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Bungacast

Bungacast

The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History. Join us as we chart a course beyond the age of ?bunga bunga?.

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/392/ The Biggest Country No One Talks About (II) ft. Michael Vann

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
2024-02-16
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Excerpt: /391/ Aufhebonus Bonus - Feb 2024

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    
2024-02-13
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/390/ The Biggest Country No One Talks About ft. Vedi Hadiz

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
2024-02-09
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/388/ Betting on Bukele (I) ft. Nelson Rauda / Juan Rojas

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
2024-02-06
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/387/ Get Fungal to Save Culture ft. Lias Saoudi (Fat White Family)

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
2024-01-30
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Excerpt: /386/ Reading Club: Globalisation (III & IV)

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
2024-01-29
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/384/ Millennial Rule ft. Amber A'Lee Frost

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)

 

2024-01-23
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/383/ Stare into the Abyss with Us ft. Juliano Fiori

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
2024-01-16
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Excerpt: /382/ Death of the Millennial Left ft. Chris Cutrone

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
2024-01-09
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UNLOCKED: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch

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
2024-01-02
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[FROM THE VAULT] /104/ The Aristocracy of Finance ft. Alexander Zevin

FROM THE VAULT: ALEX'S PICK (2) 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

 

2023-12-28
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[FROM THE VAULT] /44/ Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome (N.O.B.S.)

FROM THE VAULT: ALEX'S PICK (1)

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

 

2023-12-28
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[FROM THE VAULT] /74/ Order Not Freedom ft. Quinn Slobodian

FROM THE VAULT: GEORGE'S PICK (2)

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

2023-12-28
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[FROM THE VAULT] /161/ Culture is Bad for You ft. Mark Taylor

FROM THE VAULT: GEORGE'S PICK (1)

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
2023-12-28
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[FROM THE VAULT] /46/ Exiting Capitalist Realism

FROM THE VAULT: PHIL'S PICK (2) 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 Realism http://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

2023-12-28
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[FROM THE VAULT] /136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton

FROM THE VAULT: PHIL'S PICK (1) 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
2023-12-28
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/381/ Contemporary Art: Inane Spectacle & Pompous Discourse, ft. JJ Charlesworth

On contemporary art.   Critic and editor at Art Review, JJ Charlesworth, joins us to talk about why so much contemporary art is bad. We discuss: Why is art no longer about beauty? Are we stuck between art that is either superficial or hyperpolitical? Why has there been a turn towards the mystical and irrational in art? How are ideas of the indigenous and the ecological represented in art today? Is there a romantic revolt against reason and is it new? Links: Criticism, Art and Theory in 1970s Britain: The Critical War, JJ Charlesworth The Return of Magic in Art, JJ Charlesworth, Art Review Gabriel Massan?s Decolonial Games, JJ Charlesworth, Art Review The naked truth about Marina Abramovi? ? her ?art? is a joke, JJ Charlesworth, Telegraph
2023-12-19
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Excerpt: /380/ Josephine?s Body Count

On Ridley Scott's Napoleon.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We couldn't avoid discussing the new biopic about the "world soul" himself, Napoleon Bonaparte. The film isn't great, but what can we learn from it? And how does it sit in a context in which most biopics today are about musicians, business leaders and scientists?   We discuss: Why did Scott choose to focus on Napoleon's relationship with Josephine? What is Scott trying to say, if anything, about Napoleon and the Napoleonic wars? Where are the depictions of youth, revolution and modernity? Are there any redeeming aspects to the film? What do we make of Phoenix's portrayal? Are we seeing the return of films about Great Men of History?
2023-12-12
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/379/ Sexy Pictures of Taylor Swift (Not Brexit)

On taking control.   The Netherlands has elected an anti-EU rightist, but he won't take the Netherlands out of the European Union. Britain left the EU, but net migration to the UK has soared to its highest levels. What's going on?   In this special episode, Alex treats Phil and George as interview guests and grills them over their book, Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy after Brexit. We discuss: Why all the fuss for Brexit, when things have ended up the same as they were before? Why Brexit when the same politicians are still in charge? Why was no section of society able to lead Brexit with a positive vision of the future? Did Brexiteers need a more concrete proposal beyond "democracy"? What lessons can be learned from Brexit by others in the EU?
2023-12-05
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Excerpt: /378/ Reading Club: Globalisation (II)

On Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]   We discuss the Part 2 of this landmark book from 2008, debating theories of Western economic decline: Robert Brenner's, and Arrighi's critique of it.   Points discussed: Are you 'Team Brenner' or 'Team Arrighi'? Was neoliberalism a counter-revolution? A passive revolution? A restoration? How does the depression of the 1870s compare to that of the 1970s or the post-2008 period? What are the characteristics of our own Belle Époque (1993-2007) What matters more in explaining the downturn: inter-capitalist global competition? Upward wage pressure? The role of the global South? Links: Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century, Giovanni Arrighi, Verso (2008)
2023-12-02
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/377/ The Locked-Up Country ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor

On Australia's lockdown.   We welcome back Shahar Hameiri and Tom Chodor to talk about their new book, The Locked-Up Country, to try to learn some lessons from Australia's response to Covid-19. We also talk about the country's recent Indigenous Voice referendum and ask whether it was Oz's "Brexit Moment".   In the episode we ask: Was the pandemic another success for the 'lucky country'? How was the Australian state transformed from the 1970s to the 2020s? Why was Australia's pandemic planning inadequate? What was up with the hotel-based quarantines? Why did the public largely support these measure? And what can the rest of the world learn from the experience?
2023-11-28
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Excerpt: /376/ AufheBonus Bonus - Nov 2023

On your criticisms.   [Patreon Exclusive - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]   We respond to your points made in the comments on Patreon over the past few months. The first section is of course dedicated to the Gaza war, followed by discussion on hyperliberalism, neutrality, big tech, outsourcing, and drugs.   Now available also as video on Patreon.
2023-11-20
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Excerpt: /375/ From Hyperliberalism to the Grayzone

On John Gray's The New Leviathans.   [Patreon Exclusive - for the full episode, follow the link]   We discuss the British post-liberal philosopher's new book, looking at his background, ideological journey, and why he might be of interest. We also ask: How does John Gray use Hobbes and the idea of a Leviathan? What is a "state of nature", and what would an artificial state of nature be? Is Gray right in this characterization of liberalism? Is hyperliberalism the product of liberalism's decay? What is postliberalism and how does Gray?s project fit with it? Readings: The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism, John Gray Pseudo-Leviathans, George Hoare, Damage
2023-11-14
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/374/ You?re Gonna Need Representation ft. Vincent Bevins

On a decade of protest around the world.   Journalist Vincent Bevins is back on the podcast to talk about his new book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution. We discuss the 2010s protest wave across countries as varied as Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Chile, Bahrain, Yemen, South Korea and Tunisia.   We ask: Why were protests in places that were so different all look so similar? Why was there such a focus on spontaneity, leaderlessness, peformativity, and horizontalism? What are some examples of the ways protests rejected representation? Was class or generation more important in driving these protests? Why did media becomes so important in pursuing political change? How can we avoid a repeat of the failures of the 2010s? Links: If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, Vincent Bevins, Public Affairs The mass protest decade: why did the street movements of the 2010s fail?, Vincent Bevins, The Guardian The End of the End of History: Politics in the 21st Century, Bungacast authors, Zer0 Books /121/ Those Murdering Bastards ft. Vincent Bevins /279/ Society of the Speculative ft. Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou
2023-11-07
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Excerpt: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch

On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality   [Patreon Exclusive - for the full episode, sign up @ 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
2023-10-31
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Excerpt: /372/ Reading Club: Globalisation (I)

On Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]   We discuss the Introduction and Part 1 of this landmark book from 2008 and ask if Arrighi's vision of China, the West and the structure of the global economy was correct.   Points discussed: What's at stake in thinking of East Asian growth as a renaissance, or correction of the historical blip of European ascendency? How compelling is the account of East Asian success as a fusion of industrious and industrial revolution? Was Arrighi right to focus on the neoconservative Project for a New American Century? What do we think about Adam Smith's account of different classes' capacity for political action What's at stake in the revisionist view of Adam Smith as pro-state Enlightenment thinker rather than patron saint of the free market?

Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links: Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century, Giovanni Arrighi, Verso (2008) The Left Hemisphere: Mapping Critical Theory Today, Razmig Keucheyan, Verso (2010)
2023-10-30
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/371/ The Milei Massacre Didn?t Happen ft. Ernesto Seman

On Argentina's historic election.   Historian of populism and anti-populism Ernesto Seman tells us what is happening in Argentina amidst severe economic crisis. The radical libertarian madman Javier Milei failed to win, and a second-round runoff will be needed, but politics has changed irreparably. The establishment right has been outflanked, while the left-populism of 'Kirchnerismo' is in crisis.   We discuss: What is 'Peronism' and how does it occupy so much political space? How does Milei appeal to informal workers using market ideology? What is distinct about Latin American populism? How is anti-populism used to denigrate the masses? What is the role of nostalgia for the golden age in Argentina? Reading: In Chile and Argentina, anti-populist politics is failing, Ernesto Seman, FT Breve historia del antipopulismo (Brief History of Antipopulism), Ernesto Seman Ambassadors of the Working Class, Ernesto Seman Javier Milei is not done yet, Alex Hochuli, Unherd Javier Milei is not a South American Trump, Alex Hochuli, Unherd Links: /367/ Don?t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos /189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis /93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka
2023-10-24
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/370/ Dead Ends in Israel & Palestine ft. Alex Gourevitch

On violence and the lack of political resolution.   Regular guest Alex Gourevitch joins us to discuss why the Israel/Palestine conflict is so intractable ? and why it draws so much attention. Alex then explains why, lamentably, there is no side worth choosing.   We then delve into various key points:  why Hamas was becoming irrelevant and how the 7 October attack was an attempt to combat that;  why violence is necessary but the Palestinians are in a catch-22;  how the West is implicated in the violence and callousness on show;  why the Palestinians are the most oppressed and forgotten people;  why Hamas is not an anticolonial freedom struggle; and  what is the right way to compare this to Ukraine. Links: No end in sight: Israel?s search for a Gaza strategy, Lawrence Freedman, FT (attached) The House of Zion, Perry Anderson, NLR Whither Palestine, David Polansky, Strange Frequencies  
2023-10-20
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/369/ Information-War and War-Politics ft. Jacob Siegel

On the war on disinformation and the war in Gaza.    Jacob Siegel, senior editor at Tablet, joins us to talk about Hamas's attack on Israel and Israel's assault on Gaza. We also discuss how the US crusade against 'disinformation' has led it to apply counterinsurgency tactics to its own citizens.   Why did Hamas attack when it did? Has it been successful in stopping Israeli-Saudi rapprochement? How much will this change Israeli society? And what does Israel want to achieve in bombing - and soon invading - Gaza?    Meanwhile, how has domestic politics become war? The state has meshed with corporate power to create an almighty surveillance apparatus. How can we start dismantling it?    And how do we escape the postmodern hall of mirrors in which high diplomacy and low culture-war merge, in which domestic and international, and peace and war, all blur into each other?   Links: On disinformation: A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century, Jacob Siegel, Tablet A trap has been set for Israel, Jacob Siegel, Unherd End US Aid to Israel, Jacob Siegel & Liel Leibovitz, Tablet On data: The Nanny vs. The Nanny State, Jacob Siegel & John Robb, Tablet Manifesto Podcast, Jacob Siegel & Phil Klay
2023-10-17
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/367/ Don?t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos

On sovereign debt and taking back control.   The leading candidate in Argentina's election this month wants to avoid defaulting on the country's debt at all costs. But back in 2001, after a mass revolt, Argentina reneged on its debts ? one of the very rare cases over the past 70 years of unilateral default.    Why are nations so eager to pay back creditors nowadays, especially when it means endless austerity and little prospect of economic development?   We talk to scholar Jerome Roos about his book, Why Not Default? and discuss a range of cases: Mexico, Greece, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Ghana - and of course Argentina. We find that the old free market system used to accept that reneging on your debts was a risk creditors had to take. No longer: transnational institutions make sure that creditors get paid every time.    How might countries free themselves from international financial dictatorship?   For part two of the interview and the After Party, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast   Links: Why Not Default?: The Political Economy of Sovereign Debt, Jerome Roos Memoria del saqueo (Social Genocide), film on 2001 debt crisis and uprising in Argentina (many versions available online) /83/ Now It?s Syrizous (episode on Syriza's defeat in Greece) The World in One Country: Greece, Jonas Kyratzes (part of ep.200)
2023-10-10
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/366/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (IV)

On polycrisis.   [Patreon Tier II and III Exclusive -  subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]   We reflect back on Jurgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis as a whole, having gone through it section by section in previous episodes, before exploring what the idea of 'polycrisis' is about. Everyone from Adam Tooze to the FT to the World Economic Forum think we're in a polycrisis. How does this notion compare to Habermas' understanding of crisis?    We also explore some related themes: cynical ideology and how it deflects criticism; whether we are more or less individualised today, and how you can have less collectivism and less individualism at the same time; and the difference between crisis and emergency.   Links: Why the West's elites invented a permacrisis, Thomas Fazi, Unherd Welcome to the world of the polycrisis, Adam Tooze, FT  Year in a word: Polycrisis, Jonathan Derbyshire, FT  On the crisis of crisis: /327/ Capitalism on Edge ft. Albena Azmanova  On the structural reasons why the regime survives: /246/ Why Isn?t There Revolution? ft. Vivek Chibber   
2023-10-09
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/365/ It?s So Over (Again) ft. Ryan Zickgraf

On the end of politics.   Is the craziness of the past years, since 2016, ebbing away? Is the establishment back in charge? Journalist Ryan Zickgraf joins us to argue that, yes, the period of 'hyperpolitics' has passed.    Trump has lost his edge, BLM has imploded, boring Biden rules, the Proud Boys are nowhere to be seen. Fewer protests, fewer small campaign donations, fewer news articles shared.   What is the implication of this? It seems that people are exhausted by the politicisation of everything. The upsurge in engagement in formal politics may be dwindling. But the culture wars are as hot as ever. And the venues for 'escape' from politics are more politicised than ever.    Accelerated social decline means we aren't exactly going back to the 1990s, but is history over all over again?   Readings: America's Politics of Nothing, Ryan Zickgraf, Compact After Anti-Politics: The Apeiron, Alex Hochuli, Sublation Everything is Hyperpolitical, Anton Jäger, The Point /361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker
2023-10-03
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UNLOCKED: /361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker

On US politics being stuck.   [This was originally a subscriber exclusive. Sign up now at patreon.com/bungacast]   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?
2023-09-28
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Excerpt: /364/ The Eternal Sunshine of the Bourgeoisie

On satire of the bourgeoisie.   [Patreon Exclusive. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast]   We discuss Luis Buñuel's "deranged masterpiece" from 1972, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and debate the social ritual of dinner, and why the guests in the film never get to eat theirs.   How does this early 70s surrealist film ? which in many ways set the template for cinematic satires of the bourgeoisie ? compare to more recent portrayals such as The Menu or Triangle of Sadness? Ultimately, who are the bourgeoisie and do they still exist, in a world of distributed ownership and managerialism?   Readings: ?A deranged masterpiece?: why you should watch The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian What Have the Bourgeoisie Done for us Lately?, Stephan Bertram-Lee, Sublation A Brief History of the Bourgeoisie, or We Are All Bourgeois Now, David Polansky, Strange Frequencies The Bourgeois(ie) as Concept and Reality, Immanuel Wallerstein, New Left Review
2023-09-26
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UNLOCKED: /351/ Eating the Left?s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Ger?cs

On the radical right in the global periphery.   [This was originally a 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 this 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
2023-09-19
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Excerpt: /363/ Outsourcing the State

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
2023-09-12
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/362/ Life Doesn?t Have to Zuck ft. Cory Doctorow

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
2023-09-05
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Excerpt: /361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker

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?
2023-08-29
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Excerpt: /360/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (III)

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
2023-08-25
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/359/ Apollo Gets High ft. Benjamin Fong

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
2023-08-22
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/357/ Lucky, Meaty Nations ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor

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
2023-08-15
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/356/ Land of the Unfree ft. Sohrab Ahmari

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. 

 

2023-08-08
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Excerpt: /355/ F***ing and shooting are not the same

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)
2023-08-01
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UNLOCKED /328/ The New Scramble for Africa

On geopolitical competition over Africa.   This episode was originally for subscribers only. To join, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast   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

 

2023-07-27
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Excerpt: /354/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (II)

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
2023-07-27
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/353/ Bunga Sells Out ft. Jason Myles

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
2023-07-25
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Excerpt: /352/ Cold War Marxism, East & West ft. Sean Sayers

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)
2023-07-18
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Excerpt: /351/ Eating the Left?s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Ger?cs

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
2023-07-11
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Excerpt: /350/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (1)

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 [email protected]
2023-07-04
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/349/ The PMC & Their Politics ft. Dan Evans & Catherine Liu

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?
2023-07-04
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