How did the appointment of Fed chairman Volcker change the entire world?
- Did Carter set the script for the Democrats, of being 'noble losers' (but actually on the side of the winners)?
Links:
- Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024, Tim Barker, Origins of Our Time
- Weapons of the Week newsletter
- On neoliberalism and the Cold War: /276/ Broken Promises ft. Fritz Bartel
Other biographical/obituary episodes: * Silvio Berlusconi: An Oral History * /293/ Goodbye 20th Century (RIP Gorby) * /410/ Reading Club: Deutscher's Stalin * /435/ Reading Club: Stalin's General – Winning WWII
On radical conservatism and global order.
Professor Michael C. Williams talks to George and Alex about his co-authored World of the Right and how the radical right has gone global. We discuss:
- Does academia takes the Right as seriously as it should?
- What's the difference between the radical right and the far right, the new right, national conservatives, or fascists?
- How is the right 'global' – not just through international conferences but by being "co-constituted by its relation to the global"?
- Why is the radical right focused on the global liberal managerial elite? What does it get right and what does it get wrong about this stratum?
- How did the radical right come to take Gramsci seriously?
- Is the radical right just parasitic on the breakdown of liberal universalism?
- What does this analysis of the radical right say about the Left – is it the force that protects the status quo of the liberal international order?
Links:
- World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order, Michael C. Williams et al., Cambridge UP
- /351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs
- /129/ The Right Is Weak ft. Corey Robin
On Conclave.
In our final episode of the year, we debate Edgar Berger's new film about a Papal election, featuring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci as Cardinals and Isabella Rossellini as a nun.
- Is the film about an alien, abstruse process – the conclave – or is it about something familiar and earthly? Is the film about the sacred or the profane? About temporal or holy power?
- What does it say about process and neutrality, in times of lawfare and contested elections?
- Why is there so much film and TV about the Pope? What is it that appeals today about Papal authority?
- The film features a good liberal, a corrupt moderate, a nasty reactionary, a tainted idpol candiate (a homophobic African) – do these politics matter? Why so crude?
- Is it mere Oscar bait?
On Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity
[For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership]
We continue working through the 2024/25 syllabus with the first theme, The Future of Place, asking, is politics possible without a sense of place. We discuss Marc Augé's much-referenced 1992 work on 'non-places': airports, shopping malls, corporate hotels, motorways... We discuss:
- Are non-places proliferating, and what would this mean for society and politics?
- Are non-places the spatial accompaniment to post-politics, to the foreclosure of political contestation?
- Is the distinction between non-places and places/spaces useful?
- Is there anything to the notion of a hyper- or super-modernity?
- Is Augé too deterministic? Does he miss how non-places can be places for culture or politics?
Links:
- 2024/25 Bungacast Syllabus (with links to readings)
On immediacy, representation, and anti-politics.
Anna Kornbluh, professor of English and author of Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism talks to Alex about the cultural, political, and economic changes she refers to as 'immediacy'. We discuss:
- Is 'immediacy' just a vibe, or is vibe itself non-mediated?
- How does anti-representation in film, TV and books relate to anti-representation in politics?
- And can we relate culture immediacy to the 'material base'?
- How do Fleabag, Uncut Gems, and the turn to memoirs and autofiction exemplify immediacy?
- Why does self-disclosure fit so well with the data economy?
- In what way is contemporary anti-theory nihilistic and apologetic?
- How does the style of immediacy relate to Frederic Jameson's understanding of postmodernism?
- Is the desire to put everything private on show a response to alienation?
- And is the professionalisation of 'theory' a problem or solution?
Links:
- Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism, Anna Kornbluh, Verso
- Has culture become pure vibe?, Anna Kornbluh, Spike Art Magazine
- The Theory of Immediacy or the Immediacy of Theory?, Jensen Suther, Nonsite
- Embracing Alienation: Why We Shouldn't Try to Find Ourselves, Todd McGowan, Repeater
On your questions, comments & criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We're back with a final letters to the editor episode of 2024 in which we discuss:
- the universalisation of 'anti-fascism' as a kind of politics
- whether there are any actual 'family abolitionists' out there
- humanitarian intervention in Palestine
- the hard and less hard facts of US imperial decline
- the legitimacy of 'existential' politics
- whether anti-corruption politics are good, actually
- and why Phil loves Hillary
On Taiwan, semiconductors, and war.
[Full episode for subscribers only]
James Lin, Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of Washington at Seattle, talks to Phil about Taiwanese politics and the country's place in the world, in terms of the global economy and Sino-American geopolitical rivalry. We talk about Taiwanese history and politics, from Japanese occupation and colonisation across the Cold War, to the present day, including:
- Taiwanese politics in the shadow of the geopolitical crisis
- The paradox of political divergence and economic convergence between China and Taiwan since the 1980s
- How did Taiwan corner the market for manufacturing computer chips?
- How successful is the ongoing US reshoring of chip production?
- Will there be a Marco Rubio/Elon Musk divide on China in the Trump White House?
- How might a war over Taiwan play out?
Links:
- In the Global Vanguard: Agrarian Development and the Making of Modern Taiwan, James Lin, UC Press
- What Works in Taiwan Doesn’t Always in Arizona, a Chipmaking Giant Learns, John Liu, NY Times
- Will Trump take the Musk path or the Rubio path on Taiwan?, Lev Nachman, Nikkei Asia
On Mothers and the institution of the family.
We're happy to bring you the recording of the launch event for the third issue of Damage magazine, with whom we're partnered. George and Alex were present for the event as part of a sequence of recordings on the future of place that will be released as a docu-series in the New Year.
For now, here is regular contributor Catherine Liu and friend of the pod Dustin Guastella debating the family to a packed-out bookstore at Moma's PS1 in Queens, NY.
On the End of History and Europe.
[For full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
LSE professor Mike Wilkinson talks to Phil and Alex about how the history of European integration fits with constitutional theories and ideas of sovereignty. We discuss:
- In what way are the conspiracy theories about the EU true?
- What are the origins of European integration in the inter-war crisis?
- How did European integration tie into the history of ideas and development of 20th century legal history?
- How far does European integration overlap with counter-revolutionary theories and ideas?
- And who is the Last European?
Links:
- Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe, Michael Wilkinson
- Political Constitutionalism in Europe Revisited, Michael Wilkinson, Journal of Law and Society
- The Rise and Fall of World Constitutionalism, Michael Wilkinson, Verfassungsblog
On the maelstrom of the metropolis.
[Full episode only available to subscribers. Join at patreon.com/bungacast]
We kick of the 2024/25 syllabus with the first theme, The Future of Place, asking, is politics possible without a sense of place. We discuss Georg Simmel's short essay "Metropolis and Mental Life" and Marshall Berman's All That Is Solid Melts into Air(chapter 5, on New York).
- How does Simmel relate the metropolitan condition to a historical passage from the 18th century to the 19th?
- Is city life intellectual and blasé, versus small town emotionality?
- Is narcissism built into modernity? Is there an aristocratic individualist revolt in evidence today?
- Do we need places to hang out in before we can do political organising?
- Are we nostalgic for top-down modernisation?
Readings:
- "Metropolis and Mental Life"
- All That Is Solid Melts into Air(chapter 5, on New York)
On the military decline of the American empire.
[Patreon Exclusive]
The Swedish writer Malcom Kyeyune talks to Phil about what happens to the evil empire when the stormtroopers can’t shoot straight and the empire isn’t producing enough star destroyers. They discuss:
- What happens to international politics in a world of new geopolitical rivalries?
- How does American industrial decline affect US military capacity and strength?
- Why is America unable to produce enough ships?
- Why is the US unable to do conscription anymore?
- Who would win in a showdown between China and America?
Links:
- America will have to dodge the draft, Malcom Kyeyune, UnHerd
- The Houthis now rule the Red Sea, Malcom Kyeyune, UnHerd
- The West can no longer make war, Malcom Kyeyune, New Statesman
- The American Empire’s Burning Peripheries, Malcom Kyeyune, Compact
- /240/ Populist Interventions: Örebro Party ft. Malcolm Kyeyune | Bungacast
- Facing war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the US looks feeble. But is it just an act?, Adam Tooze, The Guardian
On pro-family politics, and the US election and labour.
[Patreon Exclusive - in association with Damage magazine]
Dustin Guastella talks to Phil and Alex about what the election of Trump will mean for US labour organisations. We then move on to Dustin's proposal for progressive pro-family policies.
- What actually is "the family" today?
- Social democrats are proud of policies but wary of encouraging family growth. Why?
- What would pro-family policies look like, what would they do, and what might their negative effects be?
- Is the family not a pillar for the reproduction of authoritarian norms?
- How do we explain the fertility crisis in global terms?
- How do we confront the growing marketisation of everything?
Links:
- Damage issue #3 - MOTHERS - Bungacast subscribers get free access
- NY live event: issue launch - Family Trouble
On Trump's return and the end of the End of History (still!)
Historian and Jacobin contributing editor Matt Karp joins us to extract the true meaning of the US election. We discuss:
- How Trump's victory explodes so many Democrat assumptions about demography and identity
- How this election re-writes the past ten years' history
- Whether Trump still retains an anti-political or anti-establishment charge
- If the Democrats are preponderant in leading sectors of the knowledge economy, is this a political rejection of its assumptions?
- How to place this election in the sweep of the global anti-incumbency wave
- What the relationship is between inflation, labour and legitimacy
Links:
- Power Lines, Matt Karp, Harper's
- It’s Happening Again, Matt Karp, Jacobin
- Democrats join 2024’s graveyard of incumbents, John Burn-Murdoch, FT
- /262/ The Useless Past ft. Matt Karp
- /447/ Brunch Back Better ft. Ryan Zickgraf & Amber A'Lee Frost
- /445/ How I Hacked the US Election ft. Alex Gourevitch
On your questions, comments, criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
It's our letter to the episode show where we have a chance to answer you, the listener. We discuss:
- Has Bungacast gone eco-austerian?
- Are Marx and Freud in conflict?
- Is abortion about healthcare or about freedom?
- Why has the left abandoned liberty?
- Did we underestimate Israel’s existential fears?
- And what’s so “complex” about the Arab-Israeli conflict anyway?
Links:
- 2024/25 Reading Club on Place, Nation, Class
- Direct link to the syllabus PDF
- Our substack newsletter
On Georgia's pivotal elections and its post-Soviet history.
[Full episode only for patrons]
Hans Gutbrod, who has been working in the Caucasus region since 1999 and now teaches at Ilia State University in Tblisi, talks to Alex about Georgia's choice between the EU and Russia. We discuss:
- Who is Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose wealth is equal to 1/4 of GDP?
- What is the ruling Georgian Dream's pitch to voters, and how has it turned 'rightward'?
- Did Georgia witness the end of history, or merely the de-development of the post-Soviet years?
- How has civil society become dominated by NGOs, and is this a problem?
- Can Georgia flourish in a multipolar world, acting as an entrepôt between East and West?
Links:
- In Georgia, a National Election Is a Geopolitical Struggle, Bryan Gigantino, Jacobin
- Telling Time the New Way: 17 Years of Reform, Hans Gutbrod, Civil Georgia
- Macbeth in the Caucasus: Omnipotence and Loneliness - Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream, Hans Gutbrod (PDF)
On the US election, messaging and learning stupid lessons.
[Full episode only at Patreon]
We welcome Amber A'Lee Frost (California via Indiana and New York) and Ryan Zickgraf (Pennsylvania via Illinois and Georgia) to preview the US election. We discuss:
- Why the campaigns have been so focused on micro-targeting demographics
- Whether Russians or Brits are illegitimately swinging the election
- How the Democrats have gone back to being smug
- Why it feels like Pennsylvania is the only state voting (and not even there!)
- Whether the US is going back to a pre-2016 period
- How each side will react if they lose
Damage Magazine will hold a launch of its third print issue, "Mothers," in NYC on 23 November at 4-6pm at MoMA’s PS 1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Queens 11101. Catherine Liu will be in conversation with Dustin Guastella on the question of the family.
Links:
- The Battleground State that Isn't, Ryan Zickgraf, Compact
- The Gospel According to Elon Musk, Ryan Zickgraf, Compact
- To win, Harris should talk more about working-class needs and less about Trump, Dustin Guastella, The Guardian
- Obviousness, Scorn, and Losing Ground, Benjamin Fife, Damage
On egg-freezing, 'having it all', and neoliberal liberty.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We welcome Damage editor and practicing psychologist Amber Trotter on to talk about "Frozen Freedom", Amber's piece on artificial reproductive technology and different kinds of freedom. Alex and George ask her about:
- How empowering is female emancipation from biological limitations and compulsions?
- Can women now "have it all"?
- Do men feel the contradictions of this type of freedom too?
- Is a proliferation of individual choice making us all neurotic?
- The childhood fantasy of adulthood is of omnipotence – where did it come from?
- What is the relationship between commitment, responsibility, collectivity, the individual, and freedom?
Links:
- "Frozen Freedom", Amber Trotter – Damage issue #3
- /440/ Dear Tradmother, Why Are You Sad? ft. Amber A'Lee Frost
- /210/ Reading Club: Psychoanalysis & Spirit of Capitalism
- /235/ Reading Club: Freedom – on mortality & freedom
- Anti-Social Socialism Club, Dustin Guastella, Damage
Damage issue #3 launch event in NYC: Saturday 23 November, MoMA PS 1 Bookstore
On the left-wing case for freedom.
Regular contributor Alex Gourevitch is back on to talk about how the Democrats are approaching the US presidential election. Alex talks us through an influential and widely-read article that he wrote in 2020 with Corey Robin on how the left needed to reclaim freedom as its own.
We discuss:
- Why is the left suddenly talking about freedom?
- When did it abandon freedom in favour of human rights, welfare, or identity?
- What are the consequences of leaving "freedom" to the libertarians and oligarchs?
- How would one critique what the Democrats are doing today from this perspective?
Plus: we hear about Alex’s debate with Tyler Cowen on whether capitalism is defensible.
Links:
- Gaining freedom by escaping the unfreedom of the workplace - PNHP
- Freedom Now, Alex Gourevitch & Corey Robin, Polity: Vol 52, No 3
- The US presidential race will be fought over competing definitions of ‘freedom’, Eric Foner, The Guardian
- The Story of American Freedom, Eric Foner
- /298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch
On Israel's invasion of Lebanon and beyond.
Karl Sharro (Lebanese-Iraqi architect and satirist @KarlreMarks) and Iranian writer and historian Arash Azizi join us to discuss war in the Middle East. We ask:
- Is Israel finally waging the great war that will rid it of all enemies?
- Does Israel have any real plan? What motivates its actions in Gaza and Lebanon?
- What is the impact on Hezbollah of losing its leadership layers?
- How will Iran respond and what is the balance between moderates and hardliners there?
- If Hezbollah is severely weakened, what happens to the Lebanese state?
- What should we make of the global culture war around Israel, Palestine and the rest
Links
- Lebanon in the heart of the storm, Akram Belkaïd, Monde Diplo
- Israel is not ‘saving western civilisation’. Nor is Hamas leading ‘the resistance’, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
- Iran Is Not Ready for War With Israel, Arash Azizi, The Atlantic
- /225/ Wokeistan & Lebanonworld ft. Karl Sharro
- /141/ Oh Lebanon, What Now? ft. Rima Majed
On Nations & Nationalism since 1870.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We start by dealing with your questions regarding last month's RC, on Stalin, Zhukhov and WWII.
Then we read and discuss Eric Hobsbawm's classic work in which he emphasises that nations are exclusively modern constructions. We discuss:
- How succulent Hobsbawm's account is
- Whether he was wrong about globalisation eclipsing nationalism – and why he argued this
- Whether the revolutionary-democratic aspects of nationalism can be rescued from its later ethnic-particularist elements
- What the relationship is between citizenship, patriotism and nationalism
- How nationalism intersected with revolution - and fascism
- And whether the nation is any more solid an exit from our political vacuum than whatever other postmodern BS
Links:
- Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality, Eric Hobsbawm
- Film: Eric Hobsbawm: The Consolations of History, LRB
- Some reflections on 'The Break-up of Britain', Eric Hobsbawm, New Left Review (pdf)
- /421/ Who Are the Wrong Ukrainians? ft. Volodymyr Ishchenko
On France's permacrisis.
[Patreon Exclusive]
French sociologist Nathan Sperber talks to George and Alex about his new essay in the New Left Review, "The French Crisis: Organic or Conjunctural". We catch up with what has happened in France since Macron gambled and called impromptu elections in the summer. We discuss:
- Why does France always seem to be more in crisis than its neighbours?
- How has France ended up with hollow "leaderist" parties?
- Is Macron a true neoliberal or a reactive emergency politician?
- Did the left-wing France Insoumise miss its shot?
- How inevitable is a Le Pen government, and will it be co-opted by the French bureaucracy?
- What's the difference between an organic and a conjunctural crisis – and which one is France in?
Readings:
- The French Crisis: Organic or Conjunctural?, Nathan Sperber, New Left Review (pdf attached)
- An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci: His Life, Thought and Legacy, George Hoare & Nathan Sperber, Bloomsbury (Feb 2025)
On liberal takes on the end of the End of History.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We start by discussing Yasha Mounk's dismissal of an end to the End of History. Does he underestimate liberal democracy's inability to legitimise itself anymore? Is the talk of populism a way of deflecting from liberalism's undoing?
We then deal with your comments and questions [for patrons only, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
On tradwives, influencers, and boys.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Amber is back on the pod, talking to Alex and George about her forthcoming piece on neo-traditionalism and women, in Damage issue 3, which will be on Mothers. We discuss:
- What are the models of 'tradwives' out there?
- If homemakers make homes, do tradwives make content?
- Does the tradwife phenomenon speak to sense of exhaustion with being a neoliberal girlboss?
- When does internet crap start being real? Do influencers actually influence?
- What is the political upshot of all this?
On "eco-modernism".
Ted Nordhaus, co-founder and executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, talks to Leigh and Alex the 20th anniversary of "The Death of Environmentalism" and the 10th anniversary of "The Ecomodernist Manifesto". We discuss:
- The fundamental philosophical differences between "building-out" and "restraint".
- Whether industrial policy like the Inflation Reduction Act is in line with the ecomodern approach
- Why environmentalism differs in the US versus Western Europe
- Why modernisation gets lost in discussions on the environment
- What techno-optimism and what techno-fixes are
- What the Abundance Agenda is
Links:
- The Death of Environmentalism, Breakthrough Institute
- An ECOMODERNIST MANIFESTO
On the US culture wars, then and now.
Historian Andrew Hartman, author of A War for the Soul of America, talks to Alex about how US Americans have been sorted into cultural camps over the past fifty years. We discuss:
- Who started it? And who perpetuates it?
- What is the "culture" in the culture war? And is it a war, or a series of skirmishes?
- Is there something particularly American about culture wars?
- The culture wars have followed the breakup of liberalism – so, what comes next?
- Do culture wars necessarily presuppose identity politics?
Links:
- A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars, Andrew Hartman, UC Press
- The Culture Wars are Dead, Andrew Hartman, The Baffler
On disinformation, misinformation and the popular will.
Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo, joins us to talk about her recent pieces arguing that the climate movement's focus on disinformation is misguided. We discuss:
- What is disinformation and misinformation in the climate context?
- Are there parallels to be drawn with anti-disinfo campaigns on vaccines during the pandemic?
- How is the deterioration in trust in elites and scientific institutions to be responded to?
- What do Holly's focus groups tell her about popular views on climate politics?
- Does the return to industrial policy mean we should focus on "people who know how to make and run stuff"?
- And what is solar radiation management, carbon capture and storage, carbon dioxide removal, and related technologies?
Links:
- Obsessing Over Climate Disinformation Is a Wrong Turn, Holly Jean Buck, Jacobin
- A Climate Disinformation Focus Takes Us the Wrong Way, Holly Jean Buck, Jacobin
- Of Course "Misinformation" Isn’t the Cause of Climate Change, Alex Tremblath, Breakthrough Institute
Books: * After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration, Holly Jean Buck, Verso * Ending Fossil Fuels: Why Net Zero is Not Enough, Holly Jean Buck, Verso
On corruption, charisma, populism & assassination in Slovakia.
Slovak sociologist Dominik Zelinksy joins us to discuss Slovakia's positioning between East and West. We discuss:
- Why was Prime Minister Robert Fico a target of an assassination attempt?
- Whether Fico – not a zany outsider but a competent insider – is a "populist"
- Why Slovaks are not so anti-Russian, and why they are sceptical of NATO
- How has anti-corruption politics played a role
- What is "charismatic mimicry" and why have Western leaders aped Ukraine's Zelenskyy?
Links:
- Slovakia's election: "more than a fight between democracy and autocracy", Dominik Zelinsky, LeftEast
- Assassination Attempt Prompts Soul-Searching in Slovakia, Jakub Bokes, Jacobin
- Slovakia’s Election Result Is About Declining Living Standards, Not Just Ukraine, Jakub Bokes, Jacobin
- Charismatic Mimicry: Innovation and Imitation in the Case of Volodymyr Zelensky, Paul Joosse & Dominik Zelinsky, Sociological Theory. Thread on Twitter/X about the article
On the electricity grid and the institutions involved.
[Episode originally released only to subscribers on 20 June 2024. Join us at patreon.com/bungacast]
Fred Stafford, a STEM professional, a writer on energy and power, and an editor at Damage, talks to Alex and regular contributor Leigh Phillips about the utility of utilities and his recent essay in the second print issue of Damage, "Deinstitutionalized"./
- What actually is a utility: is it a question of ownership, structure, purpose..?
- How did the 70s energy crisis, neoliberal economics, and environmentalism create a perfect storm that broke up regulated utilities?
- How does the regulatory regime on energy in the US actually work?
- Why have environmentalists been so keen to line up with neoliberal deregulation and to attack utilities – in Europe as well as the US?
- Why should the left think about a restoration of the investor-owned utility model, and not just jump straight to public ownership?
Links:
- The Utility of Utilities, Fred Stafford & Matt Huber, Damage
- Big Public Power from the Atom, Matt Huber & Fred Stafford, Damage
- Power Loss: The Origins of Deregulation and Restructuring in the American Electric Utility System, Richard F Hirsch
On Geoffrey Roberts’ 2013 biography of Field Marshal Zhukov.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Who was the Soviet general and architect of Soviet victory on the Eastern Front during the Second World War? We discuss:
- What does Zhukov’s life tell us about modern warfare?
- What can we learn about the life and fate of the Soviet regime?
- How should we view the Ukraine war and renewed geopolitical rivalry between the West and Russia today?
- What are the popular perceptions and folk memories of world war?
Links:
- Stalin's General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov, Geoffrey Roberts
- Saving Private Ivan, Mike Davis, The Guardian
- Negotiate Now, or Capitulate Later: Ten Incentives for Ukraine to Make Peace with Russia, Geoffrey Roberts, Brave New Europe
- Putin’s Trump Card: Ukrainian Membership of NATO, Geoffrey Roberts, Brave New Europe
- ‘Now or Never’: The Immediate Origins of Putin’s Preventative War on Ukraine, Geoffrey Roberts, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
On the NGO-isation of the state.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Researchers and writers Matthew Thompson and Jonny Gordon-Farleigh join us to discuss their recent Damage article with George Hoare.
Civil society was once occupied by popular forces that could function as a bulwark against both capitalist marketization and state authoritarianism. Today, it has been colonized by the NGO, which, in turn, colonizes our hollowed-out politics. We ask:
- What are 'private NGOs', and what are quangos?
- How has 'projectification' taken over?
- What does the NGOisation of society mean? How does this kill public accountability?
- What are concrete examples of this process?
- What comes next? Any possibility for resurrecting things like Working Men’s Clubs?
Links:
- Bodiless Bodies: The Rise of Para-Institutions, George, Matt & Jonny, Damage
- Reconstructing Public Housing: Liverpool’s hidden history of collective alternatives, Matthew Thompson
- The NGOization of the West, George Hoare, Café american
On your questions & criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We respond with comments on episodes 420 to 432 and various other points you wanted to us to discuss. In this episode:
- Does our politics lack self-critique?
- When did the breakdown of the UK's political system begin?
- How hegemonic is "settler" discourse?
- Will there be a coup in France?
- Do we need more analysis of the PMC?
- How did victimhood become a means for the expression of political demands?
Links:
- The Making of a New Political Subject, George Hoare, Café americain
- Vulnerability as Ideology, Peter Ramsay, The Northern Star
On Naomi Klein & Naomi Wolf and "political diagonalism"
Episode in association with Damage magazine. Patreon Exclusive.
Ben Burgis talks to Alex and George about his review in Damage of Naomi Klein's Doppelgangers. We discuss:
- Whether Naomi Klein is representative of the average left-wing position this century
- What Klein's trajectory and that of Naomi Wolf tell us about contemporary politics
- What is "pipiking" – Philip Roth's term for making everything a farce?
- What role do conspiracy theories play for the Right today? For the Left?
- What's wrong with the idea of "settlers" and "indigenous", and how does it play out with regard to Jews and to Native Americans?
- Are we right to hold up “proper left” and “proper right” as ideals to which the ideological confusion of our times should return?
Links:
- Left Identitarianism Is Also A Mirror World, Ben Burgis, Damage
- Ben Burgis' columns at Jacobin
- What comes after wokeness?, Alex Hochuli, Substack
- The Making of a New Political Subject, George Hoare, Café american
On the structure of the Chinese state and its external relations.
[Patreon Exclusive: for the full episode, go to patreon.com/bungacast]
We welcome back Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri to reflect on the outcome of the recent plenum of the Chinese Communist Party and to ask who, if anyone beyond Xi Jinping, is calling the shots.
- How will the CCP respond to the US election?
- Why is China not a monolithic, integrated state in the way some think?
- How important is the the Sino-Russian alliance? Does it matter more to Russia or to China?
- What happened to "wolf-warrior diplomacy"? Is it still a thing?
- What's going on economically with the property bubble, and with Chinese manufacturing over-capacity?
- Should we be worried about WWIII over Taiwan or the South China Sea?
Links:
- China’s plenum must offer action not rote slogans, Financial Times
- Views of China and Xi Jinping in 35 countries, Pew Research Centre
- Fractured China: How State Transformation is Shaping China’s Rise, Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri
On the tourist city, the tourist industry, and its critics.
Renowned Italian journalist Marco d'Eramo joins us to talk about his wide-ranging inquiry into the age of tourism, The World in a Selfie. We also discuss how migration is the obverse of tourism, and take a look at Marco's most recent book, Masters, on the neoliberal revolution from above.
- Why is hating tourists the main characteristic of being a tourist? Why is the tourist/traveller dichotomy a false one?
- What is the threshold for a city becoming a place that exists primarily for tourists?
- How should we understand tourism economically, and why is the tourist city a mono-industry?
- Is the "authentic" travel experience ever possible?
- Why do critiques of tourism so often slide into snobbery or outright class contempt?
- How is the city changing under the impact not just of "over-tourism" but rising rents, exclusions, and remote working?
Links:
- The World in a Selfie: An Inquiry into the Tourist Age, Marco d'Eramo, Verso
- Masters: The Invisible War of the Powerful Against Their Subjects, Marco d'Eramo, Wiley
- Barbed Wire, Marco D'Eramo, Sidecar
- The cost of Europe’s backlash against tourists, Barney Jopson, Financial Times
On Julien Benda's famous 1927 work.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We continue on the theme of 'Intellectuals and the Public' by discussing the often cited by little read The Treason of the Clerks. We ask:
- If Benda was responding to the intellectuals' role in the Dreyfus Affair and WWI, was he already a man out of his time?
- What are intellectuals' proper role in society? Can they be abstract universalist moralists?
- Benda laments the end of humanism – can we endorse this lament, even if things are too far gone now?
- Is Benda a centrist dad, urging us all not to get too passionate or engaged?
- How do Benda’s ideas related to Gramsci’s notion of the traditional versus the organic intellectual?
- If Benda was critical of the 'realism' of his day – as opposed to the detached ethics of pre-20th century intellectuals – how might we use Benda to critique the cynicism of today?
Readings:
- Treason of the Intellectuals, Mark Lilla, Tablet (from preface to new edition)
- The Treason of the Intellectuals, Niall Ferguson, The Free Press
- Julien Benda’s political Europe and the treason of intellectuals, Davide Caddedu
- Edward Said on imperialist hypocrisy on Kosova: The treason of the intellectuals, Green Left
On JD Vance, Hillbilly Elegy, and arresting decline.
[For the full episode: patreon.com/bungacast]
We discuss the Netflix adaptation of vice-presidential nominee JD Vance's memoir – and the memoir itself – and what it tells us about the direction of US politics, Trump, and MAGA. We ask:
- What is Ryan's own anti-hillbilly elegy, drawn from his experience in Central Illinois?
- How far does the character in the film correspond with Vance’s public persona today?
- How do we account for Vance’s political pivot – at least in rhetoric – from “lift yourself up by your bootstraps” meritocracy to pro-labour nationalism?
- What will happen to rural/small-town US American life?
- Plus: Is reading books gay? Is a "hillbilly" just Hillary + Bill? And what is a horseshoe sandwich?
Links:
- The State of Illinois is Killing My Family, Ryan Zickgraf, Jacobin
- An anti-Hillbilly Elegy, Ryan Zickgraf, The Third Rail (Substack)
- Hillbilly Elegy Doesn’t Reflect the Appalachia I Know, Cassie Chambers Armstrong, The Atlantic
- Why the Left Gets J.D. Vance Wrong, Zaid Jilani, Compact
On emotional capitalism + Israeli politics.
Renowned sociologist Eva Illouz joins us to talk about her recent book on the emotions of populism, and her work on the sociology of emotions in general. We discuss:
- Why have emotions become such a collective obsession?
- Where can you buy emotional commodities? What are influencers really selling?
- What emotions accompany victim culture?
- How is identity and victimhood linked in a way that allow us never to forgive or forget?
Plus: * How has Netanyahu failed even on his own terms? * How has Israeli populism channelled fear, disgust, resentment, and love? * Why have Eva's views on the progressive left changed?
Readings & Links:
- The Emotional Life of Populism: How Fear, Disgust, Resentment, and Love Undermine Democracy, Eva Illouz
- Emotion Sickness: The Politics of Feelings, Bungacast series
- Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism, Eva Illouz
- /232/ Reading Club: Cold, Hard / Warm, Soft - on Eva's 'Cold Intimacies'
- The Global Left Needs to Renounce Judith Butler, Eva Illouz, Ha'aretz
- 'Never has peace seemed so necessary and impossible' — Eva Illouz on the horrors of Oct. 7 and its aftermath, Forward
- Eva Illouz, sociologist: 'I think that after the terrorist attacks, for Israeli society, Hamas has become the Nazi' Le Monde
- Israel Is Facing Existential Threats From Inside and Out. There's One Solution, Eva Illouz, Ha'aretz
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On the disaster of the culture wars.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Regular contributor Catherine Liu is back on to talk about her essay in Damage, issue 2, "Professional Populists in the Culture Wars". We discuss:
- What were the original 'culture wars' and how are they different to today?
- Why are the "academic populists" more elitist than anyone?
- Was there a need in the 1980s to "disrupt" the humanities?
- Why does conservatism now need to wear "populist" clothes?
- How should we defend the "canon"?
- What is the "Catherine Liu Foundation for Attacking Badness"?
Links:
- Professional Populists in the Culture Wars, Catherine Liu, Damage
- /246/ Why Isn't There Revolution? ft. Vivek Chibber
- /67/ Legacies of Postmodernism ft. Catherine Liu
- Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature, Janice Radway
On the late Dmitri Furman's account of post-Soviet Russia.
Patreon Exclusive: for the Reading Club, join for $12/mo and get access to ALL Bungacast content, incl. 4 exclusive, original episodes a month
We continue our discussions along this year's themes (rise and fall of nations; Russia past and present) by tackling Imitation Democracy: The Development of Russia's Post-Soviet Political System.
- Why has there been a revival in interest in the late Soviet and early post-Soviet period? And in the global 1990s in general?
- What does it really mean to be without-alternative?
- Why didn't democracy take hold in Russia? And why did it become an "imitation democracy" and not something else?
- How was Yeltsin a disaster? And what was Putin's appeal?
- Does 'Putinism' actually exist? Is it interesting or novel in any way?
- What happened after Furman's death and Russia's turn to "violent parody of the West"?
Readings:
- Imitation Democracy: The Development of Russia's Post-Soviet Political System, Dmitri Furman, Verso
- Imitation Democracies: The Post-Soviet Penumbra, Dmitri Furman, New Left Review (pdf)
- Imitation Democracy: Perry Anderson writes about Dmitri Furman’s analysis of Russia’s post-communism, Perry Anderson, London Review of Books
Listening Links:
- /114/ Reading Club: The Light That Failed - on the end of the "Age of Imitation"
- /270/ Russia vs the West ft. Richard Sakwa - on the endgame to war in Ukraine; and /271/ Russia vs the West (2) ft. Richard Sakwa - on the post-Soviet landscape
- /410/ Reading Club: Deutscher's Stalin - On Isaac Deutscher's classic Stalin: A Political Biography
- /421/ Who Are the Wrong Ukrainians? ft. Volodymyr Ishchenko - on post-Soviet Ukraine, from Maidan to war
Music: Éva Csepregi, "O.K. Gorbacsov", Hungaroton , WEA, High Fashion Music, Dureco
On your questions & criticisms about fertility, culture war, and more.
[Patreon Exclusive]
In our monthly mailbag episode we take points from the discussion on patreon, including on futuristic music, holocaust movies, german populism, whether culture war can be global, and the link between modernisation, productivity and birth rates.
On France's surprise parliamentary election.
The left-wing 'New Popular Front' came a surprise first, for now putting a halt to expectations that the far-right Rassemblement National would soon enter government. We talk to political scientist and commentator Charles Devellennes, and ask:
- What was Macron's gamble in calling this early election?
- Is becoming Prime Minister actually a bad thing for your future prospects?
- Is the Left actually 'far left' and the Right 'far right'? Is Le Pen a fascist?
- Did the Left actually save Macron? Why not an alliance between Left and Right against the centre?
- Will France opt for the undemocratic 'Italian Solution' and appoint an unelected technocrat?
- Can Macron's party and his style of rule survive Macron eventually being out of office?
- Does the uncertainty mean France is back to the postwar 4th Republic? Is this continuity? Something new?
Links:
The Macron Régime: The Ideology of the New Right in France, Charles Devellennes
On Labour's landslide and sandcastle majority.
We unpick what happened in the UK's general election, discussing:
- How did Labour get such a large majority with so little enthusiasm for them?
- Is the UK now a multiparty democracy, and will there be demands for serious electoral reform?
- What accounts for low turnout and the fragmentation of the vote (Reform, Greens, Independents, etc)?
- What is Keir Starmer's electoral base and how will he govern? What is their electoral programme?
- Is Nigel Farage's reform the real opposition now?
- Is the Brexit period now definitely over? Will there be a move to rejoin the EU?
Links:
- The McSweeney Project, Tom McTague, UnHerd
- Debasing Citizenship, Peter Ramsay, TNS
- Data on the nationalist right + driving to work in the UK and French train stations
Ukraine, from Maidan to war.
[For the full episode: patreon.com/bungacast]
Berlin-based Ukrainian sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko joins us to talk about his new book, Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War and his dissection of the war and the underlying political crisis in Ukraine. We discuss:
- class conflict in Ukraine as a legacy of the collapse of the USSR and the stagnation of the Brezhnev regime in the 1970s.
- The role of the Ukrainian professional classes in the conflict and oversize influence of relatively small neo-Nazi and far-right movements
- The meaning of ‘Soviet Ukrainians’ today and whether a neo-Soviet revival is happening among youth across the post-Soviet landscape
- The difference between neo-Soviet revival and Eastern bloc ‘Ostalgie’
- The concept of de-modernisation
- The vicious post-Soviet cycle of passive revolutions and corrupt oligarchic regimes
Links:
- Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War, Volodymyr Ishchenko
- The crisis of Soviet Ukraine, Volodymyr Ishchenko, UnHerd
- The class conflict behind Russia’s war, Volodymyr Ishchenko, Lefteast
- Russia’s War on Ukraine Has Already Changed the World, interview w/ Volodymyr Ishchenko, Jacobin
- As Ukraine Expands Military Draft, Some Men Go Into Hiding, NYT
On baby bust, feminism and male resentment.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Alex and regular contributor Leigh Phillips call up Korean sociologist Hyeyoung Woo, director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Portland State University, to talk about demography, family and gender in the Republic of Korea.
- How urgent is the national debate on fertility?
- What policy measures have been introduced to reverse the decline?
- How is work organised and how do long hours contribute to the lack of family formation?
- What has been the impact of feminist movements in Korea?
- Is there a male backlash against feminism underway?
- Why is there such a huge gender gap in voting behaviour among the young?
Links:
- /394/ Girls, Left / Boys, Right ft. Nina Power
- The Real Reason South Koreans Aren’t Having Babies, Anna Louie Sussman, The Atlantic
- Foreign maids and no military service: South Korea criticised over ideas to boost birthrate, The Guardian
- South Korea's incel election, S. Nathan Park, UnHerd
- Why South Korean women aren't having babies, BBC News
- This demographic catastrophe will hit us all, Peter Franklin, UnHerd
- Korean Families Yesterday and Today, eds. Hyunjoon Park & Hyeyoung Woo
On the electricity grid and the institutions involved.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Fred Stafford, a STEM professional, a writer on energy and power, and an editor at Damage, talks to Alex and regular contributor Leigh Phillips about the utility of utilities and his recent essay in the second print issue of Damage, "Deinstitutionalized"./
- What actually is a utility: is it a question of ownership, structure, purpose..?
- How did the 70s energy crisis, neoliberal economics, and environmentalism create a perfect storm that broke up regulated utilities?
- How does the regulatory regime on energy in the US actually work?
- Why have environmentalists been so keen to line up with neoliberal deregulation and to attack utilities – in Europe as well as the US?
- Why should the left think about a restoration of the investor-owned utility model, and not just jump straight to public ownership?
Links:
- The Utility of Utilities, Fred Stafford & Matt Huber, Damage
- Big Public Power from the Atom, Matt Huber & Fred Stafford, Damage
- Power Loss: The Origins of Deregulation and Restructuring in the American Electric Utility System, Richard F Hirsch
On German political derangement.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Independent researcher and writer Gregor Baszak joins us to talk about German centrism being squeezed under pressure from both left and right — Sahra Wagenknecht and the AFD. Meanwhile the German economy is getting squeezed between the US and Russia, and NATO pressures Germany to up its defence spending.
- Is German public life remilitarising?
- What are the prospects for Sahra Wagenknecht’s new ‘left-conservative’ politics?
- What was the original political vision behind the Nordstream 2 pipeline?
- Why are Marine Le Pen and Giorgia Meloni trying to carve the AFD out of pan-European national-populist cooperation?
- Where does Germany now stand in relation to the Ukraine War?
Links:
- Europe After America, Gregor Baszak, The American Conservative
- What’s the Matter With Germany?, Gregor Baszak, The American Conservative
- The Left-wing maverick who could stop the AfD For many, Sahra Wagenknecht is a tribune of the people, Gregor Baszak, UnHerd
On your questions & criticism regarding pro-Palestine protests. [Patreon Exclusive] In this episode we focus on the discussion generated by our episode that came out in early May on the protests on US campuses. We discuss the issues along a few axes:* How do ideas of victimhood relate to the material reality of international politics? * What really are the aims of the protesters and how likely are they to achieve them? * Are we cynical in our approach or conclusions? * How do the protests relate to populism and the end of the End of History? * What is the proper basis of nationhood? * How do these protests relate to the millennial Left?
We also deal with your points on Civil War, the state funding of culture, and whether Joe Rogan is a good male role model. Readings:* Vulnerability as Ideology, Peter Ramsay, Northern Star * The victimological imagination, Matthew B. Crawford, Substack
On MORENA and Claudia Sheinbaum's huge victory.
Mexico has elected its first woman president, tasked with extending the hugely popular AMLO'S legacy. What are her prospects and challenges? We ask:
- What was the effect of NAFTA on Mexico, and particularly manufacturing?
- How is US-China competition playing out in Mexico?
- Why did Trump and leftist AMLO get along? What about Scheinbaum and Trump?
- How does the politics of migration play out in Mexico?
- How come there is no hardline Mexican right, especially given the problems of crime and drug trafficking?
- Can other countries follow MORENA's example of centre-left success?
Links:
- Mexico’s Political Revolution, Juan David Rojas, Compact
- AMLO and Mexico’s Fourth Transformation, Juan David Rojas, American Affairs
- Lessons of the AMLO-Trump Bromance, Juan David Rojas, Compact
- /413/ Left-Populism That Works? (I) ft. Roger Lancaster
On Mexico's elections. [Full episode at patreon.com/bungacast] Mexico goes to the polls this Sunday with the ruling centre-left MORENA party holding a commanding lead. Anthropologist Roger Lancaster joins us to preview the election and look at outgoing President AMLO's record.* What are the stakes in this election? * Has Mexico bucked the trend of class realignment? Where is the 'Brahmin Left'? * What is "republican austerity" and has this actually combatted corruption? * What do make of AMLO's use of the military? Militarising public life or domesticating the military? * What has AMLO done for the working class? And what might it do for itself? * What is AMLO's populism and has he rekindled class consciousness?
Links:
- The AMLO Project, Edwin Ackerman, Sidecar
- The Mexican Question, Ramon Centeno, Sidecar
- The Struggle to Be Gay—in Mexico, for Example, Roger Lancaster
On Futuromania and closing and opening of musical horizons. We talk to renowned music critic Simon Reynolds about his new book. A counterpart of sorts to his famous Retromania (2011), Futuromania looks at the exciting futuristic music of the past and present. We discuss its themes to try understand whether the culture is still about to throw up something new.* Is talk about popular music stuck between the poles of “rockism” and “poptimism”? * How did Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder invent "electronic dance music"? * Why is "future music" good? What are its pitfalls? * How did Daft Punk run out of futurity? * Why is Auto-Tune actually not the worst invention? * How are genres like trap technically exciting but thematically glum? * Is there any way of bringing the future back?
Links:* Futuromania: Electronic Dreams, Desiring Machines, and Tomorrow's Music Today, Simon Reynolds * blissblog, Simon Reynolds blog * Futuromania companion playlist with Reynolds' introductions, on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/simon-reynolds-9th-april-2024 * Futuromania companion playlist on Spotify * No Bells music blog
On Alex Garland’s new film, Civil War. [Patreon Exclusive] The boys discuss a film that seems designed to say something in the context of a US election year. But what? We ask:* What kind of film is this: a dystopian fantasy, a war movie, a road movie? * Why the focus on the media? Does the film celebrate or satirise journalists? * Does Garland’s dystopia tell us anything about the landscape of US politics today? * Why is political polarisation between liberals and populists seen in terms of civil war? * What would a civil war look like in geopolitical terms, along the lines Garland suggests? * What side would you choose?
Links:* Where will America's Civil War be fought?, Michael Lind, UnHerd * The Civil War Will Not Be Mediated, Nina Power, Compact * Civil War is a terrifying film, but Trump: The Sequel will be a real-life horror show, Simon Tisdall, The Guardian
On Isaac Deutscher's classic Stalin: A Political Biography. [Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive] We start off dealing with your questions from the first two Reading Clubs of the year, before Phil takes us through the famous biography of the Soviet leader. We discuss:* Deutscher's work in historical context * Stalin’s parents' experience as serfs and the significance of his boyhood education in an Orthodox seminary * How the oppression of the Russian Empire and the promises of Soviet industrialisation shaped young Stalin's lifecourse * Whether, compared to other Bolshevik leaders, Stalin would have succeeded anytime, anywhere * Was Stalin honest in his commitment to the revolution? Was Trotsky right that Stalin was just a cynic? * How did Stalin compare to the other leaders at Yalta, such as the aristocratic Churchill? * How do we compare Stalin to Cromwell or Napoleon? * And what's behind cheeky internet Stalinism today?
Links:* Message of the Non-Jewish Jew, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org * On Orwell: 1984 - The Mysticism of Cruelty, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org * I must start completely alone: Gonzalo Pozo on Isaac Deutscher’s wartime years in London, LRB
On US campus protest, the brutalisation of Gaza, and whether this is an age of war. Join us: patreon.com/bungacast Bunga boys Alex, George and Phil debate the matter of the day. We ask:* Is the police repression and associated censorship (the anti-semitism bill) a reflection of the fact the content of the protest unsettles the establishment? Why? * Why is the Left breaking with Biden and the Dems over this and not before? * How do these student protests compare to BLM? And how do they compare to those of the late 60s and Vietnam? * What should those in Western countries do in response to Israel’s war? * Is the Palestinian struggle dead? * What are the risks of regional war? And does Israel's assault on Gaza presage a new era of warfare?
Links:* The Triumph of American Idealism, Alex Hochuli, Damage * Like it or not, the politics of war is upon us, David Jamieson, Conter * Express Train to Nowhere: Class and the Crisis of the Modern Jewish Soul, Samuel Biagetti, American Affairs * Is this How We Can STOP Genocide Joe?, Doug Lain interviews Dr. Elektra Kostopoulos & Dave Fox, Sublation Media * The Left Cannot Make Use of the Gaza War, Benjamin Studebaker, Sublation Media * Meet the new Left, who think Hamas are good and that Swastikas are woke, Ryan Zickgraf, Telegraph * Their Fight, Not Ours, Alex Gourevitch, The Northern Star
On the earth-shaking events of the 20th century, through a personal lens. Regular contributor Alex Gourevitch sits down with political scientist Peter Gourevitch to talk about their shared family history. Why did their grandparents/great-grandparents become Mensheviks? * How did one half of the family leave the USSR and the other half remain? * What was life like in exile in Berlin before the Nazis took power? And how did the family know to flee? * What was distinctive about fascism and the terroristic assault on democracy? * How was the escape from Paris just like the film Casablanca*? * What happened to those who remained in the Soviet Union and how did one member meet death via torture? * What is the legacy of Menshevism – and what is the relationship between socialism and democracy?
Links:
Who Lived, Who Died? My Family's Struggle with Stalin and Hitler, Peter Gourevitch, Dio Press
Full episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast. Members who sign up for $7/mo get 4 original paywalled episodes a month and a free subscription to Damage magazine.
On saving society from the antisocial-ists. In partnership with Damage magazine. [Patreon Exclusive] Trade unionist and researcher Dustin "Dino" Guastella joins us to talk about the deficiencies of a libertarian or antinomian approach to social problems. We start off with Dino telling us about the Teamsters union, before moving on to:* How have American cities developed such problems? * What are the pros and cons of the 'Portuguese Model' of drug decriminalization? * What is the problem with harm reduction, and how does it connect to notions of 'bare life'? * How are insecurity and precarity changing people's political demands and expectations? * Is there something to be learned from the Christian tradition? Should we all be reading Alasdair MacIntyre? * How do we build a politics of human flourishing?
Links:* Making the Present the Enemy of the Future, Dino Guastella, Damage * Anti-Social Socialism Club, Dino Guastella, Damage * Christianity, Morality, and Socialism, Dino Guastella, Jacobin * The left must embrace law and order, Slavoj Zizek, New Statesman * After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Alasdair MacIntyre
On Euro censorship + your comments and criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] We discuss censorship in Brussels and Berlin, and put it in the context of the incorporation of right-populism. How will European politics come to look as national-conservatives become part of the establishment? What's up with these "sovereigntists" who are unserious about sovereignty? Also we discuss your comments:* If cultural production is already monopolistic, can it be democratically planned? * Should we problematise "mental health"? * Is love a dangerous political emotion? * What happens if you leave the left? * How do we kill the ghosts of the 20th century? * Is a generational analysis of left-populism wrong? * How do we get beyond a world of media and images?
Links:* NatCon: are centrists the real threat to free speech?, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd
On the Big Hard Dick industry. [Patreon Exclusive] Clinicians and Damage authors & editors, Christie and Benjamin, tell us why the market for penis enlargement and hardness has exploded.* What is the "penis anxiety industry" * How does it serve individual, cultural and unconscious demands? * How does 'Big Hard Dick' provide a brittle solution to a deep social problem? * Is the Freudian analysis passé? Is it phallus-obsessed? * Does a making your penis bigger and harder help deal with imposter syndrome? * Does neoliberal capitalism make us feel "small"? Does the liberal elite want you to accept your smallness? * How might we be big – make ambitious, large-scale change – without falling for fake solutions?
Links:* Size Queen Nation, Christie Offenbacher & Benjamin Fife, Damage * /215/ Organize the Incels?! ft. Alex Gendler * The New Superfluous Men, Alex Gendler, American Affairs * On masquerade vs imposture: How Should a Woman Look?: Scopic Strategies for Sexuated Subjects, Jennifer Friedlander * Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday Life, Mari Ruti, Columbia UP
On melodrama and the bourgeois subject. [Patreon Exclusive] We're back with the next installment of our series on the "emotional turn". Alex talks to Catherine Liu about whether politics is staged in a "melodramatic" fashion today.* What is the bourgeois subject, why was it good, and where did it go? * What is melodrama? * Does public crying make us feel connected? Is it all Oprah's fault? * Why is psychoanalysis the solution to, not the cause of, therapy culture? * How is indignation used today? Is the political scene just villains and victims?
Links:* Emotion Sickness I ft. Nina Power * Emotion Sickness II ft. Ashley Frawley * Emotion Sickness III ft. Alex Hochuli * Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery, Eva Illouz * Interview with Christine Gledhill, from the book Melodrama After the Tears
On President AMLO and the rebuilding the working class. [Patreon Exclusive] We continue our discussion with anthropologist Roger Lancaster who has lived and researched in Mexico for decades, on the past and present of Mexican radicalism.* How has popular conservatism served as a boost for radicalism and revolution * Is there any basis for a 'romantic' anti-capitalism, in Mexico, or in the Global North? * Is President AMLO synthesising a new politics? * Has he “ended neoliberalism” or on the way to it? * How socially conservative is AMLO really?
On A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics [Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive] Continuing our theme of "the intelligentsia & the public," we discuss German critical theorist Jürgen Habermas's 2023 book, asking what sort of political culture is required for democracy.* What role do the institutions of the public sphere and the media have in producing, sustaining or undermining this culture? * How does Habermas' account contrast with B. Anderson on print capitalism? * Is 'deliberative' democracy a trap? Who sets the rules of deliberation? * Is a good media structure a 'constitutional imperative'? * How do interests fit into Habermas' model? Do we need to leave our interests at the door?
Links:* A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics, Jurgen Habermas * Jürgen Habermas is a major public intellectual. What are his key ideas?, Duncan Ivison, The Conversation * /362/ Life Doesn’t Have to Zuck ft. Cory Doctorow - on social media
On Mexico, class, and sexuality. We welcome anthropologist Roger Lancaster onto the pod to talk about his new book, The Struggle to Be Gay – in Mexico, for Example. We discuss:* How much is being gay tied to being modern? And conversely, how much of globalized culture is itself "gay"? * Do you need to be middle class to be gay? * Why did neoliberalism provide more sexual freedom than corporatism in Mexico? * How was Mexico ahead of the US in introducing ‘progressive neoliberalism’? * Is now a time of freedom, or should we think of it differently?
In part two, we discuss AMLO's "synthetic" presidency, and the way peasant conservatism in central America has traditionally provided a boost to radicalism – and ask whether this is still the case. Only available at patreon.com/bungacast. See also: /180/ Bunga Bunga (but Gay) ft. Mark Simpson & River Page
On Portugal's elections, 50 years since the revolution Catarina Príncipe, a long-time activist on the Portuguese left and a doctoral student of political economy, is back on the podcast to talk through what happened as Portugal went to the polls.* How does Portugal see itself, with regard to Europe, and its own history? * How did the right-populist Chega party break through amid high turnout? * What kind of anti-politics did Chega bring to the table? * Is there nostalgia for the dictatorship? * How did immigration become an issue in a country where emigration is the big problem? * What is going on with Portugal's huge housing crisis? * Why has the EU disappeared as a political issue, 10 years on from the peak of the crisis?
Bungacast is expanding, with new regular contributors, partnership with Damage magazine and more. Read about it here or see the video.
Links:* In Portugal’s Election, the Center Left Struggles to Hold On, João Murta & Guilherme Rodrigues * Europe After Brexit, Bungacast live event, ft. Catarina Principe + others
On what comes next: in politics, ideas, economy, subjectivity To commemorate seven years of the podcast and four-hundred episodes, we got all our new Contributors in to examine the oppositions and tensions that we think will characterise the next decade. We say hello to Amber A'Lee Frost, Alex Gourevitch, Catherine Liu, and Leigh Phillips. For all Bungacast shows, including our Contributors, the Damage magazine episode, Reading Club and more, go to patreon.com/bungacast Politics* Right-populism: insurgency or incorporation * The Left: engagement or reclusion * Multipolarity: opportunity or restriction * War: inertia or action
Industry & Economy* Work: precarity or militancy * Green Capitalism: industry or austerity * Tech: exhaustion or enchantment
Ideas & Art* Truth: the image or the word * Belief: reason or romanticism
Individual & Society* Subjectivity: vulnerability or resilience * Sex: liberation or puritanism * Sociability: virtuality or embodiment
On the withdrawal from hyperpolitics and hypermodernity. [Patreon Exclusive] What comes after a decade of populism? Alex Hochuli talks through his new essay in Damage, issue 2. This is episode is the third part of our Emotion Sickness series on the politics of feelings. Click here for part 1 and part 2.* If we are disengaging from politics, what is the associated feeling - resentment or resignation? * Why are our times "hypermodern" – and why is this exhausting? * What can the examples of the 'great resignation', 15-minute cities, and postliberalism all tell us about the ways people are withdrawing from modernity? * Why do we need to decelerate to save modernity? * How might we gain control of time?
This episode is in partnership with Damage. Bungacast subscribers ($7+) automatically get a digital subscription to the magazine. Go to patreon.com/bungacast. Links:* From ADHD to Let Me Be: Taking Control of Time, Alex Hochuli, Damage * Damage issue 2: "Deinstitutionalized" (subscribe for Alex's essay + more) * /365/ It’s So Over (Again) ft. Ryan Zickgraf (see also the links in show notes) * Hypermodern Times, Gilles Lipovetsky * Social Acceleration, Hartmut Rosa * Scorched Earth, Jonathan Crary
Part II of the series: on therapy and vulnerability. [Patreon Exclusive: subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] Sociologist Ashley Frawley (and COO of Sublation Press) is back on the podcast to talk about her new book, Significant Emotions. What is behind the seeming rise of public emotionalism and the focus on mental health?* How was “happiness” a policy concern – and when did it disappear and why? * What’s going on with universities and their focus on the mental health of students? * Is there much emotion about, in a romantic sense of deep feeling? * Or is it emotion ersatz, instrumentalised, superficial, sentimentalised? * How does affect polarise politically Left and Right? * Can we solve the crisis of subjectivity by focusing on the self? * And who is the Big-Ass Subject?
Links:* Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age, Ashley Frawley, Bloomsbury * Sublation Media * Ashley's YouTube channel
On Benedict Anderson's classic Imagined Communities. [Patreon Exclusive. Subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast] Originally published in 1983, Anderson's account of the origins of nations is one of the most cited books in English in the humanities. In what ways does this diverse and inventive book still explain the world?* How is imagined different from imaginary? * Did nations emerge first in Latin America? * Does Anderson's account of print capitalism still apply – and is it more valid than ever? * Are we really in a post-national era? * Does Anderson underestimate the political side – the project of achieving your 'own' state?
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (pdf) The Reading Club this year is dedicated to three themes: the rise and fall of nations; intellectuals and the public; Russia: past and present.
Turbulent times, ideological confusion. Politics is back, but it's stranger than ever. All the more reason for unflinching critique of the current moment. That's why Bungacast is expanding.
Regular contributors are coming on-board: Catherine Liu, Amber Frost, Alex Gourevitch, and Leigh Phillips We're partnering up with Damage Magazine There'll be many more exclusive episodes – see patreon.com/bungacast And a new Reading Club, with new themes!
On media and the Millennial Left. [Patreon Exclusive: for full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] Continuing the retrospective on the millennial left's failures, we invite political theorist Benjamin Studebaker back on. We discuss:* Was left-populism a media event? * Was the Millennial Left just a moment in internet history? * Having bought into the internet's possibilities, can we abandon it? * Does it make sense to speak of a "millennial" left? * Faced with so many dead ends, do we need to "go monastic"?
Links:* The Millennial Left as a Moment in Internet History, Benjamin Studebaker * Omelets with Eggshells: On the Failure of the Millennial Left, Alex Hochuli, American Affairs. Additional comments on Alex's Substack
On the missed opportunity of the 2010s. Chris Cutrone of Platypus joins us to talk about his collection of essays, The Death of the Millennial Left. We discuss:* Why define it as the "Millennial" Left? * Was the anti-Stalinism of leaderless protests a good thing? * Did the talk of "winning" from 2015 onwards represent maturity? * Should the turn to a more public, statist capitalism make us more optimistic? * How will the 'lawfare' used against Trump play out?
Links: The Millennial Left is dead, Chris Cutrone, Platypus * The Death of the Millennial Left: Interventions 2006-2022*, Chris Cutrone, Sublation
On the politics of emotions and emotionalism. Philosopher Nina Power (an editor and columnist at Compact Magazine) kicks off this series by talking to us about anger, hate, and evil.* Do we complain too little or too much? Should we be more repressed? * Political passions were meant to be dead. Has anger overtaken apathy? * Should we hate our enemies? Is that okay? * Has contemporary society become hysterical? * Why does everyone want to be a victim today? How does this relate to self-interest? * Is evil a psychological concept?
For part two, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Links: What Do Men Want?: Masculinity and Its Discontents, Nina Power, Penguin Books * Nina's columns at Compact Magazine * Political Ponerology*, Andrew Lobaczewski, Red Pill Press (pdf)
On Indonesia's new president and the End of History. For the full episode: patreon.com/bungacast Michael Vann, Indonesia expert and history professor at Sacramento State, joins us to talk through the election results.* How did Prabowo go from wannabe fascist dictator to cuddly populist grandpa? * Why is Jokowi "Indonesia's Obama"? * What is Indonesia's Trump/Hunter Biden ticket? * What's up with the $32bn new capital being built in Borneo? * What is the Museum of Anticommunism, and how successfully has Indonesia's ruling class rewritten its history? * Plus: why is metal so popular in Indonesia?
Links:* Suharto’s Old Guard Is Still Calling the Shots in Indonesia, Michael Vann, Jacobin * Shadow Puppets and Special Forces: Indonesia’s Fragile Democracy, Michael Vann, The Diplomat (on police v military clashes) * Indonesia state apparatus is preparing to throw election to a notorious massacre general, Allan Nairn, The Intercept * Prabowo's 'fashy' 2014 campaign video * Prabowo's 'cuddly' 2024 persona * /391/ The Biggest Country No One Talks About ft. Vedi Hadiz
On our '1914 vibes'. And your questions & comments. [Patreon Exclusive] We discuss the parallels between our age (the end of globalisation, the threat of war) with the end of the Belle Epoque in the early 20th century. What might Lenin have to teach us? We then turn to your questions and comments on: Palestinians as surplus population * Peripheral countries as 'imitators' * Whether Brexit has led to greater political accountability * Why Ridley Scott sucks * Why contemporary art sucks * Bonapartism and techno-populism * Romanticising dead workers - and old social-democrats * Esoteric knowledge about how the world really* works
Readings:* Lenin's Lesson for Western Liberals, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd * Why the Tories Are Blowing Brexit, George Hoare, The Northern Star
On Indonesia: a country without a Left. Foremost scholar of Indonesian politics and political economy, Vedi Hadiz of the University of Melbourne, joins us to talk through the country's politics in advance of the elections next week.* What was the authoritarian order that followed the 1965 anti-communist massacres? * How did the Asian financial crisis lead towards democratisation – and how did the old oligarchy manage to retain much of its power? * How has Indonesia become "Islamified", and what is "Islamic populism"? * How do class and ethnicity/religion interact in Indonesia? Who speaks for the "downtrodden"? * Is the upcoming election a contestation between oligarchic populisms?
Links:* /121/ Those Murdering Bastards ft. Vincent Bevins, Bungacast * Marketing Morality in Indonesia's Democracy, Vedi Hadiz, East Asia Forum * The demise of the left and the Islamisation of dissent in Indonesia, Vedi Hadiz, Melbourne Asia Review (video) * Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election Could Be the Last Battle of the Titans, Carnegie Endowment * The Act of Killing, dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012
On El Salvador and mass incarceration. Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, has just been re-elected on a landslide. His trademark policy is a state of emergency and the locking-up of tens of thousands of suspected gang members. He also made Bitcoin legal tender. What is 'Bukelismo', will it last, and will it spread? First, we talk to Nelson Rauda, an editor at investigative outlet El Faro about the mood in El Salvador, what the state of emergency has been like, who the main gangs are and whether Bukele has secretly been negotiating with them, and what opposition there is to Bukele's subversion of democracy and civil liberties. Then, Juan Rojas, Latin America columnist at Compact Magazine, joins us to discuss why such 'mano dura' (iron fist) policies have failed elsewhere but why they continue to appeal across the region – including among the poor and working class. For part two, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Readings:* El Salvador’s Bitcoin Paradise Is a Mirage, Nelson Rauda, NYT * Behind Bukele's Revolution, Juan Rojas & Geoff Shullenberger, Compact * On Security, Bukele and Petro Have a Problem in Common, Juan Rojas, Americas Quarterly * In response to killings, El Salvador’s bitcoin president attacks civil liberties, Nelson Rauda, LA Times * The Rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's Authoritarian President, Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker * Chaos in Ecuador, Guillaume Long, Sidecar/NLR * ¡Viva la ‘eficracia’!, Martin Caparrós, El País
On how to respond to conformity. Lias Saoudi, frontman of the British band Fat White Family, joins us to talk about rock, popular culture and contemporary unfreedom. We discuss:* Why are the kids taking less drugs? * Can we respond to our nihilistic times with nihilistic art? * What is the nature of conformity today? * How to challenge conformity without sneering at the masses? * Is there a romantic revival going on? Why is Lias interested in Ivan Illich? * If living cheaply in big cities is now very difficult for artists, will something new emerge from the provinces?
Links:* Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family & the Miracle of Failure, Lias Saoudi & Adelle Stripe, White Rabbit Books * Punk's spirit is broken, Lias Saoudi, UnHerd * Is modern medicine making us sick?, Lias Saoudi, UnHerd * Forthcoming album: Forgiveness Is Yours * /353/ Bunga Sells Out ft. Jason Myles - on music and the spectacle * /359/ Apollo Gets High ft. Benjamin Fong - on drugs in America
Double episode! On Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We wrap up the 2023 syllabus by taking on the second half of Arrighi's book, in which he analyses the over-reach and decline of the US empire, and whether China's rise and role in world affairs presents a different model, one that might be more peaceful. We discuss:* How important was the neo-cons' Project for a New American Century? * What were the long-term consequences of the Iraq invasion? * What do we make of Arrighi's theoretical account of imperialism and the tension between territorial and capitalistic logics? * Did the USA represent a "world state" after WWII, and how did it fail? * What is the world-historic meaning of China’s development? * Do we buy Arrighi’s attempt at a Smithean vision of inter-civilizational harmony?
Links: Adam Smith in Beijing:Lineages of the Twenty-First Century*, Giovanni Arrighi * /305/ Techno-Feudal Unreason - on 'political' capitalism and plunder * /250/ Oil & Disorder ft. Helen Thompson - on imperialism, the world system and energy * /195/ No Shock China ft. Isabella Weber - on China avoiding neoliberal shock-therapy
On Dirtbag and the Millennial Left. Bungacast regular Amber A'Lee Frost is back to talk about her new book, Dirtbag — part memoir, part critical essays on millennial socialism. In this episode we discuss:* Why "millennial"? Does it make sense to talk in generational terms? * What are the left's "perversions" as Amber sees them? * 'Occupy' was all leaderless, horizontalist crap. Why did Amber stick around? * Bernie Sanders did not leave an organizational legacy – why? * After the failure of left-populism, in US and Europe, was it all worth it?
At patreon.com/bungacast we continue discussing the problems of DSA, as well as look forward to the US election and ask whether there's a vibe-shift at Davos.
Links:
- Dirtbag
- OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations (5-part Bungacast docu-series on generations)
On what comes after human rights. Juliano Fiori, essayist and director of Alameda Institute, joins us to talk about catastrophism and organising around "the end". We discuss:* What was humanitarianism, and why was it the "last utopia"? * What does humanitarianism look like in an era of multipolarity? * Does Western liberal democracy have any gas left in it? What should we defend? * What politics are generated by the prevailing sense of anxiety and melancholia? * If modernity is over, do we need to reject all progressivism? * And how do we orient around catastrophe without falling into the trap of emergency politics?
Links:* "Notes on our Melancholy Present" in Amidst the Debris: Humanitarianism and the End of Liberal Order, Juliano Fiori * Towards a strategic catastrophism - a radicalism for catastrophic times, Juliano Fiori * About Alameda
On the missed opportunity of the 2010s. [Patreon Exclusive] Chris Cutrone of Platypus joins us to talk about his collection of essays, The Death of the Millennial Left. We discuss:* Why define it as the "Millennial" Left? * Was the anti-Stalinism of leaderless protests a good thing? * Did the talk of "winning" from 2015 onwards represent maturity? * Should the turn to a more public, statist capitalism make us more optimistic? * How will the 'lawfare' used against Trump play out?
Links:* The Millennial Left is dead, Chris Cutrone, Platypus * The Death of the Millennial Left: Interventions 2006-2022, Chris Cutrone, Sublation
On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality Previously a Patreon Exclusive. For more like this, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Lily Lynch is back on the pod to talk about Northern and Eastern Europe and growing hawkishness. We discuss:* Why did Sweden and Finland give up decades of neutrality - and why now? * What happens with an enlarged alliance in light of the conflict in Ukraine? * How does the current moment compare to the apogee of the Non-Aligned Movement? * Why were the realists right? * How is tech mythology helping to build 'digital nationalism'? * Why is there beef over grain between Poland and Ukraine? * And what the hell are the "skin suit of social democracy" and the "Waluigi of neutrality"?
Links:* Joining the West, Lily Lynch, Sidecar * The realists were right, Lily Lynch, New Statesman * The EU’s great power delusions, Lily Lynch, New Statesman * Guns, grain, and history, Lily Lynch, New Statesman * Tech-Mythologies, Lily Lynch, Sidecar * Imperfect Unity, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
On the politics of consultancy
[Patreon Exclusive. Sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast]
The past 40 years have seen a whole range of things the state used to do itself outsourced to third parties. Now there is a turn against these practices. But can the state actually get stuff done, or is it doomed for its prior reliance on consultants?
It's not just the left the criticises outsourcing - the right now does too. How do these positions differ? And how are these questions related to another critique – that of 'bullshit jobs'?
Readings & Links:
- In Clover, Laleh Khalili, LRB (attached)
- The Big Con — the case against consultancies (review of Mazzucatto & Collington), Diane Coyle, FT (attached)
- Letter: Groundless assertions about a trusted profession (response from a consultant), FT
- How PwC captured Australia, Shahar Hameiri, Unherd
- Consultancies Have Been the Handmaidens of Neoliberalism, Nathan Akehurst, Jacobin
- Radical Centrism: Uniting the Radical Left and the Radical Right, Ashwin Parameswaran, Macroresilience
- The limits of government outsourcing, Martin Bortz, Pursuit
- /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel
On the internet being sh*t. Tech critic, author and blogger Cory Doctorow joins us to talk about his new book, The Internet Con. He tells us his ONE SIMPLE TRICK to fix the internet: interoperability. Breaking down the tech giants' walled gardens is the first step to dethroning them. How does Big Tech depend on intellectual property to cement their monopolies? How can their grip be loosened? How do we make tech work for us? In the After Party, the boys debate Doctorow's anti-monopolist arguments, and look at the wider ways tech is affecting everything from agriculture to services. We conclude by asking what the best way to guarantee freedom of expression is. Links: * The Internet Con: How to seize the means of computation, Cory Doctorow, Verso * Pluralistic, Cory Doctorow's blog * Big Tech and the Current Challenges Facing the Class Struggle, Tricontinental Institute
On US politics being stuck. [Patreon Exclusive] We talk to political theorist Benjamin Studebaker about his new book, The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut. Studebaker holds that hope is a problem because it's used by professionals to keep people engaged in a system that simply doesn't deliver. Hence the culture wars and the focus on various 'vices'. How are both left and right complicit in this situation? What's the solution? Are we dependent on oligarchs going rogue to shake the system? Do we need to hit rock bottom to rekindle our political imaginations?
On the 3rd and final part of Jurgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We wrap up this challenging book by debating some key points. Habermas already felt we lived in a post-truth society. How does his notion differ from the contemporary one concerned with misinformation? And is it possible to get beyond the notion of political authority grounded in (arbitrary) rules and laws – to an order rooted in truth and meaning? Habermas also discusses his Frankfurt School colleagues and 'the end of the individual'. What does this mean? Is there any hope for free, rational, democratic politics? Reading: * Legitimation Crisis, Jurgen Habermas * The Return of the Repressed, Wolfgang Streeck, NLR 104, March–April 2017
On the American drug binge. Forget all the stereotypes – drug use is no longer confined to particular subcultures. US Americans are taking world-historic levels of drugs. Benjamin Fong tells us about his new book, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, which covers everything from morphine to mushrooms, SSRIs to speed, caffeine to cocaine. Ultimately, is all this drug-taking about reckless abandon, or about control? For more, go to patreon.com/bungacast Subscribe to Damage Magazine Links: * Building Big Things, Damage Magazine, Issue 1 * Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, Benjamin Y. Fong, Verso * Who Deserves Amphetamines, Benjamin Fong, The Point
On Australian and New Zealand at the End of History. Antipodean political scientists Shahar Hameiri and Tom Chodor join us to discuss the history and politics of Australia and New Zealand. If Australia is the “lucky country”, what about New Zealand? What explains the courses both countries took economically and politically over the twentieth century? And where do the two countries find themselves today - did they escape the end of the End of History? Part 2: patreon.com/bungacast Readings:
- Australian Labor’s hollow victory, Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor, UnHerd
- Jacinda Ardern still haunts New Zealand, Tom Chodor, UnHerd
- /136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton
On everyday, private tyranny.
Sohrab Ahmari, one of the editors of Compact Magazine, joins us to talk about his book, Tyranny, Inc. We discuss the sorts of private coercion that are found in the US workplace and marketplace, rather than originate with the state – and how relatively uncommon it is for a conservative like Ahmari to follow that line of critique. Also: the NY Post's scathing front covers, alliances between socialists and conservatives, the world of JG Ballard's Super Cannes, and critiquing the right from the right and the left from the left.
On film and left-wing terrorism. [Patreon Exclusive] We talk about Uli Edel’s 2008 film The Baader Meinhof Complex, which tells the story of the Red Army Faction in 1960s and 70s Germany. What sorts of myths do films create? Is the attempt to break down myths in fact a way of re-making those myths? Is a Red Army Faction response possible today - and what does terrorism at the End of the End of History look like? We also discuss the image-sausage-grinder theory of film and reflect on six years of podcast urban guerilla activity.
Links: * Episode on Berlusconi biopic, Loro: UNLOCKED /87/ Berluscoming * Symptom of the post-political – Terrorism in Contemporary German, British and Hollywood Cinema, Maren Thom (pdf) * "The State I Am In", Christian Petzold (2000)
On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.
[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]
What made postwar capitalism 'organised'? And why did many believe it had overcome economic crisis?
In this second episode on Legitimacy, we go through part 2 of Habermas' book, where its main concerns reveal themselves. How does the role of the state in managing the economy transfer crises into the realm of politics and society? Bourgeois ideology seems pretty thin on its own and doesn't provide enough motivation, so what happens when traditionalism no longer holds sway? Is capitalism just hanging on by a thread: the thread of civic privatism? Sign up for $10/mo for full access to the Reading Club: patreon.com/bungacast
Join a local Reading Club. Email info [at] bungacast.com
On music, pop culture, and the politics of the spectacle. Musician, host of This is Revolution and Sublation columnist, Jason Myles joins us to talk about how every podcast is a failed band, if pop music is dead, and whether the contemporary left is a lifestyle brand feeding into the all-encompassing politics of the spectacle. We also discuss the music of De La Soul and the role of what Jason calls “underclass ideology” in contemporary America. Finally, we reflect on selling out: it used to be a cardinal sin as recently as 25 years ago, but now, if you don't sell out, you're failing. Why? Links: * Stakes is High: Addicted to the Spectacle, Jason Myles, Sublation * Is The Contemporary Left A Lifestyle Brand?, Jason Myles, Sublation * Virtual Insanity: A Freak Show for Left Media, Jason Myles, Sublation
On China, Russia, the US and UK.
Professor Emeritus and one of the founders of ‘Radical Philosophy’, Sean Sayers, joins us to talk about Marxist philosophy, how it’s developed and changed over the course of the twentieth century and into this one. We talk about Sean’s background and experience in the radical academy of the 1960s, and how the New Left fed through into the founding of ‘Radical Philosophy’, and more recently, the Marx and Philosophy Review of Books. Sean talks about what’s happened to academic philosophy, and what it might take to defend the humanities in the modern Western academy.
Sean also talks to us about the significance of Hegelian Marxism, the American red diaspora in the UK, his visit to China during the Cultural Revolution, the state of intellectual debate and dissent in China today under Xi Jinping, and how radical politics unfolded from the 1960s over to the new millennium. Plus, he talks about his personal connection to Sacco and Vanzetti, the two Italian-American anarchists executed in 1927.
Readings:
- Radical Philosophy turns 50, Jonathan Rée, Sean Sayers, Christopher J. Arthur, Kate Soper, Diana Coole, Stella Sandford
- Luigi Galleani: The Most Dangerous Anarchist in America (review), Ruth Kinna, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books
- Marx and Progress, Sean Sayers, International Critical Thought (pdf)
On the radical right in the global periphery.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro, Duterte. Though the latter two are gone, the first three are still going strong, in government for a decade or more. What unites these figures? They’re all right wing and authoritarian, but also popular and anti-establishment.
How similar are these politicians to their analogues in the core of global capitalism? Might they even be seen to be forerunners of developments in the rich world? And to what extent are they able to resolve the crises of the end of the end of history?
In this episode, we talk to two of the editors of a new book, The Radical Right: Politics of Hate on the Margins of Global Capital.
Previous episodes on the theme:
- Turkey /339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu
- Brazil: /299/ Micropower & Transcendence in Brazil (Bungazão 2022) ft. Miguel Lago
- Brazil: /292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective
- India: /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
- Hungary: /33/ Hungary's Illiberal Democracy ft. Tamas Gerocs
- Philippines: /52/ Duterte's Despotism ft. Nicole Curato
On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive - sign up at patreon.com/bungacast]
We are in crisis, no doubt about that. But what kind? And what is the relation between economic, political and socio-cultural crisis?
In this first episode on Legitimacy, we go through part 1 of Habermas' book, to try to understand some key concepts: system integration versus social integration; what Habermas means by social systems and subsystems; and whether growing individuation makes us more or less prone to manipulation by the political command centre. Join a local Reading Club. Email info@bungacast.com
Live event at Housman's Bookshop. George Hoare hosts Dan Evans (author of A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie) and Bungacast regular Catherline Liu (author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class) in a conversation about the middle class. How should we conceptualise the middle class, how has it come to dominate politics, and what should be done about it?
On your questions and criticisms.
Bumper edition of Aufhebonus Bonus where we discuss whether we're technologically determinist with regard to artificial intelligence; whether the left should be bulding stuff; why criticising wokeness is boring; work, retirement and time; more on family abolition; and everyone's favourite topic – the PMC/new elite, etc.
Event: The Professional-Managerial Class and their Politics, London, Wednesday 28 June, 7pm
On reactionary feminism. [Patreon Exclusive] We continue our discussions on contemporary feminism by looking at the diametric opposite of the atomistic vision presented by Sophie Lewis: the conservative, communitarian approach advanced by Mary Harrington. Harrington is critical of 'Progress Theology'. What does that mean, beyond rejecting new orthodoxies on gender – does that mean rejecting progress wholesale? If liberalism has reached a dead end, what intellectual supports should we draw upon? And if we join Harrington in rejecting the 'caring' state – the 'antiseptic cyborg devouring mother' – does that mean also defending 'care' against 'freedom', as she does? Readings: * Feminism against Progress, Mary Harrington, Regenery * Reactionary Feminist, Mary Harrington, Substack * /49/ Kids & Confessions ft. Amber A'Lee Frost * /50/ On The Market ft. Anna Khachiyan
RIP Silvio
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died on 12 June 2023 at the age of 86. In this special episode, we say goodbye to the towering figure of the End of History, and explore how the contradictions he exemplified spoke to our age.
Contributions in order of appearance:
- Mattia Salvia
- Alice Oliveri
- Nadia Urbinati
- Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti
- Paolo Gerbaudo
- Thomas Fazi
- Pier Paolo Tamburelli
- The Bungacast Boys: Alex, George, Phil
Silvio Berlusconi is no more. In mourning of our evil patron saint's passing, we're unlocking this previously paywalled episode in which we discuss a cinematic depiction of the big man.
Keep an eye out for more on Berlusca coming out from us in the next days!
———
We discuss Paolo Sorrentino's "Loro" (2018), a dreamlike cinematic depiction of Silvio Berlusconi. Does the film succeed in capturing Silvio, or does it glamourise him? What explains the appeal he had - and why was the left never able to properly dethrone him? What does it say about 2000s Italy, and its relevance to our times?
On power, values and class. [Patreon Exclusive] British professor Matt Goodwin joins us to talk about his recent new book Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics published earlier this year with Penguin. Matt has argued that a new elite has come to dominate public life, leading institutions and the cultural industries in Britain and across the wider Western world, and that they are fixated with issues that divide them from the larger public – to whom they are bitter and hostile. We talk about elites, old and new, as well as ideas about elites stemming back to Daniel Bell and Christopher Lasch, and how these elites are shaping the future of politics. Matt also gives us a breakdown of the most recent local elections from the UK, what has happened with the Scottish National Party since the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon, why Keir Starmer’s Labour party will likely win the next election, and why the Tories are - contrary to their ruthless reputation - failing to adapt to the new political landscape. Readings:* National Swing Man, the British electorate’s new-old tribe, Bagehot, The Economist * A decade of SNP one-party rule left Scotland in a state, Matthew Goodwin, The Times * Sunak’s Tories have lost the Red Wall – and are destined for oblivion, Matthew Goodwin, The Telegraph * The New Elite is in complete denial, Matthew Goodwin, spiked
On Martin Hägglund's This Life.
We continue on the theme of freedom by discussing Martin Hägglund's case for 'democratic socialism'. In this episode, we leave the book itself to one side and attempt to "put the concepts to work".
We survey the many intelligent responses the book has generated and discuss what their strengths and weaknesses are.
- Is 'secular faith' just a therapeutic ethos to do with caring about your loved ones?
- What guarantees that we will use our free time appropriately? Why would we work freely for others?
- How does Hägglund’s vision work on a global scale?
- What kind of post-capitalist “state” does Hagglund actually propose?
- Does Hägglund evade class struggle? Does he have any vision of agency?
For access to the Reading Club, join for $10/mo at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- Limited Time: On Martin Hägglund’s This Life, Robert Pippin – and response by Martin Hägglund (pdf)
- Response 2: The Problem of Agency, Lea Ypi, The Philosopher
- Socialism For Our Time: Freedom, Value, Transition, Conall Cash, Boundary2 (esp. Sections IV and V)
- LA Review of Books symposium. Pieces by Walter Benn Michaels, Benjamin Kunkel, William Clare Roberts and three-part response by Hägglund: 1, 2, 3
On family abolition.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Amber A'Lee Frost joins us to talk through recent radical proposals to do away with the family as an institution. Author Sophie Lewis claims that "ever since the capitalist victory over the long Sixties, the shout for abolition of the family has been buried beneath a strange kind of shame”, but that now it’s back. Why?
What problems does family abolition address? And how do contemporary accounts sit in relation to earlier radical proposals by the Old and New Lefts?
If "the family is doing a bad job at care" and "getting in the way of alternatives", what actually is the alternative? Wouldn't destroying the family merely make life worse for most, without putting anything better in its place? Readings:* Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation, Sophie Lewis, Verso * Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family, Sophie Lewis, Verso * Profile of Sophie Lewis in VICE * Haven in a Heartless World, Christopher Lasch * Vulnerability as Ideology, Peter Ramsay, The Northern Star * The Lockdown Left: socialists against society, Philip Cunliffe, spiked * Anti-Social Socialism Club, Dustin Guastella, Damage
On utopia and individualism.
Renowned intellectual historian and critic Russell Jacoby joins us to talk about his lifetime of left critique. We discuss his early criticisms of psychology in light of the advance of therapy culture over the past 50 years, before moving on to the question of utopianism.
Will the breakdown of the neoliberal era lead to new utopian thinking? Does enthusiasm for a universal basic income signal serious thinking about the nature of work? Or are we still in a world where only dystopian thinking is permitted?
The episode concludes by discussing how all the talk of diversity today obscures the reality of increasing homogeneity. What does this say about the individual? Is the way children are brought up today killing the capacity for imagination and making us all conformists?
Part two of the interview, and our After Party, is available at patreon.com/bungacast
Selected books by Jacoby:
- Social Amnesia: A Critique of Contemporary Psychology (Beacon Press, 1975; Transaction, 1997)
- The Last Intellectuals: American Culture in the Age of Academe (Basic Books, 1987; new edition with new Introduction, Basic Books 2000)
- The End of Utopia: Politics and Culture in the Age of Apathy (Basic Books, 1999)
- Picture Imperfect: Utopian Thought for an Anti-Utopian Age (Columbia University Press, 2005)
- On Diversity: The Eclipse of the Individual in a Global Era (Seven Stories Press, 2020)
Other recent articles and interviews:
- D’une pensée critique sous emprise – Un entretien avec Russell Jacoby, Comptoir
- A Climate of Fear, Russell Jacoby, Harper's
- The Takeover, Russell Jacoby, Tablet
On Turkey's elections.
Alp Kayserilioglu joins us to talk about a crucial election. Erdogan’s rule is seriously threatened for the first time, with high inflation biting into living standards.
Who are the main candidates and do what they propose? Where does AKP draw its support from, and what has sustained its legitimacy? We discuss the supposed supposed culture war between conservative Islamic values and secular liberal ones. And ask how Erdogan has managed the economic crisis of the past few years.
We conclude with Alp trying to place Erdogan in longer historical context: 2023 marks 100 years of the Turkish Republic. Does Erdogan represent a radical break, or nationalist continuity?
Readings:
- Turkey’s Statequake, Alp Kayserilioglu, Sidecar
- Goodbye Erdoğan?, Alp Kayserilioglu, Sidecar
- Alp's writing at Jacobin
On who owns the power.
Matt Huber joins us to discuss his article, "Socialist Politics and the Electricity Grid", and how organised labour is central to a politics of plenty. What is the grid and who owns it? What are the limitations of a "100% renewables" approach?
On the politics of energy, the left is divided in a similar way to the ruling class. How do we move from a strategy of 'blocking' (preventing new infrastructure) to one of 'building'? And why does a movement to limit climate change need to focus on production, rather than consumption?
We conclude by discussing the conflict between struggles around "the end of the month" (living standards) and those around "the end of the world" (climate change).
Readings & Links:
- Socialist Politics & the Electricity Grid, Matt Huber & Fred Stafford, Catalyst
- Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet, Matt Huber, Verso
- On post-neoliberalism: /326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next?, Bungacast
- On de-growth: /310/ Do You Want to De-Grow?, Bungacast
- On green activism: /91/ Exhaustion Revealing ft. Leigh Phillips, Bungacast
- Matt's Twitter thread on Kokei Saito's degrowth communism
On Nigeria's 'end of the end of history'.
Sa'eed Husaini from The Nigerian Scam podcast joins us to reflect on all things Nigeria: oil, debt, corruption and February's election. What was all that hype about the 'outsider' who wasn't much of an outsider? Has the country's populist moment passed?
More Nigerians are falling into poverty due to low economic growth, while the state is due to spend 96% of its income on debt service. How is this sustainable?
We also talk about oil and corruption: the 'resource curse' and the 'survival of the fattest'. And conclude on China's role in the country and Nigeria as a cultural powerhouse.
Links & Readings:
- Buharism is dead, long live Buharism, Sa’eed Husaini, Africa is a Country
- /61/ Making Plans for Naija ft. Sa'eed Husaini
- The Nigerian Scam podcast
- The Oil Thieves of Nigeria, James Barnett, New Lines
- Survival of the Fattest, Paulo Collier, The American Interest
On Martin Hägglund's This Life.
[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]
We continue on the theme of freedom by discussing Martin Hägglund's case for 'democratic socialism'. Would we actually work under socialism, or do we need the threat of starvation or the promise of profit to motivate us? And what, if anything, is to structure all that free time we would gain?
Why is Hägglund's critique of religion – specifically the critique of 'political theology' – so central to his arguments? And how do we avoid the various temptations to retreat from passion, be it therapy-junk, new age buddhism, the goon cave, or post-politics?
For local Reading Clubs, email info@bungacast.com
Readings & resources:
- This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Chapter 6 and Conclusion
- On time, work, freedom and necessity: /298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch
- On Hegel and contradiction: /167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
On history-ending technology. [Patreon Exclusive] The economist Tyler Cowen recently suggested that radical technological change today marks a turning point in history. Is he right, and how would we evaluate such a claim? Should we be sceptical about these big claims, especially given all the Silicon Valley-driven hype around AI? Or is 'radical agnosticism' the right stance? And what about calls to rein-in the development of artificial intelligence, especially when these calls come from Silicon Valley itself? Readings:* Existential risk, AI, and the inevitable turn in human history, Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution * Is this the end of “The End of History”?, Robert Stark * The call for an AI halt disguises the real problems with tech, Jason Walsh, Tech Central * /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power (unlocked Bungacast Reading Club episode)
On the US cultural climate.
Renowned/notorious writer Norman Finkelstein joins us to discuss the themes of his latest and last book, I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It!
What unites the leading intellectual proponents of wokeness today, people like Ibram X Kendi or Kimberlé Crenshaw? How do they differ from anti-racist and liberationist heroes of the past? What continuities are there between today's cancel culture and the politics of the New Left?
We discuss the definition of wokeness and ask whether we have already reached peak wokeness, and examine the emergence of anti-wokness.
Subscribe to the podcast: patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom, Norman Finkelstein, Sublation
On your questions & criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Is the Left dead? Did the turn to culture really kill it? Or is the nostalgia for the post-war Left the real problem?
We also debate what the function of imperialism in Africa is; the 'pro-worker' conservatives in the US; surveillance of app workers; what economic growth is for; and whether to f**k models.
On Inhuman Power.
[Unlocked episode from Bungacast 'Reading Club', originally released 6 December 2022]
Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – one of the few areas today in which capitalists still seem to have ambition. Why is this so, and is there something about AI that gets to the nub of what capitalism is, as a mode of production?
Is capitalism without humanity anything more than a dystopian Skynet nightmare? And would the creation of a surplus humanity still be capitalism? Would it be techno-feudal, or something else?
Reading:
Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books
On cracked-up capitalism.
Historian of ideas Quinn Slobodian joins us again, this time to discuss his latest book, Crack-up Capitalism – the vision of a global capitalism with its constituent nation-states perforated by ‘zones’ shorn of any national oversight or democratic accountability. We talk through these archetypal zones encompassing deregulation, investment and sweatshop labour, ranging from the glittering city scapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Canary Wharf to forgotten zones such as Ciskei in apartheid South Africa as well as the gated communities of California and bit-coin paradise Honduras.
We also talk about archetypal crack-up capitalists such as Peter Thiel, William Rees-Mogg and Milton Friedman’s offspring. How did crack-up capitalism feature in the Tory vision of Brexit? Plus, why is Dominic Cummings the one true Singaporean, and why do crack-up capitalists love medieval LARPing?
For part two, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, Quinn Slobodian
- The Ciskei experiment: a libertarian fantasy in apartheid South Africa, Quinn Slobodian, The Guardian
- /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
- As special enclaves proliferate, what are the consequences for democracy?, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, The Spectator
- Dominic Cummings understands Singapore. The Tories still don’t, Quinn Slobodian, The Spectator
- Crack-up Capitalism video trailer, Twitter
On Martin Hägglund's This Life.
We continue on the theme of freedom. In this episode, we look at what Martin Hägglund describes as 'spiritual freedom', which can ultimately be seen as a question of what we do with our time. Across the two chapters in question, Hägglund ties together his philosophical vision rooted in the notion of mortality and temporal life, with a social critique that draws on Hegel and Marx. He does this by centring the question of time, the only truly scarce resource.
How can we negotiate anxiety-inducing freedom today? Where do our 'existential identities' come from, and does Hägglund put too much emphasis on identity? And is Buddhist karma a system analogous to the market?
For local Reading Clubs, email info@bungacast.com
Readings & resources:
- This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Chapter 4 and 5
- On time, work, freedom and necessity: /298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch
- On Hegel and contradiction: /167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
- On Sartre: Being and Nothingness (1943) and his subsequent 1946 essay summarising ideas in the book, "Existentialism Is a Humanism"
On depicting dystopia.
Acclaimed cartoonists, writers and artists Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson join us for something a little different: to talk about their new comic book, Justice Warriors. Set in a grotesquely unequal world, a police procedural (of sorts) encounters an astrology-based social movement seeking justice.
We talk about how dystopian fiction often serves to manufacture consent and about how fiction can confront us with images of social decline. We also debate free will and determinism in a world that presents few opportunities, social justice warriors and politics that perpetuate the present, and why there is no 'pure' people set against the elite.
Links:
- Justice Warriors, Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, Felipe Sobreiro, Simon & Schuster
- The Nib - political satire & cartoons
On geopolitical competition over Africa.
[Patreon Exclusive]
In light of the 'new Cold War', we look at what the US, Europe, Russia and China's respective "pitches" are to African countries – what are they selling? And we examine the factors that contribute to Africa's place in geopolitics today: Chinese hunger for raw materials, the global war on terror, the green energy transition, drug and people smuggling, and more.
If the original Scramble for Africa (1884-1914) was driven by an attempt to displace European class war onto another terrain, can we say anything analogous is happening today?
Links:
- /303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua
- /304/ The Failure of the French Forever War (2) ft. Yvan Guichaoua
- Russia in Africa, Financial Times series of articles
- Defending Our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity, Tricontinental Institute
- Italophone Somalia, Then and Now, Iman Mohamed, The Drift
- Emmanuel Macron must reset France’s Africa policy, Sylvie Kauffman (Le Monde editor), FT
- Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’, Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri, Chatham House
- Let’s talk about neo-colonialism in Africa, Mark Langan, LSE blog
- /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel
On the crisis of crisis. Bulgarian critical theorist Albena Azmanova joins us to discuss her widely-discussed 2020 book, Capitalism on Edge. We talk critical theory, the paradox of emancipation, her criticisms of Thomas Piketty and why we should be thinking in terms of precarity capitalism, not neoliberalism. Albena also discusses her concept of the ‘crisis of the crisis of capitalism’ - how the current crisis of capitalism fails to augur a new type of society. Albena makes the case that concepts like neoliberalism obscure more than they clarify. We also discuss how far critical theorists can be drawn into providing practical political advice to leaders and governing institutions. Plus, what was it like coming of age in communist Bulgaria at the End of History? Links: It’s the Economic Precarity, Stupid, Albena Azmanova & Marshall Auerback, The Nation * Uber’s dangerous drive to serfdom, Albena Azmanova, Unherd * Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia*, Albena Azmanova, Columbia UP
On the left's understanding of freedom.
We continue our talk with Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again.
This is followed by the After Party, where we debate the extent to which Thatcher 'sold' freedom and what the left's understanding of liberty is.
Part 1 is here: https://bungacast.podbean.com/e/318-the-dead-left-ft-steve-hall-simon-winlow/
Links:
- /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall
- /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell
- /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood
On what comes after neo-liberalism. [Patreon Exclusive] After 40 years of neo-liberalism, governments are inching their way to some new settlement, under the pressure of repeated crises, as well as populist upsurges. In this episode we try to take a political, not academic, approach to the question. This is not about categorising and labelling, but about understanding what the stakes are in saying a new arrangement is emerging, and grasping how it informs political practice. What are the main "post-neoliberal" arrangements being pushed by different sides of the spectrum? What do they say about the interests of their constituencies? If successful, what sort of political playing field will they present the masses? Will it be a world of greater or fewer opportunities for emancipatory politics? Readings:* TCS Special Issue: ‘Post-Neoliberalism?’, Various, Theory Culture & Society * End of the Neoliberal Era?, David Kotz, NLR * The new rules for business in a post-neoliberal world, Rana Forfoohar, FT * What's beyond "beyond neoliberalism"?, Amy Kapczynski, LPE Project * Reading the post-neoliberal right, Amy Kapczynski, LPE Project
On the mainstreaming of racial thinking. We welcome back author and broadcaster Kenan Malik to talk about his new book, Not So Black and White. The book presents a historical account of how racial thinking has accompanied the spread of notions of equality and common humanity. How is it that many supposed humanitarians in the past were often racists? And how have we reached a point where today, many liberals and supposed anti-racists sustain racial thinking? How have notions of global whiteness/blackness come to dominate the discourse? We also discuss the 'post-liberal' critics of wokeness and their shortcomings, and whether the far right is gaining from the reification of race. Want more? Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links:* Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics, Kenan Malik, Hurst * /70/ In Defence of Universalism ft. Kenan Malik
On the app economy. [Patreon Exclusive] Delivery apps have taken the world by storm, and the pandemic only deepened our dependence on them. What is the price of convenience – and is there anything wrong with wanting ease? Capitalist keep propping up these money-losing enterprises – why? And can they survive the end of cheap money? Is the app economy just a battering ram against labour rights? Are delivery apps out to kill off traditional restaurants? And should we defend the petite bourgeoisie and independent bars and pubs? And does the dream of freedom sold by apps to workers, of being your own boss, work as a legitimating ideology? Reading:* Farewell to the servant economy, FT * Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life, Adam Greenfield, Verso * Delivering Restaurants to Wall Street, Alex Park, Compact * 5 Reasons Marxism Has Nothing To Offer Millennials, Austrian Economics Center
Links:* /59/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 3 ft. Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski * Excerpt: /311/ Reading Club: The Precariat * Excerpt: /172/ Three Articles: Elite Production (on Uber)
On The Covid Consensus. We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnational health authorities dropped pre-pandemic plans in favour of open-ended nationwide lockdowns which were to remain in place until vaccines were developed. Why this course of action? And how to account for the unprecedented level of policy alignment across the majority of countries: was it coordination, imitation, or coercion? In part two of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm. For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links:* The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left, Toby Green & Thomas Fazi * /213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze * /38/ The Economics of Exit ft. Thomas Fazi
[Patreon Exclusive] On your questions and criticisms. A bumper episode as we respond to your points from December through to the end of January. We discuss 'political capitalism', where the left is today, atomisation, degrowth, disciplining the working class, critical cinema, and family abolition.
On the death of the left. We talk to Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again. Is the left indeed dead, and what killed it? The turn to culture undoubtedly plays a part, but was the left wrong to turn to liberty, as Hall & Winlow argue? How can we turn back to political economy and what would that politics look like? And if there is to be a future radical movement for and by the working class, would social democracy be its lodestar? Part two of the interview and the After Party are available at patreon.com/bungacast Links:* /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall * /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell * /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood
On the key events and developments in 2022. We look back at how the world transitioned from the pandemic to war over the past year, and what the socio-political fallouts have been. Is everything "better than expected"? Has managerial technocracy been rejuvenated? We discuss whether we're in a Third World War, how the US empire is strengthening its grip on Europe, and how cultural populists are taking over from economic populists. Part two is available at patreon.com/bungacast
On aesthetic criticism & performance.
The hosts of a new podcast on film, Performance Anxiety, join us to talk about how a focus on performance can break through endless squabbles over wokeness and representation in film.
We also discuss our best and worst films of 2022.
Part two of this episode is at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- Performance Anxiety podcast
- The Greatest Films of All Time, Sight & Sound, BFI
- The Radicalization of the Film Canon, Adrian Nguyen, Quillette
On the achievement of democracy and the 'impartial' state.We speak to sociologist Dylan Riley about his new book Microverses, a series of aphorisms on social theory and politics.The rational-legal state seems to be under threat by politicians who have no sense of the division between public and private – patrimonialists like Donald Trump, or Silvio Berlusconi. What are we to make of this attack on the notion of office?Anti-corruption politics is often the response, but what happens when the left positions itself as the defender of the 'impartial' bourgeois state – rather than its overthrower? And was democratic capitalism the achievement of a militant working class – or a concession made after the working class had already been disciplined by fascism and war?The second half of the interview, and our After-Party, is available at patreon.com/bungacastReadings:
- Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present, Dylan Riley, Verso Books
- Seven Theses on American Politics, Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, NLR
- Inflection Point (podcast), Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, UC Berkley
- Safe Substitutes for Posting: review of Microverses, Harold Florida, Damage
Is there a new 'transformative' class?
[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]
We close of the 2022 Reading Club, and the final section on 'Neo-Feudalism', by discussing how class is changing. Through readings by Guy Standing and Ruy Braga, we ask if the precariat are the new serfs in a supposed feudal-ish social formation.
It's clear the old Fordist arrangements have broken down, so what does the working class look like today? Is it still a class in the old sense? Braga argues we are witnessing 'class struggle without class'. But why then do the precariat's revolts only target state political authority, and not property relations?
Readings:
- A return of class struggle without class? Moral economy and popular resistance in Brasil, south Africa and Portugal, Ruy Braga, Sociologia & Antropologia
- The Precariat: Today's Transformative Class?, Guy Standing, GTI
On 'degrowth communism'.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Why the rage for degrowth now? With deindustrialisation, energy rationing and severe pressure on standards of living, it looks increasingly like degrowth is official policy.
Yet its advocates, drawing from the work of radicals like Mike Davis, John Bellamy Foster, Jason Hickel, and Kohei Saito, would argue that ecological Marxism or degrowth communism is wholly different from stagnant capitalism. How much continuity is there between much older generations of socialists and the contemporary left?
Readings:
- The paradox of Degrowth Communism, Thomas Fazi, UnHerd
- ‘A new way of life’: the Marxist, post-capitalist, green manifesto captivating Japan, Justin McCurry, Guardian
- The degrowth delusion, Leigh Phillips, openDemocracy
On atomisation and association. Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone came out 22 years ago and the structural changes he identified then – increasing atomisation – have only worsened. Everyone now blames the internet, and though it may have accelerated some aspects, the problem goes deeper. The social consequences – loneliness, mistrust, depression – are widely discussed, but the political ones less so. Does the decline of associationalism open the door to authoritarianism? Are 'right-wing' associations (say, churches or homeowner groups) just as threatened as left-wing ones (like unions or labour clubs)? What are the political valences of growing atomisation? And are we now like the peasants that Marx described in his 18th Brumaire: just potatoes in a sack - and does this explain the crazy politics of our time?Links: * Fill out our 2022 Listener Survey: tinyurl.com/bunga2022survey * From Bowling Alone to Posting Alone, Anton Jäger, Jacobin * Bowling Alone (2020 revised edition), Robert Putnam
On the global left after the Cold War.[Patreon Exclusive]Has the left declined, been defeated, or is it dead? Is the continuity with the Old and New Lefts of the 20th century, or should we understand 1989 as marking a definitive break? We use a long essay by Swedish Marxist sociologist Göran Therborn in the latest New Left Review as a plank to examine these questions. Therborn tries to present a synoptic analysis of where the left is, globally speaking, almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century. Is he right that the old dialectics of industrialism and colonialism are no longer operative - and that no new dialectic has emerged? And is trying to present a "balance sheet" a valid approach in the first place? FILL OUT OUR 2022 LISTENER SURVEY: tinyurl.com/bunga2022surveyLinks:* The World and the Left, Göran Therborn, New Left Review (2022) * Renewals, Perry Anderson, New Left Review (2000) * /37/ The Ghosts of May ‘68 ft. Catherine Liu, Bungacast * OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, ep. 3 (Boomers), Bungacast
On your questions & criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We debate what kind of work 'shared-labour socialism' would involve in a complex society, and what role 'dispossession' or 'expropriation' has in the contemporary economy. Plus: strategies on Ukraine – backing independence, guerilla warfare, and what an 'anti-NATO' stance actually looks like; and whether the forces exist for exiting the EU.
Fill out our 2022 Listener Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNLTVLB
On Inhuman Power. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – one of the few areas today in which capitalist still seem to have ambition. Why is this so, and is there something about AI that gets to the nub of what capitalism is, as a mode of production? Is capitalism without humanity anything more than a dystopian Skynet nightmare? And would the creation of a surplus humanity still be capitalism? Would it be techno-feudal, or something else? Reading:Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books
On "techno-feudalism".
In the Bungacast Reading Club for patrons, we've been discussing various works on "neo-feudalism" - a thesis that tries to explain capitalist stagnation and inequality by arguing that we are moving beyond capitalism – toward something worse.
In this free episode, we discuss one of the most thoroughgoing critiques of this thesis: Evgeny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason".
Why has this thesis becomes so popular today, across the political spectrum? What is the economic and political logic of feudalism, and how do current trends supposedly indicate a resurgence of these logics? Why have Marxists, who draw such a clear line between feudalism and capitalism, believe that politically-driven expropriation is replacing exploitation?
And how do Big Tech companies make money - purely through rent, or do they produce commodities?
To join the Reading Club, sign up for $10 at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason, Evegeny Morozov, New Left Review
- The 'New' Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession, David Harvey, Socialist Register (pdf)
- Escalating Plunder, Robert Brenner, New Left Review
On Mali and the Sahel.
French president Emmanuel Macron declared the end of Opération Barkhane on 9 November 2022, bringing to an end to nearly 10 years of French military intervention in Mali. But what is the legacy of the French Forever War in the Sahel, and what happens next?
Sahel expert Yvan Guichaou joins us to talk about French defeat in the war on terror, the continued French military presence in the region, the growing extent of jihadi power, as well as the crisis of the post-colonial state in Africa and the new geo-politics of Franco-Russian competition in the region. How do these various political forces intersect with the political economy of aid and smuggling networks?
[Part 2 is available to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast]
Readings:
- Norms, non-combatants' agency and restraint in Jihadi violence in Northern Mali, Yvan Guichaoua and Ferdaous Bouhlel, International Interactions
- The bitter harvest of French interventionism in the Sahel, Yvan Guichaoua, International Affairs
Music: Nous Non Plus / Bunga Bunga / courtesy of Sugaroo!
A special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
Previously released in 2021 only to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast, a year on we're releasing the whole series to everyone.
- Part 1: (00:00:00)
- Part 2: (00:38:11)
- Part 3: (01:07:54)
- Part 4: (02:50:32)
- Part 5: (03:59:24)
Part 1:
We look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages.
Guests include:
- Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
- Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Joshua Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
Part 2:
We look at the emergence of ‘youth’ as political concept in the age following the French Revolution, and its shifting meanings. How important was generational consciousness in the Young Italy movement and its imitators in the 19th century, and how should we understand the so-called ‘Lost Generation’ of 1914?
Guests include:
- Niall Whelahan, Chancellor’s Fellow in History, Strathclyde University
Part 3:
We examine the Baby Boomers – myth and reality. The revolt of the ’60s has been misunderstood in many dimensions. Was it betrayed or did it always express capitalist ideology? Were the Boomers the ones who really did the 1960s anyway? And what world have the Boomers created as they passed through life – and institutions?
Guests include:
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Jeffrey Alexander, professor of sociology at Yale University
- Holger Nehring, chair in contemporary European history at the University of Stirling
- Kristin Ross, professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University
Part 4:
We examine Generation X – the generation of the End of History. How was this generation overshadowed by the Boomer’s failures? In the Eastern Bloc, the fall of Soviet regimes was a traumatic moment – how did this shape consciousness? And how did the Iranian Revolution – and subsequent war – shape the political perspectives of Iranians?
Guests include:
- Maren Thom, film scholar
- Alexei Yurchak, professor of anthropology at Berkeley
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Arash Azizi, historian of Iran at New York University
- Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
Part 5:
We examine the Millennials and Generation Z. Uniquely, generation war today seems to be a conflict over resources more than over values. Is there any basis for this, and what do Millennials actually want? With generational and class conflict seemingly bound together today, we analyse ‘Generation Left’ and ‘Millennial Socialism’. And we ask what the effect of the pandemic may be on the creation of a Gen Z consciousness.
Guests include:
- Paul Taylor, former director, Pew Research
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
- Clive Martin, journalist who has written for VICE Magazine
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Jennifer Silva, assistant professor in sociologist, Indiana University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc.
- Liru / For the Floor / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
- Leimoti / Don’t Leave It Here / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
- Leimoti / The Small Things / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
- Philip Ayers / Trapped in a Maze / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
- Walt Adams / Dark Tavern / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
- Medité / A Change in My Heart / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Ondolut / Blumen / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Elliott Holmes / Bull Chase / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Kick Castle / Kick Down / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- T. Morri / Nuthin’ but Nuts / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Kit Kruger / Freakin’ Freefall / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Cacti / I Will Be Waiting / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Filthy the Kid / Vampire / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
Other Clips:
- Black 47 Trailer © 2018 – WildCard Distribution
- Arracht Trailer © 2019 – Break Out Pictures
- The Sun Also Rises © 2019 – 20th Century Fox
- Mr Lloyd George Speaks To The Nation (1931) British Pathé
- American Pastoral Trailer © 2016 – Lionsgate
- Mai 1968 © France 3 Paris Ile-de-France
- Imitation de Daniel Cohn-Bendit © C’est Canteloup
- Baader Meinhof Complex © 2008
On your questions & criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
The weakness of anti-EU forces; the implications of defending Ukrainian sovereignty; what should we call the new far-right and what does it do in power? And the gravity of nuclear war Also, is Phil okay?
On Joel Kotkin's The Coming of Neo-Feudalism
We start off by discussing your points on the last RC, on conspiracy theory.
Then we delve into Kotkin's book, asking whether he has an adequate understanding of feudalism, and whether this is the right lens to understand transformations underway now. Is 'techno-feudalism' not just a downturn in 'systemic cycles of accumulation', related to the decline of the US empire? And what are Kotkin's politics and how do they relate to his analysis?
Thanks for all the questions received on this one, we discussed them as we went through the episode.
Reading:
- The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class, Joel Kotkin, Encounter Books
- Techno-Feudalism Is Taking Over, Yanis Varoufakis, Project-Syndicate
Next month: Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books
On nuclear exterminism.
To commemorate our 300th episode, we discuss how the world is closer to a nuclear conflict than at any point since the Cold War. After decades of inconsequential 'permawar' (at least inside the Western bubble), the proxy war in Ukraine between NATO and Russia is suddenly very consequential indeed.
How does our situation differ from that of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis? Why might it be more unpredictable? Does today's very different ideological configuration make war more or less likely?
Before that, we reflect on five and half years of Bungacast, how the world has changed over the period, and pick out some of our favourite episode from the past half-decade.
The main discussion begins at 23mins.
Readings:
- Who will stop Putin from going nuclear?, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd
- How to prevent World War III, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd
- Notes on Exterminism, the Last Stage of Civilisation, EP Thompson, New Left Review
- The War in Ukraine Could Lead to Nuclear War, Anatol Lieven, Quincy Institute
On reclaiming populism.
With only a couple of days to go until the decisive runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro, we continue our Bungazão 2022 series by talking to to political scientist Miguel Lago about how Lula and Bolsonaro both construct a Brazilian people. Lula does so broadly on class lines, while Bolsonaro's construction is a moral one: "good citizens" and those to be excluded.
Why is populism the right way to analyse the election, and how might Lula re-embody Brazil's greatest populist leader, Getúlio Vargas? We discuss how Bolsonarismo works on the basis of 'micropower' – that is, it appeals to those who hold power over others in any walk of life.
And we conclude by looking at Bolsonaro's combination of transcendence and transgression, and how it has re-politicised Brazilian society. Why is this recipe proving more successful than the transactional politics of old?
Readings:
- Batalhadores do Brasil, Miguel Lago, piauí (in Portuguese)
- The self-help guru who conquered Brazil, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd
- What Lula's Comeback Means, Alex Hochuli, Compact
- Do que falamos quando falamos de populismo, Miguel Lago & Tomás Zicman de Barros, Companhia das Letras (in Portuguese)
- Linguagem da destruição, Miguel Lago et al., Companhia de Letras (in Portuguese)
Listenings:
- On anti-corruption: /297/ Bungazão 2022 (Clean & Godly) ft. Benjamin Fogel (on anti-corruption)
- On the war of all against all: /292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective
- On the role of the military: /284/ Bungazão 2022 ft. Alcysio Canette
On shared-labour socialism.
Political theorist Alex Gourevitch talks to us about his critique of post-work thought, and how it presupposes the very labour it seeks to free us from. We start of by distinguishing post-work socialism (e.g. Fully Automated Luxury Communism) from various propositions for a Universal Basic Income, and discuss why these ideas are popular today.
We then dedicate much of the time to debating Gourevitch's alternative proposal for "shared-labour socialism". What counts as necessary labour – and who is going to do it? How has globalisation changed people's perspectives on what necessary labour is? And will we be producing more under socialism?
Part 2 is here: patreon.com/posts/73765804
Readings:
- Post-Work Socialism?, Alex Gourevitch, Catalyst
- Why your flights keep getting cancelled, Daniel Zamora Vargas, New Statesman
Listenings:
- /149/ It’s Not Robots, It’s Capitalism ft. Aaron Benanav / Liz Pancotti
- /72/ Frankly Awesome Lefty Conversation ft. Aaron Bastani
- /88/ Vouchers for Toxicity ft. Anton Jäger
On corruption & anti-corruption.
When Bolsonaro won in 2018, he rode a wave of anti-corruption sentiment. Now he's doled out billions in pork via a secret budget, but this doesn't seem to bother his supporters. What happened?
Benjamin Fogel, who studies the history of corruption in Brazil, comes on to discuss how a moralistic account of corruption has fortified the far right. How has corruption been used as a political weapon in the past, and how has it shifted from right to left and back again?
How are scandals made rather than born? And what would an anti-corruption politics that is emancipatory look like – rather than the predominant technocratic or moralistic form today?
Readings:
- Against Anti-Corruption, Benjamin Fogel, Jacobin
- From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin
On Trussonomics.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Having stumbled upon a successful recipe under Boris Johnson which would see greater state intervention, Britain's Tories then pivoted to a much more pro-market approach. But the markets haven't liked it – they've hated it.
What does this say about neoliberalism and what the new orthodoxy is? Why did markets react so badly against a budget that featured things they normally like, such as lower rates of corporate taxes? And does this mean the market's authority has been restored, but under a new guise?
Readings:
- Liz Truss’s Britain Is a Morbid Symptom of the World’s New Era, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
- The markets are wrong about ‘Trussonomics’ just like they were about Brexit, Julian Jessop, Telegraph
- What is Kwasi Kwarteng really up to? One answer: this is a reckless gamble to shrink the state, Adam Tooze, Guardian
- Britain's Tory Meltdown Is a Case of Socially Determined Stupidity, David Jamieson, Jacobin
- The economic consequences of Liz Truss, Martin Wolf, FT
On who's responsible for prolonging the Ukraine War + your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive]
We start off by discussing whether the Zelensky tail is wagging the NATO dog, and what possible exits to conflict there might be.
Then, in the main section, we respond to listener comments: we talk about the possibility of a "Chinese Dream", what the point of economic growth is, the monarchy and modernisation, and whether 'fascism' is an appropriate term for the far right today.
On Empire of Conspiracy and agency panics.
[Patreon Exclusive - Tiers II & III] We focus our discussion on the notion of 'agency panic' that is at the centre of Timothy Melley's account of conspiracy theories in postwar America. Does it apply to the Great Reset and Russiagate equally?
Melley's approach is a useful way of understanding what conspiracy theories give voice to – but is Melley defending or attacking the liberal humanist subject? We disagree amongst ourselves.
We then discuss how apathy and paranoia coexist, and wonder whether paranoia characterises the End of the End of History. And does Enlightenment scepticism reside somewhere between these two states?
Finally, we discuss jealous cuck husbands and Obama's idea of an epistemological crisis.
Additional reading: An extensive list of works on conspiracy theory can be found here
On the meaning of Gorbachev.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Mikhail Gorbachev continues to be lauded in Western circles for overseeing the collapse of the Soviet Union without much bloodshed. But given the historic societal disaster that followed, is this status unmerited? How naive was Gorbachev about the wolves at the door? And to what extent was the writing on the wall by the late '80s – was there an alternative path not taken?
Readings:
- Big Man Walking: Gorbachev’s Dispensation, Neal Ascherson, LRB, 2017
- Voices of Glasnost review
- Why Gorbachev Failed, Slavoj Zizek, Compact
Listenings: * OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 4 (on Gen X, the End of History and Soviet collapse) * /276/ Broken Promises ft. Fritz Bartel (on the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism) * /270/ Russia vs the West ft. Richard Sakwa (on the geopolitics of NATO expansion)
On Brazil's containment of the crisis.
We talk to members of the Unbridled Possibility Collective (Fabio Luis B. Santos | Thais Pavez | Daniel Cunha) about their intervention, trying to look beyond this week's election in Brazil.
What does establishment support for Lula this time round represent? Is Lula guilty of "unrealistic pragmatism"? How will Brazil react to a potential coup attempt by Bolsonaro?
And we look at the deeper social and structural context: what are the features of the Brazilian "war of all against all"? How does Bolsonaro accelerate these tendencies?
We conclude by looking at the possibility of a new 'Pink Wave' in Latin America and examining the state of the Brazilian left.
Readings:
- After the Election: a Contribution to the Debate, Unbridled Possibility Collective, Damage
- /189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis
- Brazil's Arrested Development, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin
- Policing Bolsonaro's Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Verso
On the Brothers of Italy.
We talk to Mattia Salvia, former Rolling Stone Italia politics editor and author of Interregno, about Italy's election last weekend in the context of a Europe in crisis. The big question to start: is Meloni a fascist - and will her government be fascist?
With very low turnout, it seems like the working class has deserted politics, with 5 Star being the last gasp of proletarian participation. Does Meloni try to appeal to this constituency at all? Her low-tax anti-welfare policies don't seem like it.
And what of Meloni's pro-NATO politics? And what does this mean for the EU - will a FdI-ruled Italy weaken the union, or strengthen it?
Readings:
- Meet the New Wolf, Giorgia Meloni, Mattia Salvia, Popula
- In Italy’s Deserted Democracy, Far-Right Giorgia Meloni Has Emerged Victorious, David Broder, Jacobin
- Meloni’s victory only strengthens the EU, Philip Cunliffe, Unherd
- What an Italy led by the far-right might mean for Europe, FT
In Italian:
- Coatta Antica, Mattia Salvia, Not Nero
- http://www.iconografie.it/
On La Macronie, or Macronistan
Is France in perma-crisis? We talk to Nathan Sperber, independent researcher on political economy based in Paris and the author of a recent piece on Macronistan in American Affairs.
Does Macron evince a neo-statist turn, away from the entrepreneurial, neoliberal rhetoric of 2017? And what about the anti-establishment forces, left and right – how much of a chance do they have to shake La Macronie, or will they be co-opted?
Readings:
- Muddling Through in Macronia: How Populism and the Establishment Intertwine, Nathan Sperber, American Affairs
- Emmanuel Macron announces the “end of abundance”, Katherine Bayford, Unherd
Listenings:
- /256/ How to Boil a Frog (1) ft. Charles Devellennes
- /257/ How to Boil a Frog (2) ft. Chris Bickerton
- /64/ These Vests Don’t Yellow ft. Aurélie Dianara
On your questions and criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We discuss the Chinese Dream, speculation and horizontal politics, foreign fighters and spies, Dune, and killing Phil.
[Patreon Exclusive]
On the death of Queen Elizabeth, a 20th century figure
To our own surprise, we are doing an episode on the Queen of England. How will her death impact the UK when she was basically the only institution that still retained popular trust? Will Britons be made to face up to the question of what kind of country they want?
We revisit the Nairn-Anderson theses about how and why Britain had so many seemingly feudal remnants, and ask whether there is still something to bourgeois modernisation. And we look globally at the response to the Queen's death and ask why so many people care?
Readings:
- The Revolutionary Monarchy of Elizabeth II, Adrian Wooldridge, Bloomberg
- The House of Windsor, Tom Nairn, NLR
- 'London Bridge is down': the secret plan for the days after the Queen’s death, Sam Knight, The Guardian
On Communism's historic role.
We talk to renowned Serbian-American economist Branko Milanovic about growing up in Yugoslavia and how, in much of the world, History never ended. We then dedicate much of the episode to discussing Branko's claim that communism was essentially an engine of economic convergence, allowing developing countries to haul themselves into the industrial age. We also talk about Branko's work on inequality and why growth still matters.
Readings:
- Capitalism, Alone, Branko Milanovic, Harvard UP
- The Aloofness of Pax Sinica, Branko Milanovic, Global Policy Journal
On Brazil's elections and the military.
A month away from the first round showdown between former president Lula and current president Jair Bolsonaro, lawyer, podcaster and communist Alcysio Canette joins us to look at the features that have shaped the past years.
How did Bolsonaro's response to the Covid pandemic – denialism, essentially – tarnish his image? What role is the military playing in Brazilian politics and what is its history of political interference since the 1964-85 dictatorship?
Part two available at: patreon.com/posts/71560313
Readings:
- Will Bolsonaro Be Held Responsible for Brazil’s COVID-19 Disaster?, Alcysio Canette, Jacobin
- Cálice podcast, Atabaque Produções (in Portuguese)
- Pro-Bolsonaro Protests Were Supposed to Show His Strength. Instead, They Showed His Weakness, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin (on last year's 7 September protests)
- From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin
On Anthony Giddens' The Consequences of Modernity (ch.3)
[Patreon Tier 2&3 Exclusive]
In the second episode of the Cynical Ideology section of the 2022 Reading Club, we look at what trust is and why it has declined so precipitously in recent decades, especially in relation to institutions.
Is the opposite of trust mistrust, or is it existential angst? What's the link between the absence of trust and a sense of impending apocalypse? Is money or the market the only abstract entity we still trust? And what about the state?
Reading:
The Consequences of Modernity, Anthony Giddens (1990), ch. 3
Just a short announcement about what's coming up, while we're off on summer holidays.
Subscribe to the podcast to support us and get two new, original, paywalled episodes a month ($5/mo). For $10/mo you also get access to the Reading Club. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On Rojava and Ukraine.
We talk to Stefan Bertram-Lee, former volunteer fighter for the the YPG in Rojava, about whom a Hollywood movie is being made. We ask him about the type of person who volunteers, and how this compares to those who have gone to Ukraine. How does this stop you "being a teenage nihilist"? And who would win in a fight: ISIS, Azov or the YPG?
Part two of this episode is available at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/70597308
Reading:
- Ukraine the Day after Tomorrow, Stefan Bertram-Lee, Sublation
- The Nazification of Ukraine, Stefan Bertram-Lee, Sublation
- ‘Stefan Vs. ISIS’ Pic In Works, Deadline
[Patreon Exclusive]
With European liberals waving Ukraine flags, how might the war and escalating geopolitical tensions between major power be prompting a return to nationalism and patriotism? Is it just a means for elites to extract sacrifices from the people? And how 'real' are nations anyway?
Articles:
- As we unite for the jubilee, let’s believe Britain’s best days are ahead, not behind, Lucy Powell, The Guardian
- The Return of Liberal Nationalism, Sohrab Ahmari, Compact
- What Putin and liberals share, Aris Roussinos, Unherd
On our financialised world.
We talk to Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou about his new book, Speculative Communities. How has speculation become the very practice around which modern societies coalesce? And how does speculation actually give voice to the waning legitimacy of neoliberalism?
Do dating apps, Tik Tok and other social media give birth to 'speculative communities'? And is populism a speculation on the future, a leap into the unknown?
[Patreon Tier 2&3 Exclusive] On Zizek's "How Marx Invented the Symptom" from The Sublime Object of Ideology.
We kick off the second phase of the 2022 Reading Club, on Cynical Ideology, with this selection from Slavoj Zizek's landmark first book in English. How does he supplement Marx's conception of ideology? Are we post-ideological or trapped in cynical ideology? How would we go about breaking free of it? Reading:
The Sublime Object of Ideology (ch. 1), Slavoj Zizek
On the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism.
Fritz Bartel talks to us about his new book in which the 1970s crisis and its aftermath takes centre-stage. How did the response to this global crisis differ in Western democratic capitalism versus Eastern state socialism? And why did this determine which side won the Cold War? How did the twin factors of global finance and energy emerge then, to the extent they still seem so determining today?
We discuss Bartel's striking claim that democracies, rather than authoritarian systems, were better able to 'break promises' – that is, impose economic discipline. And we conclude by discussing whether it could have been otherwise, whether neoliberalism and the collapse of the 'really existing socialism' were inevitable.
Readings:
- The Triumph of Broken Promises: The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism, Fritz Bartel, Harvard UP
- Democracy and Discipline: Review Essay, Alex Hochuli, American Affairs
On the climate emergency.
We are specially unlocking this episode of our monthly Reading Club – the concluding episode of the first half of the 2022 syllabus (download it here). If you'd like full access to all of the Reading Club, go to patreon.com/bungacast
We discuss Andreas Malm's Climate, Corona, Chronic Emergency and Adam Tooze's review essay, "Ecological Leninism". How convincing is Malm's call for Soviet war communism as a model for responding to climate change?
We also approach these readings in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the knock-on consequences for energy politics. And what should we make of Tooze's contrast of social democratic time-frames with the eco-Leninist one?
On reviews of our book, The End of the End of History
[Patreon Exclusive]
A year since the book came out, and two years since we finished writing it, we take a look at published reviews the book has received and respond to them.
Questions addressed include: have we overstated our case? Do we ignore the importance of the 1970s in favour of the 1990s? Might war matter more than class struggle? Is it useful to understood History in the metaphysical/Hegelian sense? Should we be less modernist and dispense with the politics inherited from 1848-1980s? And are we too critical of left-populism?
Reviews
- War at the End of History, Adam Tooze, Chartbook 109
- The End of the End of the End, Sam Kriss, First Things
- Book Review: The End of the End of History, Jason C. Mueller, Critical Sociology
- How long is the end of history?, Connor Harney, Platypus
- Beginning of the End, or End of the Beginning?, Park McDougald, American Affairs
- Book Review: The End of the End of History, Dan Taylor, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books
- Certainly the End of Something or Other, Joseph Keegin, The Bellow
- New Perspectives journal roundtable (forthcoming) on The End of the End of History: Daniel Zamora, Anton Jäger, Richard Sakwa, Nicholas Kiersey
[Patreon Exclusive]
On your questions & criticisms.
We discuss the link between Covid and war in Ukraine and return to the question of who exactly is the ruling class. Plus: inflation, what actually happened in the 1990s, contemporary art, and the politics of abortion.
On abortion.
After the US Supreme Court ruling, where does this leave women in the US? Political theorist Alex Gourevitch joins us to discuss Roe v Wade, and how the fact it rooted abortion in a right to privacy was problematic.
How can we ground the right to abortion in an argument for freedom in general? And is the US really faced with a rising tide of reaction, as liberals claim? Are same-sex marriage and contraception imperilled by the decision.
Reading:
- Wrong Life and Abortion, Ethan Linehan, Sublation
- The Left killed the pro-choice coalition, Kat Rosenfield, Unherd
- A Defence of Abortion, Judith Jarvis Johnson
- How to Win the Abortion Argument, Helen Lewis, The Atlantic
On the endgame to war in Ukraine.
Eminent Russian expert, Putin and Gorbachev biographer and ex-Sovietologist, Prof Richard Sakwa, joins us in advance of his imminent retirement from the University of Kent. We talk about the geopolitics of NATO expansion and the dynamics of the Ukraine war reaching back to 2014. How high is the risk of nuclear war now, and how might the Ukraine war play out?
Readings:
- Whisper it, but Putin has a point in Ukraine, Richard Sakwa, The Spectator
- The Dual State in Russia, Richard Sakwa, Post-Soviet Affairs
- A Review of 'Frontline Ukraine' by Richard Sakwa, Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
- Putin Redux: Continuity and change, Richard Sakwa, openDemocracy
[Patreon Exclusive]
On the whatever decade.
People are turning back to reinterpret the 1990s. Clearly, they were peak End of History years. But does that mean that no politics actually happened? If it's the period of the cultural turn, does that mean we should seek to understand that decade culturally?
And what are the political consequences of how we interpret the 1990s?
Readings:
- The 1990s: An age without qualities, Gavin Jacobson, New Statesman (attached)
- Were the 1990s Really Devoid of Politics?, Ryan Zickgraf, Jacobin
- The ‘90s: The decade that never ended, Jason Farago, BBC
If the End of History was characterised by post-politics, and the 'populist decade' of the 2010s dominated by anti-politics, then how should we understand more recent phenomena? Are the following of a qualitatively different nature to anti-politics, namely: the intensification of culture wars, growing polarisation that does not always align neatly with class, of increasingly hysterical and personalised politics, and of the competition between escalating emergency politics?
To commemorate the publication of the German edition of The End of the End of History, co-author Alex Hochuli was in conversation with historian of political thought, Anton Jäger at the Monacensia in Munich.
To commemorate the publication of the German edition of The End of the End of History, co-author Alex Hochuli was in conversation with David Broder, Europe editor of Jacobin Magazine at Spike Magazine, Berlin. The crumbling of the liberal, technocratic order over the past decade has led to a variety of hysterical reactions from the establishment. Faced with new challenges to their authority, they have reacted by calling their opponents "fascist", blaming misinformation or adopting conspiracy theories of their own. How are we to understand these reactions and the apparent conflict between neoliberal technocracy and "populism"?
[Live events in Germany: Berlin / Munich]
On emergency politics today.
We talk to Geoff Shullenberger about competing emergency politics, left and right. Should politics be enjoyable and provide a frisson of transgression, or not? Is bare life all that's on offer? And is declaring the predominance of 'emergency politics' itself an emergency a problem?
Readings:
- How We Forgot Foucault, American Affairs
- The Crisis of the Crisis, The New Atlantis
On crumbling state authority.
Benjamin Fogel is back on the podcast to talk us through how South Africa has gone from the hopes of post-apartheid to the Durban riots of 2021. How have corruption, criminal networks, Indian oligarchs, and political forces combined to shatter any sense of a national project? We also discuss the role of xenophobia and particularist and racial politics in today's South Africa.
Readings & Links:
- /27/ After Zuma ft. Sean Jacobs
- The insurrection in South Africa is about more than freeing Zuma, Benjamin Fogel, Al Jazeera
- Dons have KZN in their grip — and Don of Dons Jacob Zuma has the tightest grip, Chris Makhaye, Daily Maverick
- No two elephants are alike, Ryan Brunette, Africa Is A Country
- Rising vigilantism: South Africa is reaping the fruits of misrule, Landau & Misago, The Conversation
[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]
On neoliberalism and biopolitics.
In the fifth session of the "Emergency Politics & Control" theme of the 2022 Reading Club, we take on The Birth of Biopolitics, Michel Foucault's 1978-9 lectures at the College de France (no's 4-6, 9-10).
How does Foucault trace a line between German ordo- and American neo-liberalism to biopolitics? What role does human capital play? Is 'biopolitics' a critique or a manual? And how useful a tool is it to understand the management of the Covid pandemic?
[Patreon Exclusive]
On the economic drivers and political choices of inflation.
In the absence of workers demanding higher wages, where is inflation coming from? Is there more to it than pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and the Ukraine war? How responsible is Biden's spending package? And how can generations who have never known serious inflation respond?
Three Articles:
- Chartbook #122: What drives inflation?, Adam Tooze, Substack
- Inflation Is No Accident, Christopher Caldwell, Compact
- Britain is drifting towards economic oblivion, Ben Marlow, Telegraph
[Patreon Exclusive]
On your comments & criticisms.
We tackle ideological realignments over the use of history; conspiracy theorising; a game-show called The Last True Marxist; whether we've had any progress over the last 50 years; and much more.
On liberals' embrace of the past and history wars.
We talk to Matthew Karp about his essay, "History As End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the past". It seems as if there's an ideological inversion going on, where liberals see history in terms of original sin and cycles of injustice, or at best, want to relitigate the past in order to fight battles of the present. Meanwhile conservatives have abandoned the past. What does this say about current attitudes to capital-h History and making the future?
Readings:
- History As End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the past, Matt Karp, Harpers
- Ends in Sight: Marx/Fukuyama/Hobsbawm/Anderson, Gregory Elliott
- The End of the End of History, Bungacast
[Patreon Exclusive]
We analyse the French presidential election results, the country's geographical and class divides, and what a second term for Macron means for the EU.
Three Articles:
- Emmanuel Macron Is Forming a New Right-Wing Bloc, Interview with Bruno Amable, Jacobin
- Why Macron is invincible, Christopher Caldwell, Unherd
- Le Pen was doomed from the start, Nathan Pinkoski, Compact
Other readings:
- Waking Up from Anesthesia: Decline and Violence in France, Alexis Moriatis, Brooklyn Rail
- Macron, Le Pen and France’s long battle between order and dissent, Sudhir Hazareesingh, FT
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon's new supporters: the young, urban working class, Julie Carriat, Le Monde
[Patreon Tier 2 Exclusive]
On Frank Furedi's How Fear Works.
Following on from last month's discussion of Corey Robin's Fear, we examine a differing attempt to demystify the politics and culture of fear.
To join a local Reading Club where you are, email info@bungacast.com
On Marxism & the Left.
We talk to Elena & Joshua about their new edited collection, The Conformist Rebellion: Marxist Critiques of the Contemporary Left. Who or what is "the Left" today – merely the left wing of Capital? And what distinguishes a specifically Marxist critique of the Left? How has Marxism and the question of exploitation been sidelined in favour of a libera concern with discrimination?
Over on Patreon you can hear the second part of the interview, plus our After Party debating the contemporary Left's connection to Marxism, the history of social democracy, and moral versus materialist critique.
Readings: * Counterattack journal * Counter Attack telegram * Elena's substack * Value without Fetish: Uno Kōzō’s Theory of ‘Pure Capitalism’ in Light of Marx’s Critique of Political Economy, Elena Lange
The second part of our double ep on France's presidential election.
Ahead of the second round, we discuss how likely a Le Pen victory could be and the effect of Zemmour’s candidacy – which appears to have made her seem more centrist. We also debate how the French deep state and EU might react to a Le Pen victory.
We also ask Chris, co-author of Technopopulism, whether this is a classically 'technopopulist' election.
Reading:
- Technopopulism: The New Logic of Democratic Politics, Chris Bickerton
- The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide, Chris Bickerton
On France's presidential elections.
We talk to Charles Devellennes to digest the first round, which saw centre-right Macron and far-right Le Pen come out on top, with leftist Mélenchon missing out. How similar are Macron and Le Pen's proposals actually? And has Macron's attempts to play statesman over Ukraine affected his chances?
With Le Pen and Macron both going after Mélenchon's 20% of the voter share, how will each approach this challenge?
Readings:
- Charles' twitter thread on the similarities between Macron and Le Pen
- Why the French left keeps failing, Charles Devellennes, spiked
- The Gilets Jaunes and the New Social Contract, Charles Devellennes
- The Macron Régime: The Ideology of the New Right in France, Charles Devellennes (forthcoming)
[Patreon Tier 2 Exclusive]
On Corey Robin's Fear: The History of a Political Idea.
This is March's Reading Club, the third in the Emergency Politics section of the 2022 Syllabus.
[Patreon Exclusive]
On US proxy wars, Russia's elite, Ukrainian neutrality.
'Three Articles' aims to provide serious political discussion on current affairs that we feel is lacking elsewhere, drawing out the logical conclusions of the three pieces' arguments.
Articles:
- A proxy war in Ukraine is the worst possible outcome — except for all the others, Sam Winter-Levy, War on the Rocks
- “Now we're going to f*ck them all.” What's happening in Russia's elites after a month of war, Farida Rustamova, Faridaily
- Zelensky’s muddled neutrality plan is not the answer for Ukraine, James Sherr, FT (attached)
On the fusion of technocracy & populism.
Carlo Invernizzi Accetti talks to us about his book, Technopopulism, co-authored with Chris Bickerton. This is the "new logic of democratic politics". How are all politicians today effectively technocratic and populist at the same time? How does this distinguish our age from a more ideological age in the past? And what can be done to make politics ideological again?
Part 2, which includes the rest of the interview, and the After Party where Alex, George and Phil debate why politics are toxic today, is available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/64729183/
Readings:
- The Age of Technopopulism? George Hoare, Damage
- Alex's thread on consensus-through-dissensus
- The Berlusconi - cocktail recipe
On energy, the material basis for all our politics?
Helen Thompson, podcaster and professor of political economy at Cambridge and author of Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century, joins us to talk about the geopolitics of oil, stretching from the 1956 Suez Crisis to the Fracking Revolution of today. How does US energy independence help explain shifting politics in Europe and the Middle East?
Plus, did the End of History stay afloat on a sea of cheap oil?
Part 2 of the interview, plus our After Party, is here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/251-oil-disorder-64394535
Readings:
- Profits from fossil fuel energy power Russia's war machine, and Ukraine suffers, Helen Thompson, New Statesman
- What Is Fueling Our Century’s Global “Disorder”?, Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, The Nation
- How Did Europe Get Hooked On Russian Energy?, Paul J. Davies, Bloomberg
On the Freedom Convoy, the indigenous question, and 'anti-socialist socialism'(?)
Sociologist and commentator Ashley Frawley is back on the pod to talk about the situation in Canada. With family members involved in the protests, we asked her what she made of the truckers and the way demands were framed as 'anti-socialist'.
We move on to debate how to understand popular resistance to 'social engineering' today, as well as the uses of 'emotionalism' to undermine political agency.
Readings & Links:
- How the truckers split indigenous Canada, Ashley Frawley, UnHerd
- Lecture: Emotion & Reason, Ashley Frawley, The Academy
- Semiotics of Happiness, Ashley Frawley, Bloomsbury, 2005
In which we respond to listener questions & criticisms.
A bumper episode, featuring plenty on Canadian truckers, Swedish populists, ideas of justice, hyperpolitics and much more.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On class & material self-interest.
We talk to Vivek Chibber about his new book, The Class Matrix: Social Theory After the Cultural Turn, which seeks to answer why capitalism has proven remarkably stable. Vivek explains why classical Marxism does not need 'ideological supplements' to explain why there hasn't been revolution; instead, structural class theory already provides the answers.
We go back to basics, looking at the role of interests, debate what the real role of ideology is (not 'false consciousness'), and look at why particularism, rather than the universal collectivism of class, now dominates.
Part two of the interview, plus the After Party, is available over at patreon.com/bungacast
On Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception (2005).
How did a darling of the left during the War on Terror become a resource for the right during Covid? Is Agamben right to blur the boundary between fascism and liberal democracy? And if we are in a 'permanent state of exception', what is the right response?
And we discuss your questions.
The full episode is for $10+ subscribers. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Other links:
- The Crisis of the Crisis: Is Covid politics the real emergency?, Geoff Shullenberger, The New Atlantis
On The End of the End of History
On 22 February 2022, at The People's Forum in Manhattan, Alex Hochuli and Adam Tooze were in conversation on the themes of the Bunga book and what comes next. The event was moderated by Christie Offenbacher (Damage Magazine).
Buy the book: linktr.ee/bungacast
On the German Greens' shady history.
Journalist Lily Lynch, editor of Balkanist, joins us to talk about her recent investigations into the Green Party, who are now back in power in Germany.
The 68ers attempted to combat authoritarianism and Nazi legacies through sexual liberation, building on the work of Wilhelm Reich. How did this lead some small groups associated with the Greens to advocate paedophilia – and even to accept former Nazis into their ranks?
Later the Greens would fully embrace war. We discuss how their emphasis on "maturity" and multilateral humanitarianism became the means through which they justified their new hawkish stance and adoption of NATO's cause.
Readings:
- Meet the German Green Party: From "Pedophile Rights" to Post-Pacifism, Lily Lynch (free)
- The German Green Party's Oldest Member Was a Known Pedophile Nazi Stormtrooper, Lily Lynch
- West Berlin Had a "Radical" All-Female Pedophile Commune with Links to the German Green Party, Lily Lynch
- How a Pacifist Party Gave War a Chance, Lily Lynch
- What's Become of the German Greens? Joachim Jachnow, NLR (2013)
- No End to Neoliberalism in Germany, Bernhard Pirkl, Damage (Dec 2021)
On class wars, new and old.
Michael Lind, Professor of Practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, joins us to talk about what it might take to restore working class power in Western states. He explains some of the arguments in his book The New Class War (2020) in greater depth, as well as discussing his intellectual debt to the ex-Trotskyist theorist turned Cold War conservative, James Burnham.
Plus, Michael talks about how his Texan background and upbringing shaped his outlook on industrialisation, national development and populism.
Part two: https://www.patreon.com/posts/243-bureaucracy-62900197
Readings:
- America’s Asymmetric Civil War, Tablet Mag
- Why ending tenure is only the start, Tablet Mag
- The importance of James Burnham, Tablet Mag
- Bungacast Reading Club on The New Class War
On dovish conservatives, Trumpist coup-mongers and Canadian truckers.
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Live debate/book launch in NYC, Feb 22nd: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/live-debate-book-launch-the-end-of-the-end-of-history-tickets-261000468427
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We examine what arguments 'pro-worker conservatives' are making in an aim to rid the GOP of warmongers and what this says about their vision of politics. In that light we also look at the Trumpist wing and ask what they might have in common, if anything, with the former. And we debate the Canadian protests against vaccine mandates and the left's response to it so far.
Three Articles:
- Hawks Are Standing in the Way of a New Republican Party, Sohrab Ahmari, Patrick Deneen, Gladden Pappin, NYT
- The second coming of Donald Trump, The Economist
- As Workers Resist, the Left Recoils, Edwin Aponte, The Bellows
The first in an occasional series on new initiatives.
We speak to Malcolm Kyeyune of Sweden's Örebro Party about its origins, analysis and goals. Is a new working class politics to be found in direct opposition to the PMC or the 'transferiat'? How does this local party intend to scale up? What sort of issues are on its agenda? And how does it aim to go beyond the impasses of other populist initiatives?
On the critique of egalitarian ideology.
We talk to writer Ross Wolfe about his essay "Marxism Contra Justice". Given that struggles for justice have been central to all sorts of radical movements, why is it important to cleave Marxist politics away from this notion? How are contemporary notions of 'social justice' already degraded versions of earlier egalitarian ideology on the left? Is it possible to conceive of any popular working-class movement that doesn’t begin with people’s sense of indignation and desire for redress?
Links:
- Marxism Contra Justice, Ross Wolfe, Datacide
- The Charnel House, Ross Wolfe's blog
On Carl Schmitt's Political Theology (1922).
We ask why people are scared of sovereignty – as opposed to state power per se, and analyse what is significant about the way in which Schmitt defines sovereignty. And what is the meaning of 'political theology'?
And we discuss your questions.
This is an extended excerpt of the first 30 mins of the episode. For the full thing, go to patreon.com/bungacast
Other links:
- The shibboleth of sovereignty, Martin Loughlin and Stephen Tierney, Modern Law Review, 2008 (pdf)
- The Fed policy error that should worry investors, John Hussman, FT
- The Death of the Central Bank Myth, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
We take on Italy's election of a new president and what that tells us about permanent crisis, the EU and the curtailing of democracy; we ask how serious the risk of war in Ukraine actually is; and review a film we haven't seen.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
3 Articles:
- As war looms larger, what are Russia’s military options in Ukraine?, The Economist
- How the EU destroyed Italian democracy, Thomas Fazi & Paolo Cornetti, Unherd
- Boringly postmodern and an ideological fantasy, Slavoj Zizek, The Spectator
Others:
- Chartbook #70 Draghi for President?, Adam Tooze, Substack
- How serious is Vladimir Putin about launching a major Ukraine offensive?, Max Seddon, FT
On the German Greens' shady history.
Journalist Lily Lynch, editor of Balkanist, joins us to talk about her recent investigations into the Green Party, who are now back in power in Germany.
The 68ers attempted to combat authoritarianism and Nazi legacies through sexual liberation, building on the work of Wilhelm Reich. How did this lead some small groups associated with the Greens to advocate paedophilia – and even to accept former Nazis into their ranks?
Later the Greens would fully embrace war. We discuss how their emphasis on "maturity" and multilateral humanitarianism became the means through which they justified their new hawkish stance and adoption of NATO's cause.
The full episode is available to subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- Meet the German Green Party: From "Pedophile Rights" to Post-Pacifism, Lily Lynch (free)
- The German Green Party's Oldest Member Was a Known Pedophile Nazi Stormtrooper, Lily Lynch
- West Berlin Had a "Radical" All-Female Pedophile Commune with Links to the German Green Party, Lily Lynch
- How a Pacifist Party Gave War a Chance, Lily Lynch
- What's Become of the German Greens? Joachim Jachnow, NLR (2013)
- No End to Neoliberalism in Germany, Bernhard Pirkl, Damage (Dec 2021)
On our current attention-deficit and hyperpolitical disorder.
In our book, The End of the End of History, we discuss the move from post-politics to anti-politics; from consensus to rejection; from apathy to anger. In a new article, Anton Jäger argues we've now moved into a hyperpolitical age. Is everything being politicised...except the really important stuff?
We discuss some examples of hyperpolitics in Europe and North America and ask if what's going on is just a hot culture war, or something bigger. And what are the risks of an actual civil war in France or the US?
Reading:
- How the World Went from Post-Politics to Hyper-Politics, Anton Jäger, Tribune
- Introduction from The End of the End of History, Bungacast, Merion West
- Did the culture wars ever end?, Q&A with Andrew Hartman, Illinois State
Bungacast is back for 2022, refreshed and reloaded.
We've got a completely revamped Reading Club, arranged along three themes: Emergency Politics & Control; Cynical Ideology; and Techno-Feudalism.
And there will be plenty of deep dives on national politics around the globe and discussions of big ideas with top guests.
- Buy The End of the End of History
- Subscribe on Patreon
- Follow us on Facebook (and after clicking like, select us as favourites)
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
On Millennial homeowners, the USA falling apart, and restoration in the UK.
As better-off 30-somethings start to get on the property ladder, does this put paid to 'Generation Left'? Will American decline be accompanied by a second civil war - as China serenely watches on? And does Britain represent a return to the 'End of History'? Is everything becoming boring again?
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Articles:
- Millennials Are Supercharging the Housing Market, Nicole Friedman, WSJ (attached)
- A tale of two elites in Washington and Beijing, Gideon Rachman, FT (attached)
- British politics suddenly feels small – and the old order is ‘taking back control’, Julian Coman
For the last time in 2021, we take your questions, comments and criticisms.
As always, lots of debate about Covid - and we start by remarking upon a possible u-turn on the issue on the British left.
Answer the Bungacast Listeners' Survey: surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9
Buy the Bunga book: linktr.ee/bungacast This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
On Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism
How has the cold and hard world of bureaucratic, instrumental rationalism penetrated the intimate sphere of love and relationships? And how has open communication and emotional understanding been used to advance economic interests?
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We want to hear what you're thinking: fill out our Bunga Listeners' Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9 ––
This is a free sample. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On Thursday 9 November, George Hoare and Alex Hochuli took part in a conversation with Catherine Liu about their recent books – The End of the End of History and Virtue Hoarders, respectively. The focus was on the social and political role of the Professional-Managerial Class in historical context.
The webinar was hosted and presented by the UCI Humanities Center, as part of their Ideas with Impact series and we're reposting the conversation as a podcast here.
On the left outflanked.
We continue our discussion with Douglas Lain, formerly of Zer0 Books and now of Diet Soap Media. Has the left been overtaken by events - yet again? And we propose a typology of a left divided between progressives, populists and Marxists – progressives who are authoritarian, populists who are opportunists, and Marxists who are lonely. Hey listener - why not tell us how you see Bunga and the world? Fill out our listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9 Links:
- Diet Soap Media: Patreon | YouTube
- OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast.
On branding and the left.
Douglas Lain, until recently publisher of Zer0 Books and now of Diet Soap Media, joins us to talk about what happened with Zer0. Mainly, we discuss the left at the End of History, revisit No Logo and the anti-branding stance, and compare Gen X and Millennial lefts - is it just a continual story of decline?
Links:
- Diet Soap Media: Patreon | YouTube
- OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations
On people power on three continents.
We discuss Chile's landmark elections, the first after the uprising of 2019-20, which see a face-off between left and far-right; Modi's repeal of controversial laws that provoked a huge mobilisation of farmers in India last year; and protests and riots against new lockdowns and vaccine mandates across Europe.
Articles:
- Has the Backlash to Progressivism Come to Chile?, Lili Loofbourow, Slate
- In Rare Show of Weakness, Modi Bows to India’s Farmers, Various, NYT
- Violence in Belgium and Netherlands as Covid protests erupt across Europe, Jon Henley, The Guardian
Other relevant episodes
- /93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka
- /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
On modernity's contradictions.
In this month's Reading Club, we discuss the introduction to Marshall Berman's marvellous All That Is Solid Melts Into Air. This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe for $10/mo at patreon.com/bungacast
Can we revive, as Berman intends, the truly dialectical, 19th century attitude to modernity? What value is there in talking about "modernity" rather than “capitalism”? And how to we recognise possibilities for transcending today's impasses, where the question of "modernity" isn't even on the table? The final Reading Club of 2021 will be on Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies.
On the Jacobin & YouGov survey of the US working class.
A study (pdf) carried out by YouGov on behalf of Jacobin magazine and the Center for Working-Class Politics has learned that "working-class voters prefer progressive candidates who focus primarily on bread-and-butter economic issues, and who frame those issues in universal terms." What can we learn from the study, beyond the obvious? What are its limitations, who is it for, and what does the survey say about those who commissioned it? Plus: does it make sense to frame your politics as 'anti-woke'? Reading:
- Jacobin executive summary
- Full report (pdf)
On sectarianism & identitarianism.
Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) is back on Bunga to talk to us about his essay "The Retreat from Universalism in the Middle East and the World".
Lebanon has been used as a model for other Middle Eastern countries, even though its confessional system is a disaster. But Lebanese-style sectarianism isn't a form of 'feudal' backwardness – in fact it represents a precursor of the multicultural and identitarian politics in the West.
Who are the enemies of universalism today, East and West? And what sort of political projects are capable of rejuvenating secular universalism?
See also:
- /141/ Oh Lebanon, What Now? ft. Rima Majed
- /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
––
Buy our book: The End of the End of History
Subscribe to the podcast: patreon.com/Bungacast
On rising wages after the pandemic. Workers are quitting their jobs and not going back. Restricted supply is seeing wages go up. Does this signal a new militancy, or are workers just deciding to make do with less? How has the pandemic shaped people's outlooks?
Articles:
- Wages are surging across the rich world, The Economist
- The Revolt of the American Worker, Paul Krugman, NYT
- US Workers Are in a Militant Mood, Alex N. Press, Jacobin
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On the global energy crisis.
Nuclear energy advocate Emmet Penney (@nukebarbarian) joins us to discuss the growing energy crunch in Europe, the US and beyond. Nuclear power is opposed by an unholy alliance of environmentalists and neoliberals - yet it seems the best solution for providing plentiful, reliable, and clean energy. As a demand, it seems an open goal for the left - so why are so many resistant?
Part 2 is available here for patreon subscribers.
Links & Readings:
- Nuclear Barbarian - pro-nuclear podcast & newsletter
- ex.haust - Emmet's other, co-hosted pod
- Undeveloping America, Emmet Penney, The American Conservative
- Political Life in the Lottery of Babylon, Emmet Penney, The American Conservative
- How we happened to sell off our electricity, James Meek, LRB
- A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations, Robert Bryce, Public Affairs (book)
This month we discuss GM Tamas' essay "Telling the Truth About Class" published in the Socialist Register. Is Tamas' division between Marxist and Rousseauian socialism useful? Does it help us to understand the Left today? And is Tamas right that "authentic proletarian revolution... has never occurred in its anti-capitalist purity anywhere"? Reading Clubs are for patrons $10+, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Additional readings:
- Why the left must abandon the myth of British decline, David Edgerton, New Statesman
- Ellen Meiksins Wood on the Nairn-Anderson thesis and the Bourgeois paradigm, Verso Books blog
Responding to your questions, comments & criticisms.
It's a big mailbag this time round, including plenty on Covid (lockdowns, vaccines, etc), incels and dating culture, breaking out of neoliberalism's clutches, and much much more. –– Bungacast will be live in New York on 19 November. Come see Alex Hochuli in conversation with Adam Tooze & Amber A'Lee Frost. Tickets at Eventbrite –– The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
The fifth and final part of a series on generational consciousness and conflict.
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
In this episode, we examine the Millennials and Generation Z. Uniquely, generation war today seems to be a conflict over resources more than over values. Is there any basis for this, and what do Millennials actually want? With generational and class conflict seemingly bound together today, we analyse 'Generation Left' and 'Millennial Socialism'. And we ask what the effect of the pandemic may be on the creation of a Gen Z consciousness.
Guests include:
- Paul Taylor, former director, Pew Research
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
- Clive Martin, journalist who has written for VICE Magazine
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Jennifer Silva, assistant professor in sociologist, Indiana University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Cacti / I Will Be Waiting / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Filthy the Kid / Vampire / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
The fourth in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we examine Generation X – the generation of the End of History. How was this generation overshadowed by the Boomer's failures? In the Eastern Bloc, the fall of Soviet regimes was a traumatic moment – how did this shape consciousness? And how did the Iranian Revolution – and subsequent war – shape the political perspectives of Iranians?
Guests include:
- Maren Thom, film scholar
- Alexei Yurchak, professor of anthropology at Berkeley
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Arash Azizi, historian of Iran at New York University
- Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Kit Kruger / Freakin' Freefall / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
The third in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
This is an excerpt. For the full 1h40min episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
In this episode, we examine the Baby Boomers – myth and reality. The revolt of the '60s has been misunderstood in many dimensions. Was it betrayed or did it always express capitalist ideology? Were the Boomers the ones who really did the 1960s anyway? And what world have the Boomers created as they passed through life – and institutions?
Guests include:
- Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
- Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
- Jeffrey Alexander, professor of sociology at Yale University
- Holger Nehring, chair in contemporary European history at the University of Stirling
- Kristin Ross, professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Medité / A Change in My Heart / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Ondolut / Blumen / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Elliott Holmes / Bull Chase / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- Kick Castle / Kick Down / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
- T. Morri / Nuthin' but Nuts / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
Other Clips:
- American Pastoral Trailer © 2016 - Lionsgate
- Mai 1968 © France 3 Paris Ile-de-France
- Imitation de Daniel Cohn-Bendit © C'est Canteloup
- Baader Meinhof Complex © 2008
On German's elections – and the costs of stability.
Wolfgang Streeck is back on the podcast to round-up Germany's elections last Sunday (26 September). What's behind the emphasis on continuity and competence? Is Germany stuck in the 2000s?
We also discuss the importation of US-style culture wars into Germany, the country's role in the Eurozone, and strategic relations with France.
The second part of the conversation – where we debate the end of neoliberalism and capitalist crisis – is over at patreon.com/bungacast.
Readings:
- Will it Be Enough?, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar
- “Order” Prevails in Berlin, Gregor Baszak, The Bellows
- Things Can’t Go on Like This for the German Left, Alexander Brentler, Jacobin
The second in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we look at the emergence of 'youth' as political concept in the age following the French Revolution, and its shifting meanings. How important was generational consciousness in the Young Italy movement and its imitators in the 19th century, and how should we understand the so-called 'Lost Generation' of 1914?
Guests include:
- Niall Whelahan, Chancellor’s Fellow in History, Strathclyde University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
- Leimoti / Don't Leave It Here / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
- Leimoti / The Small Things / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
- Philip Ayers / Trapped in a Maze / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
- Walt Adams / Dark Tavern / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
Other Clips:
- Black 47 Trailer © 2018 - WildCard Distribution
- Arracht Trailer © 2019 - Break Out Pictures
- The Sun Also Rises © 2019 - 20th Century Fox
- Mr Lloyd George Speaks To The Nation (1931) British Pathé
For access to all Aufhebunga Bunga content, including the entirety of this series, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
This month's Reading Club is on Mike McNair's "Intersectionalism, the highest stage of western Stalinism?" from the journal Critique (pdf attached on Patreon).
How convincing is his genealogy in which he traces intersectionalism back to the 1930s Popular Front and 1960s soft Maoism? What function does intersectionalism play on the Left - and for the ruling class? And is McNair right that intersectionalism is self-defeating on its own terms? Or is it self-perpetuating? Bungacast's monthly Reading Clubs are for subscribers $10+ Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On Germany's election this week.
Merkel has led Germany since 2005, outlasting any number of politicians across the West. What accounts for her longevity? How has such a non-ideological, post-political figure lasted so long?
Germany is finally leaving her motherly embrace. But why is continuity on the cards, despite the many global crises Germany has passed through?
The first in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages.
Guests include:
- Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
- Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury Christ Church University
- Joshua Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc.
Liru / For the Floor / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
For access to all Aufhebunga Bunga content, including the entirety of this series, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
On the long history of involuntary celibates. Alex Gendler talks to us about his essay in American Affairs, "The New Superfluous Men". With growing global concern about incels and increasing anti-terrorism focus on the supposed risks posed by lonely, angry men, we discuss why this discussion has emerged today and why it's gone global.
Why do our societies seem no longer to find use for young men? Do they benefit from patriarchy? And how does this all relate to class? The full episode is available to subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On Covid and the end of the end of history.
Adam Tooze joins us to discuss his new book, Shutdown. In 2020 everything changed... so that everything might remain the same.
What were the reasons behind the global shutdown? Was it a result of over-protection, a policy of repression, or the result of structural tensions? Has China been the winner of the pandemic? How have central banks been victims of their own success? And does this represent the end of neoliberalism?
The latter part of the interview continues over on patreon.com/bungacast
On net-zero, CCP nanny state, and optimised dating.
We start off discussing the HBO series "The White Lotus" before tackling three articles on middle-class anxieties: climate change and pressures on UK living standards; the Chinese state's crackdown on private tutoring; and women's attempt to avoid crappy men through 'Female Dating Strategy'.
The full episode is available to patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Articles:
- Boris Johnson’s push for net zero plunged into chaos, Edward Malnick & Emma Gatten, The Telegraph (attached in patreon)
- China’s nanny state: why Xi is cracking down on gaming and private tutors, Tom Mitchell & Thomas Hale, FT (attached in patreon)
- ‘Sales funnels’ and high-value men: the rise of strategic dating, Katie Cunningham, The Guardian
On lockdowns, education, and the left.
California middle-school teacher and social critic Alex Gutentag (@galexybrane) joins us to talk about the depredations of lockdown in California and the wider world.
How has lockdown affected different segments of society, and how damaging have school closures been on education? Why has the professional middle class been so in favour of widespread restrictions – and how did the left go from backing Medicare 4 All to cheering on lockdowns in the space of a few months?
Readings:
- The War on Reality, Alex Gutentag, The Tablet
- The Great Covid Class War, Alex Gutentag, The Bellows
We discuss Eli Zaretsky's essay, "Psychoanalysis and the Spirit of Capitalism" (also available as a chapter in his book Political Freud).
How convincing is Zaretsky’s idea that, as capitalism was becoming more organized and systematic, it also liberated relations between the sexes and enhanced a sense of individual subjectivity? Was Freudianism a victim of its success? Did it ‘win’ and thereby make itself obsolete - socially if not intellectually? And what is today’s "spirit of capitalism"? Are we still within the spirit that was reshaped in the 1960s - the world of the New Left? Reading Clubs are only for patrons $10 and up. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On the Fall of Kabul, plus responding to your questions & comments.
On this Aufhebonus Bonus, we take your critical comments on 'positive biopolitics' and authoritarian responses to Covid. Plus, whether neoliberalism is really ending, the usefulness of using 'PMC' or 'clerisy', and much more.
We start by discussing what's happening in Afghanistan, the 20 years of failure, and what happens next.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at pateron.com/bungacast for access.
What comes after neoliberalism - the protective state?
We talk to Paolo Gerbaudo about his new book, The Great Recoil, in which Paolo argues we are now turning inwards – globalisation is no longer a sea of opportunity and instead fear dominates. How convincing is his notion of an emerging 'protective state', and do either the left or right variants of it really promise us much at all?
Part two of the interview is available for subscribers only. Sign up and listen at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
- The Great Recoil, Verso Books
- On the 'digital party', Bungacast
On post-liberalism: loving the state, crushing the individual?
For this 3A, articles from different 'conservative' outlets - but how conservative, and of what kind?
Articles:
- The real danger is insurgency on the right, William Hague, The Times (pdf attached in patreon)
- To curse social media is to exonerate society, Janan Ganesh, FT (pdf attached in patreon)
- We are all Britney now, Mary Harrington, Unherd
Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
What country best captures 20th and 21st century history?
For our 200th episode special, we posed the question: "If you had to study the history of only one country from 1900-2020, and thereby understand the history of the whole world, which would you pick?"
You voted on the ten submissions and now we invited the top 3 back on the pod to discuss in more depth: Dominik Leusder on Germany; David Broder on Italy; and David Adler on India.
Then Phil and Alex choose a winner (it's a "managed democracy").
Buy our book! Links to retailers
On Chinese investment, Swiss democracy, and fleeing from Afghanistan.
In this Three Articles, we discuss flight or departure in various ways: China opening the gates for its huge savings to spill onto world markets; Switzerland leaving (or remaining outside) the EU; and the US's sudden departure from Afghanistan, without telling anyone.
'Three Articles' episodes are normally for subscribers only - but this one's free. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast for regular access.
London book launch/bunga party: Register here
Articles:
- What happens if Chinese household wealth is unleashed on the world?, Thomas Hale and Tabby Kinder, FT (pdf in patreon)
- Swexit, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar-NLR
- US troops abandoned Bagram airport base in the dead of night..., various, Daily Mail
On pandemic & post-pandemic politics.
We talk to Benjamin Bratton about his new book, The Revenge of the Real, and its argument for a "positive biopolitics". What does an "epidemiological view of society" look like, and why should we let go of the idea that unmediated social relations are the most authentic kind? We touch on the work of Foucault and Agamben and why they are or aren't relevant to our conditions and critique "boomer theorists".
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Come to our book launch in London. Readings:
- The Revenge of the Real, Verso Books
- The 7th Function of Language, Laurent Binet, Penguin
In our latest 3A, we discuss "the clerisy" and how it relates to the PMC; how the EU is doing forever war just as much as the US; and the hyper-commodification of football.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Articles:
- Did Populism Start A 21st Century Anti-Clerical Revolution?, Angela Nagle, Substack
- Interview with Wolfgang Streeck: The EU’s war in Africa, Jonas Elvander, Brave New Europe
- Cursed and compromised but Euro 2020’s irresistible circus rolls on, Barney Ronay, The Guardian
We discuss Michael Lind's The New Class War.
Lind identifies new lines in the class war, between working class and managerial overclass, between those in the "heartlands" and those in the "hubs". How convincing is this account? What is his critique of technocratic managerialism and its symptom, populism? How convincing - and realistic - is his solution of "democratic pluralism"? And is this only achievable as a result of a new cold war with China?
Reading Clubs are for higher-tier subscribers only. Sign up for $10/mo for full access: patreon.com/bungacast
On world history, 1900-2020.
For our 200th episode special, we pose the question: "If you had to study the history of only one country from 1900-2020, and thereby understand the history of the whole world, which would you pick?"
We invited 10 contributors to each pitch one country, whose particularities capture the universal sweep of world history from the start of the 20th century till now.
Vote for which you think is best, and we'll have the top 3 back on to discuss in more depth: Link to voting page
Running order:
- (18:20) Germany - Dominik Leusder
- (23:02) Greece - Jonas Kyratzes
- (27:57) India - David Adler
- (33:46) Indonesia - Vincent Bevins
- (38:25) Iraq - Liam Meissner
- (44:03) Italy - David Broder
- (49:19) Mexico - Roger Lancaster
- (54:01) Taiwan - Nic Johnson
- (59:44) Turkey - Arash Azizi
- (01:04:32) Yugoslavia - Lily Lynch
Buy our book! Links to retailers
Come to our London book launch! Event link
We take your questions, comments & criticisms. This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On this Aufhebonus Bonus, we discuss whether unions are still capable of fighting for their members; the Arab-Israeli conflict at the End of History; a lot more on the 'PMC debate'; plus: whether Phil is "reductionist in the service of his own prejudices".
On secularism, nationalism and identity politics.
India is held up as a model developing country: liberal, democratic, multicultural. Renowned Indian writer and activist Achin Vanaik joins us to examine how India has turned away from universalism and secularism.
How did Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress as a whole lay the seeds for today's Hindu chauvinism? What are the consequences of defining secularism as merely 'tolerance'? And how has caste come to function a bit like identity politics in relation to the state?
Readings:
- Nationalist Dangers, Secular Failings, Achin Vanaik, Aakar Books
- The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism, Achin Vanaik, Verso Books
- The Rise of Hindu Nationalism and the Failures of the Indian Left, Interview with Achin Vanaik, Jacobin
In the lead-up to our 200th episode later this month, we're exceptionally re-releasing our 100th episode special this week.
On the 30 years since 1989.
For our 100th episode, we invited our favourite guests to reflect on the question: “What one event, personal or political, most captures for you the past thirty years, since 1989?”
Are we still living in the death throes of the 20th century, or is something new emerging?
Guests:
- (00:07:42) - Maren Thom
- (00:14:14) - David Broder
- (00:21:33) - Ashley Frawley
- (00:26:11) - Catherine Liu
- (00:33:05) - Angela Nagle
- (00:40:49) - Benjamin Fogel
- (00:46:25) - Alex Gourevitch
- (00:51:31) - BungaCast hosts
- (00:59:22) - David Adler
- (01:04:05) - Amber A’Lee Frost
- (01:08:48) - James Heartfield
- (01:16:17) - Anton Jaeger
- (01:23:24) - Leigh Phillips
- (01:30:25) - Lee Jones
- (01:36:03) - Karl Sharro
We discuss the third and final in the series of Perry Anderson essays on the EU in the London Review of Books, "The Breakaway", and wonder if the EU can - despite its crises - just carry on indefinitely.
Reading Clubs are for monthly subscribers $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On atrocity and sovereignty.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
The disasters of Iraq, Libya, Syria and beyond are there for all to see. Why hasn't an emphasis on Human Rights led to fewer atrocities? How has Western intervention made the world a less safe place?
We discuss Philip's book Cosmopolitan Dystopia: International Intervention and the Failure of the West and discover that no one really defends sovereignty today. What's behind the concept of 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P)? And should we understand it as a form of "liberal imperialism"?
On China, economic reform, and the future.
While Russia famously succumbed to destructive neoliberal "shock therapy", China managed to avoid it. How and why? Isabella Weber, author of How China Escaped Shock Therapy, tells us about China's opting for gradual reform instead.
What did reform mean for understandings of socialism? Do communists make the best capitalists? And is the pursuit of growth and development at any cost China's own version of the End of History?
On global insurrection and identity politics.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We discuss an essay by the ultra-left collective 'Endnotes' that deals with the same political questions as we do, but comes up with different answers. Are the fragmented and ephemeral movements that have taken to the streets in France, Chile and the US, for example, the future of politics? Anti-political rejections of the establishment seem radical, but can they overcome their own negativity? And are identity politics the necessary form that re-politicisation has taken?
Readings:
Essay discussed
- Onward Barbarians, Endnotes
Background
- The Bleak Left, Tim Barker, n+1
- Endnotes no.5: A melancholic goodbye…, Angry Workers of the World
- On communisation and its theorists, Friends of the Classless Society
On liberal idealism and imperial overreach.
Why did the winners of the Cold War turn 'revisionist', undermining their own order? How has utopianism come to dominate the discipline of IR, such that we have lost the means to critique power?
We discuss Philip's recent book, The New Twenty Years’ Crisis 1999-2019: A Critique of International Relations, which is both a revisiting of EH Carr's international relations classic The Twenty Years' Crisisas well as an account of the contemporary crisis of the liberal international order.
Reading:
The New Twenty Years’ Crisis 1999-2019: A Critique of International Relations, Philip Cunliffe, McGill-Queen's UP
On consequences of the pandemic + important local election results in Spain & UK.
We start off by discussing the telling results of some recent local and regional elections: in the UK, Labour continues its drift to becoming a middle-class party; while in Spain, Madrid goes to the right. Podemos flops, while voters seem to endorse an anti-lockdown stance.
Then we get to our three articles on the consequences of the pandemic: is live-streaming complicit with power? Are liberals now anti-science? Will inflation return?
Three Articles:
- Stayed home, live streamed, got the T-shirt, Lev Parker, The Conservative Woman
- The Liberals Who Can’t Quit Lockdown, Emma Green, The Atlantic
- Broad commodities price boom amplifies ‘supercycle’ talk, Neil Hume et al, FT
We discuss the second of Perry Anderson's three LRB essays on the making and unmaking of the EU: "Ever Closer Union?"
Our monthly Reading Club is for patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On class reductionism, commodity fetishism, and value theory.
To discuss Covid, the state as 'PMC leviathan', and the politics of value theory, we’re joined by philosopher Elena Louisa Lange, who also explains why class reductionism is not a theoretical position or a mere mistake, but a social reality. We also address the value of 'going back to school', take on the new Leftist 'holy trinity' of class-race-gender, and hear from Elena why we need to theorise the world before we change it.
Readings:
- The Middle-Class Leviathan: Corona, the “Fascism” Blackmail, and the Defeat of the Working Class, Elena Louisa Lange and Joshua Pickett-Depaolis, Crisis and Critique, 2020
- Marxism and the Crisis of Development in Prewar Japan, Germaine A. Hoston, Princeton, 1987
- Lawyer’s Fees, Beetroot, and Music, Elena’s Substack
- Value Without Fetish, Elena Louisa Lange, Brill 2021
- Marxist Class Theory for a Skeptical World, Raju J. Das, Haymarket, 2018
On memes and the counter-culture.
Theorist and curator Mike Watson advances the argument for "acid leftism". What is this, and why do we need a new counter-culture? Is contemporary leftism lacking a utopian imaginary?
Plus: slow memes and fast memes; the democratisation of art and media; and generations: which ones became conservative, which might not?
Running order:
- (00:04:15) - Interview with Mike Watson
- (01:02:00) - 'Afterparty' discussion on what a counter-culture might look like today
Readings:
- Can the Left Learn to Meme? , Mike Watson, Zero Books
- The Acid Left, YouTube channel
- The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin (pdf)
On Latin America's progressive wave and its discontents.
A new book on Latin America argues that 'pink tide' governments tried to treat the symptoms of neoliberal capitalism while allowing the underlying situation to worse. We talk to the author, Fabio Luis, about cases across the region, including the election in Ecuador and Venezuela's disaster, to Bolivia's coup and Argentina's "path of least resistance". How important is regional integration and what does an alternative socialist vision entail? And we ponder a sad question: is the dream of development and modernisation over?
Readings:
- Power and Impotence: A History of South America Under Progressivism (1998-2016), Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos, Haymarket
- /93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka Bungacast
How to address the political problems of leftwing parties today?
Liverpudlian historian David Swift argues that the problem is hobbyism - people for whom politics constitutes their identity rather than expressing their interest in social and political change. He joins us to take us through his arguments about hobbyism, and how he thinks the Left might change for the better.
Readings:
- A Left For Itself, David Swift, Zer0 Books
- How the Left lost all purpose, James Bloodworth, Unherd
- How not to be a white anti-racist, David Swift, Unherd
On the end of the End of History and neo-feudalism.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
In a continuation of our discussion on the emerging transfer state, we ask whether the end of neoliberalism entails the end of the 'End of History'. What are the determinate features of the End of History that we are leaving behind? Which are still with us?
Also, what to make of arguments that our future is neo- or techno-feudal? Do these terms make any sense? Or is it better to think of two alternate futures: Japanisation or Brazilianisation?
- The End of the End of History, Bungacast, Zer0 Books
- Neofeudalism: The End of Capitalism?, Jodi Dean, LA Review of Books
- Neo-feudalism in California, Joel Kotkin, American Affairs
On cash welfarism and state investment. Plus regionalism in Belgium & the UK.
Anton Jäger is back on the pod to discuss the emerging 'transfer state'. We examine Biden's massive trillion-dollar spending plans and ask if this means we're leaving neoliberalism. What are the limitations to the 'cashification of welfare'? Also comparisons with cash transfers or lack thereof in the UK, Brazil and Belgium.
Plus Anton talks us through recent Belgian history and why its immobilism and bureaucracy has actually prevented a full-on neoliberal assault.
[Part 2 available at patreon.com/bungacast]
Readings:
- “Welfare without the welfare state”: the death of the postwar welfarist consensus, Anton Jäger & Daniel Zamora, New Statesman
- Joe Biden Is a Transformational President, David Brooks, NYT
On Covid state failure + responses to listeners. The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We start off by discussing listener points and criticisms – e.g. is PMC a useful category? Is a counterculture a terrible idea? Were we wrong on Deleuze? More on the lockdown debate... – before featuring the second part of our discussion with Lee Jones on the coronavirus and state failure (from 45:30).
We look in depth at what went wrong in Western state responses to the pandemic, why they didn't follow their own plans, and compare this to South Korea's relative success.
Readings:
- How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
- COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state, Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy
On the uprising in Myanmar, plus Covid state failure.
Southeast Asia scholar (and Bunga recidivist) Lee Jones joins us to talk about the coup in Myanmar (and why the word “coup” can be misleading), and explains the nature of the forces opposing the military, in the context of the country’s recent transition to civilian rule.
Then, from 40mins, we discuss how the UK failed in dealing with the pandemic, and how this applies across the West. Lee's recent work looks at the neoliberal "regulatory state" and its incapacities, so we compare the UK's failure with Korea's relative success.
Readings:
- Preliminary thoughts on the Myanmar “coup”, Lee Jones, Medium
- Responding to the Myanmar coup, Crisis Group
- How the Civil Disobedience Movement can win, Aye Min Thant and Yan Aung, Frontier
- How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
- COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state (pdf), Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy
We discuss the first of Perry Anderson's new essays on Europe published in the London Review of Books, which focuses on Luuk van Middelaar - described as the EU's first organic intellectual. We discuss what that means, as well as the role of the "coup" in forming the EU.
Reading Club episodes are for subscribers $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On memes and the counter-culture.
This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Theorist and curator Mike Watson advances the argument for "acid leftism". What is this, and why do we need a new counter-culture? Is contemporary leftism lacking a utopian imaginary?
Plus: slow memes and fast memes; the democratisation of art and media; and generations: which ones became conservative, which one might not?
Running order:
- (00:04:15) - Interview with Mike Watson
- (01:02:00) - 'Afterparty' discussion on what a counter-culture might look like today
Readings:
- Can the Left Learn to Meme? , Mike Watson, Zero Books
- The Acid Left, YouTube channel
- The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin (pdf)
In this latest Three Articles, we examine the rise of 'techno-populism', look at the EU's vaccine debacle, and question whether cinema - and popular culture in general - is being desexualised and pornified at the same time.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Readings:
- The rise of the technopopulists, Chris Bickerton, New Statesman (pdf attached)
- Accelerating Decay, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar - NRL blog
- Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny, RS Benedict, BloodKnife
On the socialist case for Scottish independence.
David Jamieson and Cat Boyd, writers and hosts of Conter, the Scottish anti-capitalist website and podcast, join us to to talk about the prospects for Scottish independence in advance of the Scottish parliamentary elections in May. Would an independent Scotland within the EU be a contradiction in term? How would an independent Scotland fare - and what would it mean for the "national question" across Europe? And what's up with the factional strife among Scottish nationalists?
Readings:
- Contercast, podcast hosted by Cat & David
- Independence Beyond Salmond and Sturgeon, David Jamieson, Conter
- The Origins of Scottish Nationhood, Neil Davidson, Pluto Press
On gay liberation and sexual politics.
After big advances over the past decades, we can now ask, did the gays win? And if so, so what? Mark Simpson in the UK and River Page in Florida join us to discuss whether something was lost in that victory.
We ponder whether gay politics was the original identity politics and what happens when a narrow focus on equality triumphs over liberation. Do sexual liberation politics have any future? Plus: how Blairism was the biggest drag act of all.
Readings:
- Anti-Gay, Mark Simpson (Bloomsbury, 1996)
- Being Gay in the Thirties (Gay Life), documentary mentioned by Mark
- Trading in the Past: Queer London, Mark Simpson
- The Standpoint Bureaucracy, River Page, TwinkRev
- The Woke Resurrection of a Gay Sex Panic, River Page, TwinkRev
How to address the political problems of leftwing parties today?
Liverpudlian historian David Swift argues that the problem is hobbyism - people for whom politics constitutes their identity rather than expressing their interest in social and political change. He joins us to take us through his arguments about hobbyism, and how he thinks the Left might change for the better. This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- A Left For Itself, David Swift, Zer0 Books
- How the Left lost all purpose, James Bloodworth, Unherd
- How not to be a white anti-racist, David Swift, Unherd
We've exceptionally unlocked one of our recent Reading Clubs. For access to all the monthly Reading Clubs - as well as our ~2 patreon episodes a month - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast for $10.
––
On Richard Tuck's The Left Case for Brexit, a book composed of essays written throughout the Brexit process, providing a diary of Brexit of sorts, as well as political and historical arguments around sovereignty.
We also take the opportunity to debate its global implications - what are the possibilities for popular sovereignty in a globalised world?
On the final deal and its implications, see: The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement: Minimum Brexit
We discuss Gilles Deleuze's short essay, Postscript on the Societies of Control and ask whether his understanding, according to which society has changed from one where discipline is exercised in institutions to one where control is implemented across society, holds water.
The monthly Bungacast Reading Club is for patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We respond to your questions and comments from the past two months. Plus a continuation of our chat with Catherine Liu (from 55mins onwards) - on PMC unions, PMC child-rearing and the culture industry.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Readings:
- The PMC Gets Organized, Dominic King, Damage
- Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional-Managerial Class, Catherine Liu, University of Minnesota Press, 2021
On the Professional-Managerial Class.
Catherine Liu joins us to talk about the worst class in history (the PMC), and how and why they hoard all forms of secularised value. We discuss the development of the PMC as a class, figure out when it stopped being "heroic", and debate who the PMC'S leader might be. We conclude by asking whether the Left needs the PMC (or vice versa?).
The discussion will continue next week – focusing on recent unionising in professional workplaces, how the PMC brings up its children, and whether the "culture industry" is still a thing – in a subscriber-only episode on our patreon.
Readings:
- Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional-Managerial Class, Catherine Liu, University of Minnesota Press, 2021
- Moral Minoritarianism from the Ashes of Left Populism, George Hoare, Damage
- Saving Britain's Universities report, Lee Jones & Phillip Cunliffe, Cieo
On the relevance of psychoanalysis.
In a continuation of our talk with Benjamin Fong, editor of Damage Magazine, we discuss the relevance of psychoanalysis today. What happened to the marriage of Marx and Freud – and what does the decline of both say about our times? We criticise social media as the latest instance of the culture industry as well as the growth of the US as a 'drugged society'. How can psychoanalysis be wielded against therapy culture, against a psychology that just helps us adapt to the world, and in favour one that makes us more free?
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- The Method and Function of Analytic Social Psychology, Erich Fromm (pdf attached on Patreon)
- Adorno’s critique of the revisionist psychoanalysis: An introduction to ‘The Revisionist Psychoanalysis’, Nan-Nan Lee, Discussion and translation of Adorno (attached as pdf on Patreon)
- Therapy Without Therapists, Briana Last, Damage
On American breakdown.
Editor of Damage Magazine, Benjamin Fong, joins us to talk about the lack of shared narratives in contemporary America. We discuss QAnon and conspiracy theories, Biden's authoritarian liberalism, and "pro-worker" conservatives.
We also interrogate the use of psychological analyses of politics and reaffirm the value of psychoanalysis, in a preview of a more detailed forthcoming discussion on our patreon.
Readings:
- The Siren Song of “Pro-Worker” Conservatism, Benjamin Fong & Dustin Guastella, Jacobin
- Unpacking the Left's Culture Baggage, Benjamin Fong, Damage
- Therapy Without Therapists, Briana Last, Damage
On Uber, class war among the rich, and its political consequences
Articles:
- The real class war is within the rich, Janan Ganesh, FT
- Uber pays to get rid of its self-driving cars, Pluralistic, Cory Doctorow
- The radical Left is now extinct, Oliver Bateman & Malcolm Kyeyune, Unherd
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast If liberal democracy has been dethroned, what next?
Francis Fukuyama famously declared the "end of history" in 1989. Has he been misunderstood? Should we understand the declaration in a geopolitical sense - liberal democracy triumphant - or in a more philosophical sense? We discuss what capital-H History means and what Fukuyama's career trajectory can tell us about our times. Is it capitalism realism or the end of history?
This is a sample. Reading Clubs are for patrons $10+. Sign up now at patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss a book by leading German sociologist and public intellectual, Wolfgang Streeck. Critical Encounters is a compilation of book reviews, discussing neoliberal ideas, politics and economy.
We start off by discussing the value of reading books in today's noisy, social media-filled, locked-down climate, as well as what makes a good book review. Then we address five themes: the coming of post-industrial society; popular misconceptions about neoliberalism; German hegemony in Europe; Cosmopolitan delusions; and the future of capitalism.
Our interview with Wolfgang Streeck from November 2020 can be found here.
On the Biden administration and Trumpist reaction.
We discuss the riot at the US Capitol and why it was not a (failed) coup attempt. How serious was the event, and what next for Trumpist reaction - will it lead to a split in the Republican Party?
Our guests - journalist Amber Frost and political science academic Daniel Bessner - help us preview what the Biden administration has in store for the US. With Democratic control of both houses, it should be able to pass legislation - but does it have any substantial plans to do so? In foreign policy, we can expect more foreign adventurism and at home, an ominous anti-domestic terrorism bill. Does the alliance of the Democrats with an increasingly domineering Silicon Valley signal the coming-out moment of authoritarian liberalism?
Readings:
- Riot on the Hill, Mike Davis, NLR Sidecar blog
- Render unto Ourselves, What is Ours—or Caesar Will Seize It, Alex Hochuli, Damage
- What Experts on Extremism Want From the Biden Administration, James D Walsh, NYMag
- Morbid Symptoms Can Persist for a Long Time, Barry Eidlin, Jacobin
- Violence in the Capitol, Dangers in the Aftermath, Glenn Greenwald, Substack
- The revenge of the blob, Alex Ward, Vox
On the 'war communism' solution
As we enter the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant turmoil, suffering and lockdown, inevitably the search for systemic causes and systemic responses grows more intense. Swedish ecologist and social theorist Andreas Malm joins us to discuss one possible response - a crisis communism modelled on the War Communism of early Soviet rule, as discussed in his new book ‘Corona, Climate Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty First Century.’ We discuss the nature of our contemporary crises, and how far the left needs its own distinctive form of emergency politics.
Readings:
- “To Halt Climate Change, We Need an Ecological Leninism”, Jacobin interview with Andreas Malm
- Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty-First Century, Andreas Malm, Verso
- Nature Defends Itself, Dayton Martindale, Boston Review
On freedom, authority and responsibility.
Theorist Todd McGowan joins us to talk about the End of History, what Hegel can teach us about emancipation, and why Slavoj Zizek’s reinterpretation of Hegel is so important. If contradiction is the basis of modern politics, what is its link to freedom? And what is the connection between freedom and authority? Are stable sources of authority even possible in modernity? We also put some listener questions to Todd, as we learn that the Right, just as much as the Left, evades authority and is unwilling to take responsibility.
Readings:
- Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution
- Review of book in Marx & Philosophy
On “culture”.
We discuss who produces culture and who consumes it – and what those inequalities reveal about culture today. Also, we ask what’s the ploblem with culture anyway and end up defending “low culture” from Red Hot Chili Peppers (well, sorta) to food guys.
Reading:
Culture is Bad for You, Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor, Manchester UP
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We round off the year by previewing The End of the End of History and responding to your questions and criticisms, including Strasserism or left-conservatism, revolutionary memories, more on Covid and lockdowns, and other bits.
CLR James’s electrifying 1938 history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins, has long been a staple of many radicals’ libraries. But we now know a lot more about the life of the Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint L’Ouverture. How does this new knowledge impact our understanding of the Haitian Revolution, and on revolution in general? Sudhir Hazeeresingh, the author of a gripping new biography based on new archival research, ‘Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, talks with us about about revolutionary leadership and Atlantic history.
Reading:
- Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture
- ‘You never know when it is going to explode’, interview with CLR James, Marxist Internet Archive
This is a short sample. Full episode is available for subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast
We re-evaluate Christopher Lasch's hugely influential and prescient The Culture of Narcissism. What conjunctural factors led Lasch to his insights, and to what extent are those still present? Lasch wrote during the collapse of postwar Fordist-Keynesian model – is it the collapse of neoliberalism today that makes the book so evocative? And if narcissism has only increased, does the book suggest any political ways-out?
On censorship, platform capitalism and the Left.
We talk to Douglas Lain of Zer0 Books about YouTube taking down their video as a result of the algorithm flagging its content – and what this means for free speech.
Then, this month's Three Articles on war, conspiracy theory, and Covid (patrons only - sign up at patreon.com/bungacast)
Links for part 1:
- Why Did YouTube censor us? Doug Lain's blog post
- Censored YouTube video: Christopher Lasch, Paul Sweezy, and the Great RESET
- Bungacast ep 103 on ethical capitalism
- Bungacast ep 112 on ideology of Silicon Valley
- Alex Hochuli on Zer0 Books podcast
Part 2: Three Articles
- Azerbaijan’s drones owned the battlefield in Nagorno-Karabakh — and showed future of warfare, Robyn Dixon, WaPo
- How can Big Tech best tackle conspiracy theories?, Gillian Tett, FT
- The Covid-19 blunders drive home a harsh truth: the state has failed us, Larry Elliott, The Guardian
Game writer & designer Jonas Kyratzes joins us to talk about the art of games, the culture of gaming, the gamification of society, and the identity politics of gamer culture. How far has Jonas’ own philosophy influenced his writing for games, such as “The Talos Principle”? We also talk politics in both Greece, focusing on Syriza failure. Plus, could Bunga co-host Philip Cunliffe’s book ‘Lenin Lives!’ ever be made into a game?
Readings:
- Games & Politics, Centre for Art & Media, Karlsruhe
- Jonas Kyratzes website
Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast On “culture”.
We discuss who produces culture and who consumes it – and what those inequalities reveal about culture today. Also, we ask what’s the ploblem with culture anyway and end up defending “low culture” from Red Hot Chili Peppers (well, sorta) to food guys.
Reading:
Culture is Bad for You, Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor, Manchester UP
On Germany, the hegemon of Europe.
We are joined by leading German public intellectual Wolfgang Streeck to discuss the role of Germany at the end of the End of History. How is it and the EU faring under the assault of Covid-19? We cover Germany’s economic miracles - postwar and post-2008 -, Merkel’s tactical brilliance and strategic ignorance, and how France retains more of a sense of history.
Also: why democracy sometimes needs an AK47.
Readings:
- Critical Encounters, Wolfgang Streeck, Verso (2020)
- Letters from Europe, Wolfgang Streeck (in EN & ES)
On the US election, a huge turnout and the end of Trump.
We survey the results of the presidential and legislative elections, peer through the exit polls and discuss some counterintuitive facts: Florida goes Trump but opts for a $15 minimum wage; California goes Biden while Uber gets its way; Trump did protectionism but it didn't help him win the Rustbelt; the Republicans win over more Latinos – but do Latinos even exist?
And the big questions: Will Biden and the Democrats have any authority now that they don't have anti-Trumpism to drive them? Is a Biden administration to be a Silicon Valley dictatorship? And will the GOP be Trumpism without Trump?
Readings:
- Are the Democrats losing on purpose? Amber Frost & Daniel Bessner, Jacobin
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
In this latest Three Articles, we discuss cosmopolitanism, the end of austerity (maybe?) and social control in the pandemic.
Readings:
- Is cosmopolitanism our destiny?, Aris Roussinos, Unherd
- Meet the Philosopher Who Is Trying to Explain the Pandemic, Christopher Caldwell, NYT
- Global economy: the week that austerity was officially buried, Chris Giles, FT
On why anti-fascism is a problem.
The Trump presidency and the current protests in the US have led many to argue this is just like the 1930s. The implication is that fascism is rising and the Left must join up with liberals to oppose this evil. Why is this historical analogy so wide of the mark? Was the Left really culpable for the fascists rise to power? And anyway, our age is vastly different to interwar Europe. So what is the real function of calls to anti-fascism?
Readings:
- We Don’t Live in Weimar Germany, David Broder, Jacobin
- The Trap The Democrats Walked Right Into, Andrew Sullivan
- The End of Anti-Fascism, David Broder, Jacobin
- What Is Trump?, Dylan Riley, NLR
This is a sample. For full access, go to patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss Todd McGowan's Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution - an introduction to, defence and radical re-interpretation of Hegel emphasising the importance of contradiction to thought and being. We try to tease out the political consequences of the book, focusing on authority, freedom, and identity.
Internationalism used to be a defining characteristic of the Left. Globalism is a defining characteristic of neoliberal capitalism. Both seem to be characteristic of Islamist jihadism. How did Islamist reaction become globalised? How far does Islamist globalism connect to radical legacies of Third Worldism, internationalism and radical solidarity? Political anthropologist Darryl Li, author of The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity joins us to discuss the transnational history of jihad over the last 30 years.
Reading:
The Universal Enemy - Book Forum, The Immanent Frame, Various Authors
On the Covid election.
Trump has made himself deeply unpopular while the Democrats have tried to demobilise the electorate. What, if anything, are the two parties selling? Are they coherent entities? And what is likely to happen? Plus: we discuss a potential political realignment in process and what foreign policy would look like under a Biden presidency.
Full episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast
We start off by discussing the beheading of a French teacher for having shown his pupils the Mohammed cartoons in a class on free speech. Then we discuss your points, questions and criticisms from September and October (on class politics, antifa, Covid, unemployment and more). Finally, 25 minutes of bonus content from our chat with Sontag biographer Benjamin Moser on the 1619 Project, identity politics, literature, and cosmopolitanism and empire.
For the rest of the original episode with Moser, that's number 147: Podbean / Patreon
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On the Covid election.
Trump has made himself deeply unpopular while the Democrats have tried to demobilise the electorate. What, if anything, are the two parties selling? Are they coherent entities? And what is likely to happen? Plus: we discuss a potential political realignment in process and what foreign policy would look like under a Biden presidency.
On the country of the future.
Italy has stagnated for 30 years, becoming a neoliberal gerontocracy with crumbling infrastructure (sound familiar?). Worse, it's a country without a Left. How did the populist right come to triumph? What is the relationship between high emigration and hostility to immigration? And how were the seeds sown 30 years ago with the collapse of the First Republic, Europeanisation, and Berlusconi's rise? Is there now a possibility of 'Italexit'?
Readings: First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy, David Broder, Verso
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On why anti-fascism is a problem.
The Trump presidency and the current protests in the US have led many to argue this is just like the 1930s. The implication is that fascism is rising and the Left must join up with liberals to oppose this evil. Why is this historical analogy so wide of the mark? Was the Left really culpable for the fascists rise to power? And anyway, our age is vastly different to interwar Europe. So what is the real function of calls to anti-fascism?
Readings:
- We Don’t Live in Weimar Germany, David Broder, Jacobin
- The Trap The Democrats Walked Right Into, Andrew Sullivan
- The End of Anti-Fascism, David Broder, Jacobin
- What Is Trump?, Dylan Riley, NLR
On class.
Class as an idea and an identity is now supposedly redundant. It’s been replaced by conflicts between generations and transcended by more up-to-date identities linking people together through common experiences of victimhood and inequality, rather than along lines related to production or power. Or is it? We discuss these questions with Ben Tippett, author of Split: Class Divides Uncovered to find out whether class still has any place in society and theory (spoiler: it does).
Reading:
- Split: What Love Island Tells Us About Culture & Class In Modern Britain, Ben Tippet, The Quietus (Excerpt from book) Split: Class Divides Uncovered, Ben Tippet, Pluto Press
Episode for patrons $10+. Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss Polish economist Michal Kalecki's landmark essay, "Political Aspects of Full Employment". This follows on from our recent free episode, 'It's Not Robots, It's Capitalism' (ep 149) focusing on unemployment.
Kalecki anticipated both the Keynesian postwar settlement as well as its undoing, and the neoliberalism that followed. We focus on how Kalecki introduces the question of political authority into economics.
For reference, the next five Reading Clubs have already been announced: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41524278
On Iran at the End of History.
When the US assassinated Iran's 'shadow commander', Qassem Soleimani, everyone thought WW3 would break out. What happened instead? We talk to the author of a new book on Soleimani about the "local boy who made it", and look at how Soleimani masterminded Iran's interventions all over the region.
We also discuss how the Iranian Revolution represented a degradation of universalism, as it marginalised secular nationalism, socialism and communism. Would the Shia-Sunni conflict, with Iran as leader of the Shia faction, therefore be yet another step away from universalism? And what role did the US play in fomenting sectarian conflict?
Readings:
- Book: The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran's Global Ambitions, Arash Azizi, OneWorld
- Qassem Soleimani and How Nations Decide To Kill, Adam Entous & Evan Osnos, New Yorker
On unemployment.
The Covid crisis has led to millions out of work - but the situation was none too rosy before, either. Post-crisis recoveries seem increasingly 'jobless', while the overall labour force participation rate keeps falling as people drop out entirely.
We interview to Liz Pancotti of Employ America for a picture of what's driving US unemployment.
Then we talk to Aaron Benanav about his new book and learn that it's not robots who are stealing jobs, but rather capitalism's own stagnation. Why are both radical Keynesian ideas and UBI proposals no real solution? And, finally, what is the working class to do in a world with depressed demand for labour?
Running order:
- Liz Pancotti - (04:09)
- Aaron Benanav - (53:09)
Readings:
- Automation and the Future of Work, Aaron Benanav, Verso
- Unemployment Benefit Expansions: A Guide for Policy Responses in the Wake of COVID-19, Elizabeth Pancotti, Employ America
- Do not let homeworking become digital piecework for the poor, Sarah O'Connor, FT
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On Brexit negotiations and state aid; on pandemic policies and confirmation bias; and on Beethoven and access to high culture.
Readings:
- Of moonshots and bus subsidies: How state aid became a Brexit deal-breaker, The Economist (attached in patreon)
- Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment holds a worldwide warning, Wolfgang Münchau, FT (attached in patreon)
- Why are we racialising Beethoven, Ralph Leonard, Unherd
Additional referenced pieces:
- Anders Tegnell and the Swedish Covid experiment, FT
- We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole, Katherine Yik & Martin Kulldorff, Jacobin
On modernism and its end.
We're joined by 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner Benjamin Moser to discuss the tensions between hating your national culture and wanting to leave it behind, and the effacement of national culture by postmodern homogenisation.
We talk about his biography of Susan Sontag, plus a range of other questions: Brazil, USA, literature, architecture, sex, imperialism, Freud, the image and representation, and contemporary wokeness.
Moser's Books:
- Sontag: Her Life and Work
- Autoimperialismo
- Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On class.
Class as an idea and an identity is now supposedly redundant. It’s been replaced by conflicts between generations and transcended by more up-to-date identities linking people together through common experiences of victimhood and inequality, rather than along lines related to production or power. Or is it? We discuss these questions with Ben Tippett, author of Split: Class Divides Uncovered to find out whether class still has any place in society and theory (spoiler: it does).
Reading:
- Split: What Love Island Tells Us About Culture & Class In Modern Britain, Ben Tippet, The Quietus (Excerpt from book) Split: Class Divides Uncovered, Ben Tippet, Pluto Press
On political decline and realignment.
The editor of American Affairs joins us to discuss the decay of conservatism and we ask whether this decay doesn't apply to other parts of the political spectrum too. Is today's 'class struggle' really just between the upper-middle class and the elite? And we discuss the 'late-Soviet' USA - the sense of decline embodied in the gerontocracy of the ruling class.
Readings:
- The Real Class War, Julius Krein, American Affairs
- America’s Unhealthy Gerontocracy, Julius Krein, American Affairs
- Conservatism Is A Collection Of Losers. It Doesn’t Have To Be. Julius Krein, The American Conservative
This episode is for patrons only. Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast We discuss a chapter taken from James Heartfield's "The 'Death of the Subject' Explained", which was recently republished in Damage Magazine as The New Social Movements Against the Old Left
Thanks for all your questions and points, we address them in the last third of the episode.
The full episode is for patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
In this semi-regular slot, we respond to your comments and criticisms received over the past month or so.
Discussion features whether we're right about the "end of the End of History", social conservatism, policing in America, British declinism, the use and misuses of Islamism, and more.
On US foreign policy.
Following on from our episode on the political-economy of dollar hegemony (no. 139), we turn to look at how the dollar underpins American empire. Is 'permawar' a product of structural factors, rather than merely the result of poor policy decisions? And how is this related to the global financial architecture?
We also discuss how the current period fits into US history, how US foreign policy might evolve over the next four years, and what a left-wing alternative foreign policy might look like.
Readings:
- To End Forever War, End the Dollar’s Global Dominance, David Adler & Daniel Bessner, TNR
- Trump’s America may be declining in global soft power—but US empire rolls on, Daniel Bessner, Prospect
- The coronavirus crisis is an opportunity to finally move past the post-WWII era, Daniel Bessner, Responsible Statecraft
On Lebanon's crisis.
We call up Rima Majed in Beirut to talk us through the aftermath of the enormous explosion and ensuing protests. How has Lebanon's history since the civil war created such a profound, multi-layered crisis? We cover the desperate economic situation and the October 2019 revolt, before going deep on the politics of sectarianism, the regional scenario impacting Lebanon, the legacy of the Arab Spring, and the risks of foreign intervention.
Running Order:
- Beirut explosion and protests - (07:04)
- Lebanese history 1990-today - (23:53)
- Economic crisis - (38:05)
- Sectarianism - (51:16)
- Regional scenario and foreign intervention - (01:04:54)
- International solidarity - (01:24:38)
–> For donations & help for local organisations other than the Red Cross: Google Doc
Readings (all Rima Majed):
- Lebanon’s ‘October Revolution’ must go on!, openDemocracy
- The Political (or Social) Economy of Sectarianism in Lebanon, Middle East Institute
- Financial Collapse, Revolution, and Pandemic: Where are the Unions?, LCPS
- Why the Lebanese support the same sectarian leaders, al Jazeera
- Lebanon's October Revolution: Hope in the Midst of Crisis, Princeton
- Understanding the October Uprisings in Iraq and Lebanon, Global Dialogue ISA
The full episode is for patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
In this latest Three Articles, we discuss the durability or otherwise of right-populism in the UK, US and Brazil.
Reading:
- Conservatives’ grip on ‘red wall’ holding firm, Sebastian Payne, FT
- Lawmakers ‘Alarmed’ by Reports U.S. Envoy Told Brazil It Could Help Re-elect Trump, Ernesto Londoño, Manuela Andreoni and Letícia Casado, NYT
- “Imagine the damage a president could cause”: What would happen if Trump refused defeat?, Emily Tamkin, New Statesman
On dollar hegemony.
Dutch disease has long been seen as the curse of resource-rich economies in which a currency appreciates and jobs are lost overseas. But what if the greenback is having the same effects on the US economy, the largest in the world? Many historians and economists have studied the global effects of having the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. But what is the effect on the US economy itself? The authors of an influential essay on this question join us to talk about the feedback effects of dollar hegemony.
Readings:
- The Class Politics of the Dollar System, Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder, Phenomenal World
- Dollar and Empire, Herman Mark Schwartz, Phenomenal World
The episode is for patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
The protests in the US against police violence - and their globalisation - prompts us to discuss radical proposals for what to do about the police. We look at the US, the UK and Brazil, each in their own national contexts, and debate how policing is structure and what makes realistic responses to state repression a political priority.
Readings:
- Symposium on Policing, NonSite, various authors incl. Dustin Guastella, Christian Parenti
- Global Perspectives on Policing, Verso Books blog, various authors incl. Alex Hochuli
Reading Club episodes are only available to patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss Wolfgang Streeck's reading of Friedrich Engels which appeared recently in the New Left Review, which deals with the Marxian understanding of war and technology, how they relate to social development, and what this all means for our understanding of the state.
Engels's Second Theory: Technology, Warfare and the Growth of the State, Wolfgang Streeck, New Left Review
On British decline.
Much ink has been spilled over the Britain’s fate since the end of its empire. Could it be that decline has been overstated? And what will happen to Britain as it leaves the European Union? We discuss how the history of the Industrial Revolution and Cold War militarism still shapes British politics today, as David Edgerton joins us to talk about the his latest book, 'The Rise and Fall of the British Nation'.
Readings:
- A misremembered empire, David Edgerton, Tortoise
- Britain’s 20th-century industrial revolution, Colin Kidd, New Statesman (review of Edgerton's book)
- Britain's persistent racism cannot simply be explained by its imperial history, David Edgerton, The Guardian
Singapore is held up as a free-market utopia: rich, orderly and clean. But the reality is quite different. Why does Singapore exert such a magnetism for neoliberals, when its reality strays from orthodox prescriptions? What and who made this model 'global city', and how does its communist and anti-colonial past lead to its hyper-capitalist present?
This episode is for patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Mailbag + bonus content ft. Corey Robin
In this new semi-regular slot, we feature bonus recordings (here, 20mins of additional discussion with Corey Robin from episode 129) and respond to your comments and criticisms received over the past month.
This is a sample. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
The three of us discuss some of the themes that emerged from our interview with Krithika Varagur (ep.133) - the entanglement of the US state with Islamism, the Americanisation of the Middle East, and especially the Gulf States, and Wahhabism as religious justification for the Saudi state project.
On Saudi religious proselytism.
Saudi Arabia has actively sought to export Salafism. How has it done this - and what have been its effects, in countries like Indonesia, Nigeria and Kosovo? Why was fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s such a formative experience for jihadists? And why has appeal of secularism faded?
Readings:
- The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project, Krithika Varagur
- How Saudi Arabia's religious project transformed Indonesia (Long excerpt from the book)
- The Coronavirus Threatens Saudi Arabia’s Global Ambitions, Krithika Varagur, Foreign Affairs
- Saudis and Extremism: 'Both the Arsonists and the Firefighters', Scott Shane, NYT
- China as the New Frontier for Islamic Daʿwah, Mohammed Turki al-Sudairi, Journal of Arabian Studies
Aleksandar Vučić's coalition won the recent (21 June) Serbian parliamentary elections amidst a mass boycott. We talk to Balkanist editor Lily Lynch about what Vučić represents - violent ultranationalist or technocratic centrist? We also take time to discuss geopolitical rivalries over Kosovo.
Plus: cigar socialism, Yugoboomers and the enduring appeal of Balkan orientalism. According to Julian Assange, the future always comes to Serbia first - what does this mean?
Intro clip: Vučić's very creepy virtual rally | Outro clip: The Big Z
Readings:
- Abramović, Žižek and Milanović: Yugoslavia’s First and Last Global Public Intellectuals, Srdjan Garcevic, The Nutshell Times
- The Tito–Castro Split and the End of Cigar Socialism, Lily Lynch, Balkanist
- Vucic’s nationalist party wins landslide victory in Serbian poll, Valerie Hopkins, FT
- West is best: How ‘stabilitocracy’ undermines democracy building in the Balkans, Srda Pavlovic, LSE blog
This episode is for patrons $10 and up. Please sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On the Ehrenreich's re-evaluation of the Professional-Managerial Class.
We discuss Barbara and John Ehrenreich's "Death of a Yuppy Dream". Also attached are the Ehrenreichs' analyses from the late 70s, also referenced in the discussion.
Thanks again for all your questions!
Full episode is for patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On this latest Three Articles, we discuss the global Black Lives Matter protests.
Reading:
- The Triumph of Black Lives Matter and Neoliberal Redemption, Cedric Johnson, NonSite
- ‘As soon as I saw the slaveowner’s statue being toppled in Bristol, I knew the real anti-racism protest was OVER’, Lisa McKenzie, RT
- The Triumph of American Idealism, Alex Hochuli, Damage
- Alex's additional notes on his blog
On the left case for freedom.
We talk to Corey Robin about how the left has sacrificed the realm of freedom to the right. And why the Left's weakness is also the Right's. Plus, why is it clear that Trump is not a fascist? And insight into the BLM protests in NYC and responses to the pandemic.
Reading:
- What People Power Looks Like in a Pandemic Democracy, Corey Robin, NYRB
- Symposium on the Challenges Facing Democrats: Freedom Now, Corey Robin & Alex Gourevitch, Polity
- If authoritarianism is looming in the US, how come Donald Trump looks so weak?, Corey Robin, Guardian
On culturally conservative critics of capitalism.
Neoliberalism’s fragmentary and atomising tendencies have gone too far. In response, some right-wingers have turned against the market. At the same time, there’s a (marginal) tendency on the left turning against cultural liberalism. Are we witnessing a major political realignment underway? What is the substance of these "culturally conservative" critiques, and do they offer anything new, beyond what people like Christopher Lasch advanced decades ago?
Readings:
- The new intellectuals of the American right, Nick Burns, New Statesman
- The Problem of Hyper Liberalism, John Gray, The TLS
- The Real Class War, Julius Krein, American Affairs
- Socialism in One Country, David Runciman, LRB (on Maurice Glasman & Blue Labour)
- The idea that the British working class is socially conservative is a nonsense, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
- Zero to One, Peter Thiel (pdf)
- The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Daniel Bell (pdf)
This is a sample. For the full episode go to patreon.com/bungacast
Bonus content (always the best stuff) from our interview with Angela and Michael (episode 126).
Why did Bernie Sanders fail?
In the third in an occasional series on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Angela Nagle and Michael Tracey about their analysis of Bernie Sanders' campaign. We put to bed some bad arguments as to why Bernie didn't win the nomination, and examine some better ones: was the campaign was too establishment-friendly? too "left"? too middle-class? too anti-nationalist?... or are structural factors to blame instead?
And we ponder the end of the union of Old and New Lefts, of cultural liberalism and socialism. And the most worrying of all: was Bernie just a blip?
Reading:
- First as Tragedy, Then as Farce: The Collapse of the Sanders Campaign and the "Fusionist" Left, Angela Nagle & Michael Tracey, American Affairs
This is a subscriber-only episode. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
In this latests Three Articles we discuss power, money and the power of money - in a post-Covid world.
Readings:
- The Death of the Central Bank Myth, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
- Why the Neoliberals Won’t Let This Crisis Go to Waste, Philip Mirowski, Jacobin
- Plan A for the coronavirus, Curtis Yarvin, Medium
In the second in an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nicholas Kiersey, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in Texas and host of the Fully Automated podcast. What were things like on the campaign trail, and what went wrong for Bernie? Will Biden go the distance, and are there more shenanigans in store?
Readings:
- Like It or Not, If We Run Third Party, We Will Lose, Dustin Guastella, Jacobin
- The Tyranny of Decorum Hurt Bernie Sanders’s 2020 Prospects, David Sirota, Jacobin
- ‘Life After Bernie’: The Young Left Braces for Disappointment in 2020, Tim Alberta, Politico
- The Left Can’t Just Dismiss the Anti-Lockdown Protests, Ben Burgis, Jacobin
On the so-called "incel documentary", TFW NO GF.
This episode is for patreon subscribers only. Sign up: patreon.com/BungaCast
We discuss the new documentary TFW NO GF, which focuses on the lives of extremely online alienated loners in the US. It has consequently been labelled the "incel documentary". Because the subjects are allowed to speak for themselves, it's also been called "irresponsible".
We take apart what, if anything, makes this cohort distinct from the past - is it the internet? are they lonelier? are their prospects worse? - and try to place the phenomenon in a wider context. If you haven't watched the documentary, there are clips from it interspersed throughout.
TFW NO GF on Amazon Prime List of Pirate Bay proxies
On the end of Left Populism.
Friend of the podcast Anton Jäger joins us to discuss the fate of Left Populism, investigate the response of the Left to the ongoing Coronacrisis, and question whether we're really witnessing the end of neoliberalism. We refer to his recent piece in Damage magazine, in the readings below.
Did Left populism ask the right questions but get the wrong answers? Are the next three years going to see the blossoming of the 'Well, Actually' Left? Or is the stage set for the triumph of covid corporatism?
Readings: * It might take a while before history starts again, Anton Jäger, Damage * Are we all covid communists now?, Philip Cunliffe, Medium
On The Jakarta Method.
We're joined by Vincent Bevins to discuss his new book on the 1965-66 mass killings in Indonesia, Cold War anti-communism, and the destruction it wrought around the world. The mid-60s proved pivotal, with US-backed coups in Indonesia and Brazil setting the template. What was their effect on the Left worldwide? How did it alter developmental trajectories across the Third World? What lessons can we take from these historical experiences?
Running Order:
- Indonesia - (10:43)
- Brazil & application of Jakarta Method - (36:14)
- Themes of anticommunism - (43:55)
- Global consequences - (53:03)
- Anticommunism today - (01:14:39)
- Bonus stuff - (1:21:18)
Reading: The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
On the end of Left Populism.
This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/BungaCast
Friend of the podcast Anton Jäger joins us to discuss the fate of Left Populism, investigate the response of the Left to the ongoing Coronacrisis, and question whether we're really witnessing the end of neoliberalism. We refer to his recent piece in Damage magazine, in the readings below.
Did Left populism ask the right questions but get the wrong answers? Are the next three years going to see the blossoming of the 'Well, Actually' Left? Or is the stage set for the triumph of covid corporatism?
Readings: * It might take a while before history starts again, Anton Jäger, Damage * Are we all covid communists now?, Philip Cunliffe, Medium
On whether new tech can help build decentralised socialism.
Reading Club episodes are for $10+ patrons. Sign up: patreon.com/bungacast
We discuss Evgeny Morozov's New Left Review essay, Digital Socialism? The Calculation Debate in the Age of Big Data. A useful companion to this (mentioned by George in the episode) is a lecture given by Morozov, that can be found at the bottom of this page.
Thanks for all the questions, they are addressed in the last third of the episode.
This episode is for subscribers only. To hear the full thing, go to patreon.com/bungacast In this latest Three Articles, we discuss responses to Covid-19.
Articles
- Virus lays bare the frailty of the social contract, Editorial, FT
- Herd Immunity is Epidemiological Neoliberalism, The Quarantimes
- We’re on the Brink of Cyberpunk, Kelsey D. Atherton, Slate
On freedom in coronavirus times.
John McAfee joins us to address the lockdown, privacy and armed insurrection. Plus: why he prefers Fidel to Che, and how it came to be that his US presidential campaign HQ is in Havana, Cuba.
Subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast
In the first of an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nick Frayn, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in New England. How have things gone on the campaign trail? What is next for the Democratic primaries delayed by the corona outbreak? Can Bernie regain ground in the primaries against Joe Biden? How will the corona crisis impact the Democratic primaries?
Readings:
- How the coronavirus pandemic is disrupting the US Democratic primary calendar, FT
- Biden Wins Coronavirus Primary, The Atlantic
- Joe Biden sweeps key primaries and moves closer to nomination, The Guardian
This is a sample. The full episode is available by subscribing at patreon.com/bungacast
Singapore is held up as a free-market utopia: rich, orderly and clean. But the reality is quite different. Why does Singapore exert such a magnetism for neoliberals, when its reality strays from orthodox prescriptions? What and who made this model 'global city', and how does its communist and anti-colonial past lead to its hyper-capitalist present?
This episode is for our $10 and up patrons. Go to patreon.com/bungacast for access.
On the end of the Age of Imitation.
We discuss Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes' The Light That Failed: A Reckoning and their arguments for why liberal democracy stopped being the model to follow - in Eastern Europe, Russia and even the USA.
Thanks for all the questions, they are addressed in the last third of the episode.
On global cities.
Global cities flaunt themselves to global capital and are shaped by it. They are self-conscious and eager to transmit 'globalness'. But why? And how has the city under globalisation been reshaped? What is the role of money and power - not to mention sex and culture? And does the sameyness of global cities now mean that medium and small cities are where we should be looking for cultural and political change?
Subscribe to our patreon for original episodes: patreon.com/bungacast
On political conflict over the next decade
This is a subscriber-only show. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We debate what ideological contestation is going to look like in the next 2/5/10 years. Will liberalism adopt Silicon Valley solutionism? Does the centre-right become fully nationalist? And the far right have a future if that happens? And where does the left go next?
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has been hailed by some and scorned by others as offering a new framework to understand the financial system. But what is specifically 'modern' about MMT, and how does it differ from rival accounts of the financial economy? We talk to Bill Mitchell, one of the leading proponents of MMT, who gives us an introductory rundown, plus tells us why the Japanese economy is unfairly maligned and explains what the future has in store for MMT as its inexorably advances against orthodox rivals.
-> Our earlier episode with Doug Henwood, a critic of MMT, can be found here: Episode 68 -> The episode with Bill Mitchell's co-author, Thomas Fazi, is here: Episode 38
Readings: * Reclaiming the State, Bill Mitchell and Thomas Fazi (book) * MMT Has Been Around for Decades. Here’s Why It Just Caught Fire, Ben Holland & Matthew Boesler, Bloomberg * An MMT response on what causes inflation, FT * What you need to know about modern monetary theory, Gavyn Davies, FT * MMT Is Already Helping, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Jacobin
In this latest Three Articles, we discuss American democracy and those who pretend to save it or undermine it.
Sign up for access to the full episode: patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
- It’s time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president, Julia Azari, WaPo
- Michael Bloomberg: Smirking Id Of America’s Elites, Matt Purple, The American Conservative
- Bernie Sanders Was Right to Talk About Wage Slavery. We Should Talk About It, Too., Alex Gourevitch, Jacobin
On Applied Ballardianism.
Is it J.G. Ballard's world? Bunga talks Ballard with Simon Sellars, author of a new book on the great British sci-fi novelist J.G. Ballard. Urban decay, social breakdown, consumerism as social control and the Interzone.
Opening passage is taken from Ballard's 2000 novel 'Super-Cannes'.
Reading:
Applied Ballardianism, Simon Sellars, Urbanomic
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
On pandemics, panics, and China.
The 2019 Novel Coronavirus is yet another new epidemic to appear on the scene this century. What accounts for their increasing frequency, and who decides if an epidemic is classed as a pandemic? More importantly, what governs that choice? The WHO and the whole intergovernmental management of health has 'securitised' these questions. Are they privileging the free flow of capital over public health? And what of China's draconian response and lockdown of Wuhan - is it effective? And who will bear the blame if things go wrong? Might Coronavirus become a threat to Xi Jingping and the Chinese regime?
Readings:
- ‘Rumormonger’ Doctor Who Raised the Alarm Says He Has Coronavirus, Sixth Tone
- 'Hero who told the truth': Chinese rage over coronavirus death of whistleblower doctor, The Guardian
- The Free Market Isn’t Up to the Coronavirus Challenge, Leigh Phillips, Jacobin
- Locked-down Wuhan and why we always overplay the threat of the new, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
- Coronavirus: nature fights back, Michael Roberts blog
Guests' books:
Mark Honigsbaum: The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris
Lee Jones (& Shahar Hameiri): Governing Borderless Threats: Non-Traditional Security and the Politics of State Transformation
Running order:
- (00:44) Introduction
- (06:21) Mark Honigsbaum
- (38:48) Lee Jones
On Ireland's elections.
With Sinn Fein riding high in the polls, are we looking at an upset? Is this a populist upsurge in Ireland, finally, more than a decade after the start of the crisis? We discuss what Ireland's 'end of history' was like and how the 'Celtic Tiger' economy sustained it; and look at how the country was the EU's "model prisoner" of austerity. Are there new stirrings? And what are the prospects for unification?
Readings:
- Mary Lou McDonald could take Sinn Féin into the political mainstream, Jason Walsh, The New European
- This Month’s Elections in Ireland Are a Historic Opportunity, Michael Taft, Jacobin
- The End of Irish History, Colin Coulter et al., Manchester UP (Edited book; pdf)
On film in 2019/20. This is a sample only. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/BungaCast
We saw yet more sequilitis the past year, the endlessness and onwardness of contemporary cinema. So what were the worst films of the year and did their badness represent something wider? If 2018 saw the arrival of Trumpian cinema, what did 2019 bring? Has there been a backlash against 'woke' cinema criticism centred around representation? And are streaming services having an effect on how we view cinema?
This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/BungaCast
On ecofascism.
Both the shooters in the Christchurch and El Paso massacres were declared 'ecofascists'. Now, a new governing coalition in Austria brings together Greens and the hard right in an unconventional union.
How does Malthusianism link the far right and ecology? What are the dangers of 'lifeboat politics', and how can the Left resist this logic? Is the Green New Deal a solution?
Readings:
- Eco-fascism: The ideology marrying environmentalism and white supremacy thriving online, Sarah Manavis, New Statesman
- First as Tragedy, Then as Fascism, Alex Amend, The Baffler
- Austria’s new government includes the pro-environment Greens. That’s a first., The Washington Post
- Why White Supremacists Are Hooked on Green Living, Sam Adler-Bell, TNR
- What Is Eco-Fascism, the Ideology Behind Attacks in El Paso and Christchurch?, Luke Darby, GQ
- Only a Green New Deal Can Douse the Fires of Eco-Fascism, Naomi Klein, The Intercept
On The Economist and the contradictions of global liberalism.
Alexander Zevin joins us to discuss his work on the 176 year history of the magazine that has accompanied liberalism's global expansion. Has it just reflected the world or has it actually influenced politics? How has The Economist balanced democracy against the interests of finance and the needs of empire? And is the magazine suffering from N.O.B.S.?
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
Running order:
- (06:02) Overview & early days
- (29:52) 19th century & empire
- (34:18) 20th century, esp 1930s and '40s
- (48:08) End of the Cold War and NOBS
- (01:02:19) Liberalism & its enemies
This episode is for Patrons only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast for access.
On forecasts for the next decade.
In this month's 'Three Articles' - in which we each bring to the table a key article to unpick and unpack - we take apart mainstream predictions of the future, over the next decade, the next couple of years, and 2020.
Readings:
- 25 Ideas That Will Shape the 2020s, Various, Fortune
- Boris Johnson is reinventing one-nation Conservatism, Bagehot, The Economist
- Forecasting the world in 2020, Various, Financial Times
On drugs and mental health.
In part two, we chat about recreational drugs and mental states in a Hollywood bar with friends of the podcast, Amber A'Lee Frost and Alex Gendler. But mostly, we delve deeper into capitalism and depression with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Thomas Williams, Michael Mahoney, Benjamin Kruger-Robins).
CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.
On how Labour lost.
Was it Brexit that did for Labour? In what sense? What now for the British Left - and for democracy?
Running order:
- (02:40) Opening chat
- (05:15) The electoral map, the generational divide
- (21:46) Class
- (33:52) The leadership and the media
- (48:10) Holding our prediction to account
- (53:30) Reaction of various Labour factions
- (01:03:10) Future of left-populism
Readings:
- How class, turnout and the Brexit party shaped the general election result, Financial Times
- The Failure of the Left to Grasp Brexit, Michael Wilkinson, Verfassungs Blog
- Anti-politics & the last gasp of British Labourism, Tad Tietze, Left-Flank
- Hate to say it, but #BrexitWouldveWon, Alex Hochuli
- Don’t blame Corbyn or Brexit: Labour failed to rage against the hated political system, Adam Ramsay, openDemocracy
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
On the 30 years since 1989.
For our 100th episode, we invited our favourite guests to reflect on the question: “What one event, personal or political, most captures for you the past thirty years, since 1989?”
Are we still living in the death throes of the 20th century, or is something new emerging?
Guests:
- (00:07:42) - Maren Thom
- (00:14:14) - David Broder
- (00:21:33) - Ashley Frawley
- (00:26:11) - Catherine Liu
- (00:33:05) - Angela Nagle
- (00:40:49) - Benjamin Fogel
- (00:46:25) - Alex Gourevitch
- (00:51:31) - BungaCast hosts
- (00:59:22) - David Adler
- (01:04:05) - Amber A’Lee Frost
- (01:08:48) - James Heartfield
- (01:16:17) - Anton Jaeger
- (01:23:24) - Leigh Phillips
- (01:30:25) - Lee Jones
- (01:36:03) - Karl Sharro
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
UK general election preview.
Go to patreon.com/BungaCast for the full episode
Is is really the Brexit election, if Labour doesn't want it to be? We survey the parties' positions, and promises, and ask some big what ifs. Could there be a major realignment in the offing? And we make some predictions - which you can hold us to account for later on...
On working class pain and politics.
We talk to Jennifer Silva about her most recent book, and working class Americans' experience of and perspectives on pain. We discuss racial, gender and class identities and sense of relative losses and gains. If the American Dream has been 'stolen', how can the working class dream again? What are the prospects for socialist politics when distrust of politics predominates?
On algorithms and politics.
Can we "blame the media" today for political outcomes? Who's responsible for The Discourse in a fragmented landscape? It seems like there's increasing polarisation today, driven by social media 'filter bubbles'. Are they real? Who's responsible?
Plus: we talk about the media portrayal of Jeremy Corbyn; culture wars vs class politics; Brazil's craziness; and why arguments and interaction matter.
Readings:
- Have the mass media fuelled Brazil’s turmoil?, João Magalhães, Politike
- My lovely useless Facebook bubble, João Magalhães
This is a sample. Go to Patreon for the full episode.
On Bolivia, Macron, Randian Chile.
In this month's 'Three Articles' - in which we each bring to the table a key article to unpick and unpack - we discuss Bolivia's coup and a left-wing argument against Morales; Macron's big interview in the economist and his questionable 'defence of sovereignty'; and a libertarian nutjob goes berserk in Chile.
Readings:
- Bolivia: The Extreme Right Takes Advantage of a Popular Uprising, Raúl Zibechi, Toward Freedom (originally in Spanish in Uninomadasur)
- Emmanuel Macron in his own words, The Economist
- A Californian economist loves neoliberalism. When Chileans started protesting it, he opened fire. Teo Armus, Washington Post (also available from SFGate)
Rojava offered the hope that a progressive, multiethnic politics might be salvaged from the ashes of Syria’s civil war. Now the Turkish assault on northern Syria looks set to crush the Kurds and a radical experiment in the region.
We talk to two British volunteers in Rojava about the prospects that the political structures set up there might be saved.
- Dani Ellis (@lapinesque): engineer; civil defence volunteer, International Commune (@communeint)
- Alexander Norton: deputy features editor, Morning Star; revolutionary volunteer, International Freedom Battalion
Running order
- (05:27) - Dani interview
- (41:39) - Alexander interview
- (01:27:51) - Final discussion
Readings & Links:
- Internationalist Commune
- Rojava Information Center
- America abandons the Kurds, Tom Stevenson, LRB
- Russia and Turkey reach deal on Syrian border, Financial Times
- European leftists are rejecting the Kurds over their reliance on the US. It is just another disgusting betrayal, Slavoj Zizek, The Independent
- "Turkey Is Reviving Islamic State in Rojava", Rosa Burç & Kerem Schamberger, Jacobin
Glossary:
- YPG: Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (People's Defence Corps); PYD’s armed wing in Syria
- YPJ: Yekîneyên Parastina Jin (Women's Protection Units); all-female militia
- PYD: Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat (Democratic Union Party); Syrian Kurdish affiliate of the PKK
- SDF: Syrian Democratic Forces; alliance composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian/Syriac militias, led by the YPG
- PKK: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers' Party); Kurdish party in Turkey founded in 1978 by Abdullah Öcalan. Started armed insurgency in 1984, thousands of fighters in northern Iraq and Turkey
- IFB: International Freedom Battalion; armed group of foreign leftists fighting for the YPG in support of the Rojava Revolution
- MLKP: Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, Turkey
- TEV-DEM: Movement for a Democratic Society; umbrella organisation in northern Syria, aims at organising Syrian society within the democratic confederalist system
In our second Reading Club, we discuss Eliane Glaser's Anti-Politics (Repeater, 2018) and take readers questions and contributions.
Readings:
- Anti-Politics: On the Demonization of Ideology, Authority and the State, Repeater
For access to this and other bonus episodes, become a patron at patreon.com/bungacast
On Argentina's elections and Chile & Ecuador's revolts.
Macri's election was heralded by the right across the continent as the end to a sequence of centre-left governments in South America. Now only four years later, he is likely to be thrown out of office by the return of 'Kirchnerismo'. Next door, the supposedly "stable and growing" Chile is in flames as protests and riots challenge the conservative Piñera administration and the country's deep inequality. This follows on the heels of weeks of mobilisations in Ecuador against the ending of a fuel subsidy. What's going on and what does it all signify?
[Chile & Ecuador discussion starts at 46mins]
Readings:
- The Day After Macri’s Downfall, Martín Mosquera, Jacobin
- Lenín Moreno Has Betrayed Ecuador. Now the Country Is in Revolt, Guillaume Long, Jacobin
- Did Chile ditch its authoritarian government 26 years ago? Not quite., Jennifer Prible, WaPo
- If Piñera wants to wage war in Chile he should fight the real enemy: inequality, Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, Guardian
A new format in which we each bring to the table a key article to unpick and unpack.
This week we take a sharp look at the crumbling US political establishment and its empire: impeachment and regime legitimacy; centrist rebels against their lefty parents; and the betrayal of the Kurds.
Readings:
- Impeachment is regime suicide, Daniel McCarthy, Spectator USA
- Centrist-child syndrome, Shuja Haider, The Outline
- The US is now betraying the Kurds for the eight time, Jon Schwarz, The Intercept
On environmental protest politics. Extinction Rebellion and the Climate Strike have brought eco protest back to the front pages. But it all seems a bit of a flashback to the 2000s. We examine the protests' alarmism and post-political positioning. After inequality and class have been put on the agenda again, do these protests represent a step back? We also ask what might be done about climate change if we don't go along with these groups' interpretations and demands.
On UBI and social reproduction.
Following on from ep. 88 where we discussed post-work with Anton Jäger, we have Amber on to talk about her recent article in Jacobin on Andrew Yang's proposals for a Universal Basic Income. Is a citizen under a UBI regime really assimilable to a mid-century American housewife? How free is either? Does fully automated luxury communism put too much emphasis on luxury and not enough on communism? And would UBI lead to a more or less alienated society?
Reading:
Andrew Yang and the Failson Mystique, Amber A'Lee Frost, Jacobin For the full episode, subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast
On the Hong Kong rebellion. Four months of protests is forcing a confrontation with the Hong Kong authorities and the Chinese state. The demands are for civil liberties and some more democracy - but what are the social conditions underlying the protests? How important is colonial nostalgia and Hong Konger chauvinism? How is this playing with mainland Chinese - and what will be the CCP's response?
Reading:
- Hong Kong is one of the most unequal cities in the world. So why aren’t the protesters angry at the rich and powerful?, Toby Carroll, The Conversation
- Four Points on the Hong Kong Protests, Kevin Lin, Jacobin
Become a patron of BungaCast at patreon.com/bungacast
On post-work. We discuss Anton's review of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobsand why it seems to have such appeal, even amongst elites. There is a crisis in the work ethic, but is it an error to counterpose work and leisure and simply opt for leisure? Is leisure even 'ours' anymore, or has it been fully colonised by capitalism? Ultimately, is the problem today more about bullshit injobs, rather than bullshit jobs per se?
Readings:
- Back to Work: Review of David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs, Nonsite
- Anton's writing in Jacobin
For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Syriza lost the last Greek elections after 4 1/2 years in power. What happened to a party that, for a time, represented the European radical left's hopes? Did it achieve anything in power? Many talk about Tspiras' "betrayal" - is that the right way to look at it? And what are the wider consequences of this defeat: is time up for this wave of "left populists"?
Readings:
- Greece’s Long Road Ahead, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacobin
- Defeat and decomposition, Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism
- Syriza’s rise and fall, Stathis Kouvelakis, NLR
- New Democracy Against Democracy, Various (incl. Leo Panitch), Jacobin
- The Radical Left: The Time for its Re-founding, Costas Lapavitsas & Stathis Kouvelakis, Verso blog
- Book Review: The Populist Radical Left in Europe, Anton Jäger, LSE blog
This episode was previously exclusive to patrons. To access all our content, please subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
We discuss Paolo Sorrentino's "Loro" (2018), a dreamlike cinematic depiction of Silvio Berlusconi. Does the film succeed in capturing Silvio, or does it glamourise him? What explains the appeal he had - and why was the left never able to properly dethrone him? What does it say about 2000s Italy, and its relevance to our times? Subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast
If you can't find the film where you are, try this magnet link to torrent it: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:920ac6bdfe5a2bb33a9a100e3032c4ba197ec2a4&dn=Loro.2018.LiMiTED.BDRip.x264-CADAVER%5BEtMovies%5D&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969
Why hasn't neoliberalism died? We talk to Rune Møller Stahl about his paper "Ruling the Interregnum" in which he examines previous interregnums, such as the 1920s or the 1970s, and the forces that led to the establishment of new orders. What points the way forward today: resilient neoliberalism, economic nationalism or left populism?
Reading:
Ruling the Interregnum: Politics and Ideology in Nonhegemonic Times, Rune Møller Stahl
In our first Reading Club, we discuss Nancy Fraser's The Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born(Verso, 2019) and take readers questions and contributions.
Readings:
- The Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born, Verso
- From Progressive Neoliberalism to Trump—and Beyond, American Affairs
Listen to the whole episode by subscribing at patreon.com/BungaCast
Scenario-planning for Bernie: what is success, what is productive failure? We attempt to "dream realistically" with Adam Proctor (Dead Pundits Society): how far can this wave of 'democratic socialism' go? Bernie will fail - he won't bring in socialism, so how do we make that failure something to build on? How do we avoid the risk of demoralisation? And most dangerous of all, how to not interpret failure as success?
Plus bonus stuff on Syriza, Brexit and talking in platitudes.
Syriza lost the last Greek elections after 4 1/2 years in power. What happened to the party that for a time represented the European radical left's hopes? Did it achieve anything in power? Many talk about Tspiras' "betrayal" - is that the right way to look at it? And what are the wider consequences of this defeat - is time up for this wave of "left populists"?
Readings:
- Greece’s Long Road Ahead, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacobin
- Defeat and decomposition, Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism
- Syriza’s rise and fall, Stathis Kouvelakis, NLR
- New Democracy Against Democracy, Various (incl. Leo Panitch), Jacobin
- The Radical Left: The Time for its Re-founding, Costas Lapavitsas & Stathis Kouvelakis, Verso blog
- Book Review: The Populist Radical Left in Europe, Anton Jäger, LSE blog
Subscribe for the full episode at Patreon.com/BungaCast
2018 saw a strike wave in the US, as anger was given material form. We talk to Eric Blanc about his book on the wave of teachers' strikes in otherwise 'conservative' states. How can this experience be broadened out to other sectors? Is education a site for future struggle? And what is the role of public opinion in trade union victories? We also try to recover some lost radical history of West Virginia and Oklahoma.
Readings:
- Red State Revolt, Eric Blanc
- America's new redneck rebellion, Edward Luce, FT
In part four, we broaden the scope, to talk about the Frankfurt School, the humanities and 'romantic anti-capitalism'. If modernity features a battle between romanticism and rationalism, then the hippies represented an attempt to re-enchant a disillusioned world. But as that spirit was incorporated into market dynamics, it became rationalised and commodified. George and Alex sat down with Catherine Liu and Tyrus Miller (Dean of the UCI School of Humanities, and expert on Lukács) to mull over these questions.
CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series. Subscribe for full access: patreon.com/bungacast
In part five, we explore the professionalisation of friendship, by speaking to Dutch director and producer Menna Laura Meijer about her documentary on life coaching, Now Something Is Slowly Changing. The global rise of coaching seems to encapsulate many of the themes we've explored so far: an inward focus on the self, combined with marketisation, and bound together by ‘solutionism’ - quick fixes to deep social problems.
CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series. Links: Now Something Is Slowly Changing, mint film office
In part four, we broaden the scope, to talk about the Frankfurt School, the humanities and 'romantic anti-capitalism'. If modernity features a battle between romanticism and rationalism, then the hippies represented an attempt to re-enchant a disillusioned world. But as that spirit was incorporated into market dynamics, it became rationalised and commodified. George and Alex sat down with Catherine Liu and Tyrus Miller (UCI Humanities and expert on Lukacs) to mull over these questions.
CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series. Subscribe for full access: patreon.com/bungacast
In part three, we move from the Californian Ideology to talk about the Californian reality: class, suburbs and social mobility. We meet up with Joel Kotkin to discuss the new Californian class structure and the end of the Californian dream. Also, more bar chat, as friend of the podcast, Tim Abrahams, joins us to chat about the idea of LA, Californian urbanism and mobility.
CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.
Readings:
- The New Class Conflict, Joel Kotkin
- Californian Feudalism, Joel Kotkin
In part two, we chat about recreational drugs and mental states in a Hollywood bar with friends of the podcast, Amber A'Lee Frost and Alex Gendler. But mostly, we delve deeper into capitalism and depression with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Thomas Williams, Michael Mahoney, Benjamin Kruger-Robins).
CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.
Special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
In part one, we talk to Richard Barbrook about the Californian Ideology today before discussing health and mental illness with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Benjamin Kruger-Robins, Michael Mahoney, Thomas Williams).
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.
Readings:
- Natural Causes, Barbara Ehrenreich
- The Happiness Industry, William Davies
- Coming Up Short, Jennifer Silva
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
Synthesising what we learned about neoliberalism (ep74), discussing some concrete examples and drawing out the broader importance of it all.
-What gets called 'neoliberal' but actually isn't? And vice-versa? -Was the postwar social-democratic state more racialised than the neoliberal one? -Should we bring back 'rationalisation'? -Are Orban, Trump and Bolsonaro 'neoliberals'? -Is the EU peak neoliberal? Is Brexit necessarily anti-neoliberal? Subscribe for access: patreon.com/bungacast
On the unexpected origins of neoliberalism. We talk to Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists, about how neoliberals look back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the League of Nations. Why does neoliberalism talk about freedom, but promote order? Is neoliberalism about more or less state - or is it about what kind of state?
Plus why the genuine neoliberals didn’t care about the Cold War and how Murray Rothbard laid the ground for Trump.
Readings:
- Globalists, Quinn Slobodian
- Neoliberalism’s World Order, Adam Tooze
- Why I am not a conservative, F.A. von Hayek
- The EU is a betrayal of Europe’s exceptionalism, Douglas Carswell
Subscribe for access to the Synthesis Session, where the guys discuss the broader implications: patreon.com/bungacast
On 'Fully Automated Luxury Communism'. We talk about being pro-technology without being determinist. Does full automation mean the end of work? How do we craft a practical utopian vision? Plus some stuff about wolves and also Brexit.
Reading:
Fully Automated Luxury Communism, Verso Books Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at patreon.com/BUNGACAST Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
[For the full episode, please subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
On the European Parliamentary elections. Is this the day the 20th century truly died? Traditional social democratic and conservative parties took a pounding. The Greens surged. The populists didn't surge - but are now entrenched. And the radical and populist Left has not capitalised. What's the meaning behind what are often purely symbolic euro elections?
Readings:
[pieces by Anton & Catarina coming shortly]
[This is a short preview. For the full episode, please subscribe to our Patreon.] On 'Fully Automated Luxury Communism'. We talk about being pro-technology without being determinist. Does full automation mean the end of work? How do we craft a practical utopian vision? Plus some stuff about wolves and also Brexit.
Reading:
Fully Automated Luxury Communism, Verso Books Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at patreon.com/BUNGACAST Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
On 'neoliberal order breakdown syndrome' and the media. Glenn Greenwald talks to us about Russiagate and fake news, and is unimpressed with same old propaganda. We discuss about left-wing self-criticism, Bolsonaro and transgression, and ask how to be sceptical without sliding into cynicism.
Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
On migration and identity. The question of migration and borders has become increasingly fraught across different societies. Why has immigration become the means through which grievance is expressed? Where has 'white' identity come from? And how durable is identity politics as a force?
Readings:
Looking Closer to Home, Kenan Malik on EU and migration
The History and Politics of White Identity, Kenan Malik
Follow us on Facebook / Twitter. Sign up on Patreon: patreon.com/bungacast
On Peterson vs Zizek. Did the 'debate of the century' live up to its billing? More importantly, what explains Peterson's appeal - and Zizek's? Why did the debate have such an odd, out of time feel?
References:
The Fool and the Madman, Jacobin critique of the debate
Evaluating the Peterson-Zizek Debate, Doug Lain, Zero Books
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On Modern Monetary Theory. Doug Henwood joins us to discuss whether MMT offers a fiscal alternative for Left governments. What is monetary sovereignty and do all states have it? What are MMT's prospects for states as different as the USA, Nigeria or Brazil? Is it a suspect economic remedy, too much of a quick fix? Are MMT proponents guilty of avoiding political confrontation?
Readings
Modern Monetary Theory Isn’t Helping, Doug Henwood, Jacobin
MMT Is Already Helping, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Jacobin
Modern Money Theory 101: A Reply to Critics (pdf), Éric Tymoigne and L. Randall Wray
Modern Money Theory (MMT) vs. Structural Keynesianism, Thomas Palley
What Is Modern Monetary Theory and Why Is It So Important to the Green New Deal?, Jacob Weindling, Paste Magazine
We can't print our own money. So please help us out: PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST
On whether we can salvage anything from postmodernism. Have we left postmodernity - and if so, can can we be properly dialectical about it: see it as progress and catastrophe all at once? Is there a moment of truth to postmodernism amidst all the falsity?
We discuss the left intelligentsia's abandonment of materialism; phoney cultural populism; the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe; Knausgaard's six volume 'Min Kamp'; and the end of cultural rebellion.
Readings:
- The Apprentice in Theory: Fan, Student, Star, Catherine Liu & Devan Bailey on Avital Ronell, LA Review of Books
- Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Frederic Jameson, NLR
- Itemised, review of Knausgaard by Jameson, LRB
- The Myth of Pruitt-Igoe, documentary
If you like what we do, please support us. Go to Patreon.com/BungaCast
BungaLive. Debate on the future of Europe, held at Queen Mary, University of London on 21 March 2019.
Europe After Brexit: Internationalism or Transnationalism?
Until now, most debates about Brexit have only considered the question from the viewpoint of Britain itself and the shambolic process overseen by the Tory government. However, Brexit raises issues that go beyond the UK – and beyond the nation-state. How should Brexit be considered from the global vantage point, and what are its implications for Europe as a whole? Should left wing parties and progressive movements seek to remain in and reform the European Union, or is exit the better option?
The path to internationalism always led through the nation-state, but European integration seems to open the prospect of transnational solidarity at the continental level, mediated by EU institutions. Does the EU provide the infrastructure for a better, progressive Europe that can be captured and reformed by the left? How viable is the EU as a long-term political project? And if it is not viable, should European lefts seek to exit EU institutions in each of their own countries? What might European solidarity look like in an EU that is cracking apart under the weight of its contradictions?
Speakers: David Adler, writer and researcher; policy coordinator for European Spring. Based in Athens. Catarina Príncipe, political activist; contributing editor, Jacobin. Based in Porto. Lee Jones, reader in international politics, QMUL; co-founder, The Full Brexit. Based in London.
On 'Corbynomics'. We talk to James Meadway, former advisor to the UK's Shadow Chancellor, about what a Corbyn government could and should do. What is the scope for manoeuver of a Left Government in 2019? What does a British 'Green New Deal' look like? And we talk Brexit, because of course.
BungaLive is this Thursday (21 March) in London - reserve your ticket now: bungacast.eventbrite.com
On crime and the far-right. Prof Steve Hall explains what 'ultra-realism' in criminology means - and why we need to get beyond liberal idealism. We also discuss the rise of the English far-right, the EDL - and how a narrative of betrayal coheres it. Why do middle-class liberals have such a horror of authority - and why it's essential that the Left reclaim it. How are so many contemporary ideologies no longer fit for purpose? Also: what is 'special liberty' and how does it differ from entitlement?
Readings:
Interview with Steve Hall, Injustice-Film
The Rise of the Right: English Nationalism and the Transformation of Working-Class Politics (book)
Steve Hall's academic writing
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On the Gilets Jaunes - again. They won’t go away. They won’t be subsumed by other forces or institutions and, after more than three months, they’re not exhausted yet. Have the Gilets Jaunes punctured France’s depression and drift? How has ‘respectable opinion’ demonised them - and is there anything to the anti-Semitism accusations? Now that they have linked up with trade unions, how far can they go? Macron is on thin ice and European elections are coming up. What next for the 5th Republic?
Readings:
A Season of Discontent, Aurelie Dianara, Jacobin
Forgotten France Rises Up, Le Monde Diplo
France’s Class War, Le Monde Diplo
Macron’s Selective Anti-Racism, Jacobin
We are live in London on 21 March, to debate the future of Europe. Come join us: bungacast.eventbrite.com
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On the 2019 Academy Awards. Maren Thom joins us again to see what we can learn from the Oscar nominations. We debate when exactly Hollywood's 'end of history' was, and take film criticism to task for its literal-minded desire for representation. Has Hollywood - like so many other liberal institutions - tried so hard to be relevant that it has made itself irrelevant?
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On #NOBS in the media. So many newspapers are inadequate these days, as they shift to publishing opinion and listicles instead of hard reporting. Why has this happened and how does it relate to the end of history? Amber discusses her forthcoming article on the crisis in the media and we explain why leftists should read the Financial Times.
Plus: Amber rates previous Bunga guests and also explains why it's Bernie, bitch.
Reading:
Why the Left Can't Stand The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review
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On Nigeria's elections. Sa'eed Husaini fills us in on the stakes of this election. President Buhari dismissed the country's top judge weeks before the election, but the former military dictator is meant to be an anti-corruption figure. His main opponent is a neoliberal privatiser. What's behind this contents between two faces of the Nigerian elite? What happens when politics is fought over the grounds of corruption? Can recent trade union mobilisations shake things up? Meanwhile violence associated with Boko Haram still festers...
Readings:
Introductory
Nigeria’s Brutal Decision: Former Dictator or Alleged Kleptocrat, Bloomberg Businessweek
Thatcher-Loving Nigeria Candidate Plans to Overhaul Economy, Bloomberg Businessweek
Election overview by Brookings
More depth
The rebirth of the Nigerian left?, Sa'eed Husaini in Africa Is a Country
Democracy fading in Nigeria, Al Jazeera
On Sowore's programme, Marxist.com
The struggle for a minimum wage, Africa Is a Country
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On the rise of the 'digital party'. If politics has become distant from the people, what if a new model of party, leveraging platform technology, could bring the people closer to power? Paolo Gerbaudo talks to us about the various parties and movements innovating new organisational forms - 5 Star Movement, Podemos, the Pirate Parties. They bring in new members and more participation, but what if they also enshrine charismatic leadership? The digital party seems a step forward from the hollowed-out neoliberal parties of the past decades, but do they also reflect some negative tendencies of the tech economy?
Plus: Italy's M5S/Lega coalition, the sovereignty question, and Italians' contradictory attitudes to the EU.
Readings:
The Return of the Party, Paolo Gerbaudo, Jacobin
Ruling the Void, Peter Mair, NLR
Senso Comune organisation, Italy
The Experiment Interview on 5 Star Movement, Jacobin
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On democratic planning. Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski propose we look at Walmart and other giant corporations as sites of planning, not of markets -- and that this fact proves planning works. Rather than rely on markets and market actors to manage production and distribution, we should it ourselves. Do advances in computing mean that the old problems of planning have been overcome? Does planning lead to authoritarianism -- or does authoritarianism lead to bad planning? Can we overcome the age of Capitalist Übermenschen?
Readings:
- People's Republic of Walmart(Verso, March 2019)
- Planning the Good Anthropocene, Leigh & Michal in Jacobin
- Pt. III of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Friedrich Engels
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On the links between economic liberalism and fascism. Ishay Landa talks to us about the "Apprentice's Sorcerer": how political liberalism enfranchises the masses, to the disgruntlement of economic liberals, who then have to turn to an authoritarian or fascist 'daddy' to save capitalism. What does the liberal divorce between economic and political liberalism tell us about the conflict between democracy and private property? How does the fascist "principle achievement" relate to today's fondness for entrepreneurial heroes? Also, a restatement of how the horseshoe theory is horeshit.
Readings:
- Fascism and the Masses, Ishay Landa
- The Apprentice's Sorcerer, Ishay Landa
- Our episode on Losurdo & liberalism's contradictions
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On the cult of the entrepreneur. Alex Gourevitch talks to us about the "special kinds of assholes we get in our economy" and the dangers of the heroic capitalist icon. How does the earlier ideal of meritocracy differ from entrepreneurship as an ethos? Does celebrating the special creative genius of the disruptor actually mean glorifying tyranny?
Plus: the right to strike, domination in the workplace, and campy Trump.
Readings:
- A Radical Defence of the Right to Strike, Alex Gourevitch
- From Slavery to the Cooperative Commonwealth, Alex Gourevitch
- Nietzsche's Marginal Children, Corey Robin
PATREON: Please consider donating at patreon.com/bungacast
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The big 2018 populism discussion. We trash mainstream interpretations of populism (hiya, Cas Mudde) and debate the merits and demerits of 'left populism'. Thatcher, Clinton and Blair are today thought of as anti-populists, but what if they demonstrate many populist features? Is our future 'technopopulism'? And is the 'movement of movements' a dead end?
Plus plenty of bonus stuff: debating the 20th Century disaster; Hillary as the tragic figure of our age; and José Mourinho as right-wing populist.
Readings:
Anton's articles at Jacobin
Thea Riofrancos on Chantal Mouffe in n+1
Chris Bickerton on technopopulism
Cas Mudde on populism
The Guardian's stupid populism quiz
Phil Cunliffe on the 20th Century (Lenin Lives!)
The 'gilets jaunes' protests have shocked France, expressing a profound exasperation and anger that goes much deeper than frustration at a fuel tax. This is clearly a movement from below, of the people. But it is leaderless and thus far rejects affiliation with political parties. How far can it go? Is Macron's government at risk? This isn't the 'start-up nation' he dreamed of...
Readings:
We're With The Rebels, by Aurélie Dianara (Jacobin)
We discuss Nervous Stateswith its author: How has debate became so angery!1!! and fractious? Why don't we trust institutions any more -- or better, which institutions do we still trust and why? How has war increasingly encroached onto peace? And maybe believing in stats too much means that we now don't believe in anything...
Readings:
Nervous States(William Davies)
Postscript on the Societies of Control (Gilles Deleuze)
Theresa May's Brexit deal seems to have satisfied no one. Britain doesn't properly leave, nor does it stay, it just becomes a passive rule-taker. What are the prospects for the UK actually leaving? Will there be a second referendum? And does the difficulty in seeing through Brexit confirm that "there is no alternative"?
Readings:
The Full Brexit: for popular sovereignty, democracy and economic renewal
Costas Lapavitsas: Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour vs. the Single Market
In which we learn of Duterte's promises of blood and how he's lived up to those promises. Is massacring drug user, dealers and anyone caught in the crossfire actually popular? How does violence fit in with his development model? Do elites back his rule - and which elites? And how does he compare to other far-right authoritarians?
Readings:
The Duterte Reader (ed. Nicole Curato)
Nicole Curato in the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/opinion/philippines-rodrigo-duterte.html?smid=fb-share&referer=http://m.facebook.com
In which we update the latest from Brazil, post-election. What will Bolsonaro's government look like? We plot best & worst case scenarios and discuss how bad this really is (really, really bad). And is "fascism" the correct term to use?
Readings:
Bolsonaro Rising (Alex) https://thebaffler.com/latest/bolsonaro-rising-hochuli
Bolsonaro: more dangerous than Trump (Alex) https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/brazil-presidential-election-who-jair-bolsonaro-popular-candidate-more-dangerous-ncna925011
What Bolsonaro's election victory means (Ben) https://mg.co.za/article/2018-10-28-what-bolsonaros-election-victory-could-mean
Fascism has arrived in Brazil (Ben) https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election-results-president-fascism-far-right-fernando-haddad-a8606391.html
Privilege vs Democracy in Brazil (Alfredo Saad-Filho) https://jacobinmag.com/2018/10/brazil-election-bolsonaro-haddad-lula-pt-democracy
In which we discuss (post)modern relationships: dating, narcissism and capitalism. Are we all scared of each other? Are we trying to quantify the interpersonal? What does #MeToo et al suggest about contemporary womanhood?
Plus assorted stuff on Russophobia, fascism and anti-fascism, and how great Lana del Rey is.
Readings:
Christopher Lasch on narcissism: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1976/09/30/the-narcissist-society
The Last Psychiatrist: https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/11/a_generational_pathology.html
In which we talk to Amber about the limitations of liberal feminism and why socialism is better (duh). Personal trauma as a form of political argumentation is critiqued. And we debate the unfashionable topic of parenting and families. Maybe, beyind so much beyond subcultural squabbling and posturing on the Left, is actually a deep-rooted individualism. So we discuss how to get beyond that.
Readings:
Confession Booth: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/confession-booth-frost
Daddy Issues: https://thebaffler.com/all-tomorrows-parties/daddy-issues-frost
It's Okay to Have Children https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/08/its-okay-to-have-children
Special episode in partnership with Jacobin: Brazil election preview - democracy at stake.
Who is Bolsonaro and why should Bolsonaro be understood as a neofascist? We discuss the #EleNão feminist resistance and the backdrop of 'antipetismo'. How has the political centre and the middle class so easily swung over to vote for such an extremist? The notion of 'ultra-politics' is explained and we look at what might happen should Bolsonaro win - and should he lose.
Readings:
Essential Chomsky article: https://theintercept.com/2018/10/02/lula-brazil-election-noam-chomsky/
Jacobin archive on Brazil: https://jacobinmag.com/location/brazil
In which we ask whether political consumerism is still a thing. We chart its course from 90s Adbusters-style anti-branding, to 2000s ethical consumerism, through to today's woke outrage economy. Has commodification and cynicism overwhelmed all consumer activism?
Plus, we catch up with election results from Sweden and look forward to next month's Brazilian elections.
Readings:
Adbusted https://jacobinmag.com/2013/10/adbusted
The Philanthropy Racket https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/the-philanthropy-racket
The third in our Neoliberal Breakdown series. In which we discuss the late Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism, 10 years on. Does his analysis still hold? The mood music of the time - the age of 'TINA' and the end of history - was acutely described by Fisher. But did it only really describe Britain? And has the world now entered a new period?
Readings:
Capitalist Realismhttp://www.zero-books.net/books/capitalist-realism
'Exiting the Vampire Castle' https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/mark-fisher/exiting-vampire-castle
Mark Fisher's k-punk blog https://k-punk.org/
Cover image: 📸 Stephanie Jung
In which we discuss the work of the late Domenico Losurdo, especially his brilliant Liberalism: A Counter-History. Part of an ongoing series on the contradictions of liberalism, we debate whether Losurdo is right to point to liberalism's complicity with slavery, racism and colonialism. Why were arguments for self-rule often accompanied by justifications for slavery? Why were some liberal abolitionist arguments in favour of despotism?
We tie these discussions into contemporary paradoxes of liberalism and ask why liberalism is unable to realise its own values.
Reading: Liberalism: A Counter-History (book) https://www.versobooks.com/books/960-liberalism
Obituary of Losurdo (Jacobin) https://jacobinmag.com/2018/07/domenico-losurdo-italian-marxism-counter-history
In which we lay the liberal establishment down on the shrink's sofa. It's a systematic analysis of liberal derangement: of the inability to accept, explain, or respond to the breakdown of the current order. Why can't the liberal establishment accept that the 2008 crisis would eventually have political consequences? Why can't liberals explain why they keep losing? Why can't they offer anything but more of the same?
Symptoms:
- Incredulity and denial of political change
- Unwillingness to take responsibility
- Moralisation
- No belief in political causation (things just happen)
- Fetishising disinformation
- Elite persecution complex
- Hysteria & catastrophism
- Nostalgia for a very recent past & rewriting history
- Repetition compulsion
In which we ask why the urban question become so pointed today - in the Global North as well as in the South? We look at contestation in urban politics - in São Paulo, Johannesburg, London, New York, and beyond. What are the social movement struggles around housing, rent, transport, and the right to the city? What are the limits to housing & transport politics -- are they just consumer movements at the end of the day?
Guests:
- David Adler talks to us about rent in London and beyond.
- Ben Bradlow joins us to debate the big one: can municipal politics be sexy? And can city politics become national politics?
We conclude by returning to a recurring theme: is the Global North actually becoming more like the Global South?
Readings:
Ben Bradlow, Let Them Occupy: https://africasacountry.com/2018/02/let-them-occupy-housing-struggles-in-brazil-and-south-africa
David Adler, Generation Rent: https://jacobinmag.com/2016/04/big-short-housing-loans-renters-affordability
Review of Justin McGuirk's 'Radical Cities' https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/11/radical-cities-latin-america-architecture-justin-mcguirk-review
Interview with Raquel Rolnik https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2792-the-complete-subjugation-of-urban-policy-an-interview-with-raquel-rolnik
Steve Graham on vertical cities https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2995-elite-takeovers-of-the-vertical-city
Cover image: 📷Claudio Edinger
In which we survey Turkey's election results in light of five years of tumult - Gezi, economic downturn, terrorist attacks, Syrian war, coup, repression. Are cracks beginning to show for Erdogan? He teamed up with ultranationalists, while opposition secularists and Islamists joined forces, but Erdogan held on. How demoralised are the Turkish people, and what are the prospects for the Left? We conclude by debating whether Erdogan represents a generalisable type of political leader today: initally moderate and neoliberal, but tacking increasingly authoritarian and socially conservative.
In which we discuss how the Right won this month's election -- in a country that has never seen the Left in power. Is Colombia an exception? The civil war there feels like part of the Cold War that forgot to end. We discuss the fragile peace, the militarisation of politics, and drug cartels.
In which we try to understand why it's not the extremes, but the centre, that has given up on democracy. David Adler talks to us about his research, and we learn about the centrist tribes: elites, anti-elite populists, and the apathetic. We talk about how we think about political space and what 'moderate' really means... maybe that horeshoe needs to be turned upside down?
Readings:
David Adler in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/23/opinion/international-world/centrists-democracy.html
David Adler's working paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fOGwtRUF-y-98IcDs-3YYrtREl8GbaoH/view
In which we talk about the politics of hosting the World Cup + the sublots & intrigues that will animate the tournament: hot and cold wars, Salah's revenge, Brazil after the 7-1. Featuring lots of hating on Sergio Ramos.
In which we discuss why the Left should not to be scared of sovereignty: Brexit, Italexit, and Modern Monetary Theory
In which we unpick the legacies of 1968 and all that: political fragmentation, the loss of authority, the cult of youth.
In which we delve into the gun control debate: are guns really essential for democracy? Plus, the 2018 UK university strike.
In which we laugh at The Times' hatchet job with one of its targets & wonder what the West's endgame is in Syria
In which we unpick another Fidesz's victory and ask whether neoliberalism in an nationalist-authoritarian shell is the future
In which we ask who killed Marielle Franco & discuss the shooting at Lula's caravan + Brazil's absent center
In which we debate the 'equal opportunities revolution': how race & gender has changed, in the workplace & beyond
In which we debate the upcoming Italian elections. Also corruption, bunga bunga, communism, migrants, fascism, & Europe.
In which we ask whether capitalism makes us mentally ill. Also, moral panics & why PC follows political defeats
In which we discuss the Oscar nominees. Also lame battles over representation & why hopelessness has replaced catastrophism.
In which we explore what Ramaphosa's South Africa will be like. Plus BRICS, Pan-Africanism, and @AfricasACountry
Bonus! In which Leigh stays with us to discuss innovation, automation, UBI... & why the wages are too damn low.
In which we discuss environmentalism: how to really be against austerity & why we need democratic planning
In which we learn the extent to which the protests challenge the Islamic Republic itself. Also, why such little support from the Western Left?
In which we discuss Fifa, football and corruption. Also why doping, diving and cheaing is actually good.
In which we take on morality, ethics, identity, and solidarity... and that Internet everyone's always going on about.
In which we do the big picture of the coup. With deep context from David Moore & the political goings-on from Chipo Dendere.
Relaunch teaser ft. @KarlRemarks. The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History.
In which we learn about Burmese Buddhist nationalism, escalating violence against Muslims, and what happened to the West's liberal hero
In which we question the consequences of Charlottesville. Also, are statues just for collecting pigeon shit, and has Bannon 'bitten the shark'?
Bonus Content: Jason Walsh talks to us about the relationship of populism & the media, and reactions to Macron's election in France
In which we ask if the news is dead. Also, is the crisis of the media all it's cracked up to be? Ft. Jason Walsh + some dodgy stock tips
In which we discuss the Bolivarian project in Venezuela and the end of the Pink Tide. Also, loving The Mooch and hating Australia. Ft. guest Benjamin Fogel
In which we scratch our heads at Russophobia. Plus, strong male role models: Engels, Putin, and the Night King(?!)
Episode Eleven: In which we get scientific about Game of Thrones. Also ft guest Richard McCulloch, who knows what you're really thinking when you watch #GoT Survey link: http://www.questeros.org/q
Episode Ten: In which we size-up Macron and centrism's prospects. Plus, George's babushka and a counterrevolutionary review of Algiers' new album
Episode Nine: In which we recoil at the horror of the Grenfell Tower Fire and think through its political consequences. Also housing & urban development in Brazil, plus a flashback to the Salad Revolt of June '13
Episode Eight: In which we talk about the generation gap, lying to pollsters, and hot centrists.
Episode Seven: In which we argue about British politics actually being exciting. Also featuring special guest and professional 'sexual cuckservative' Luke Gittos, who lays down the law.
Episode Six: In which we consult the orb for insight into the roots of jihadism. Also too much talk about fantasy bots.
Episode Five: In which we talk about inspiring visions of the future & crappy ones too. Also, free Ferraris, prestige TV and Phil's leather washbag.