Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Bungacast
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
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| /436/ Slovakia's Four World Directions ft. Dominik Zelinsky | 10 Sep 2024 | 01:17:34 | |
On corruption, charisma, populism & assassination in Slovakia. Slovak sociologist Dominik Zelinksy joins us to discuss Slovakia's positioning between East and West. We discuss:
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| UNLOCKED: /419/ Who Owns Power ft. Fred Stafford | 05 Sep 2024 | 01:17:23 | |
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"./
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| /427/ Why Do We Make Our Emotions Match the Market? ft. Eva Illouz | 30 Jul 2024 | 01:18:46 | |
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:
Readings & Links:
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast Follow us: | |||
| UNLOCKED: /87/ Berluscoming | 12 Jun 2023 | 00:50:58 | |
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? | |||
| Excerpt: /345/ Who Is The New Elite? ft. Matt Goodwin | 06 Jun 2023 | 00:11:32 | |
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:
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| /344/ Don’t Do The Work ft. Ben Hickman | 30 May 2023 | 01:17:22 | |
On work stoppages and work-doings. Ben Hickman, published poet and senior lecturer in English at the University of Kent, joins us to discuss his project on different understandings of work, or rather, The Work. What is The Work and why is it so pernicious? Ben wrote a piece for Compact regarding how the American poet and radical professor Audre Lorde transformed the way we think about work. We talk through the differences between work and The Work, how it impacted radical activism, and how middle class work became all about self-exploration. Ben talks through a new book project on work and how it is understood culturally through figures such as Jackson Pollock, among others. Plus, what is happening with industrial relations on UK campuses, and how has radical politics unfolded in the Labour Party over the last few years? Reading:
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| Excerpt: /343/ Reading Club: Freedom (4) | 29 May 2023 | 00:15:23 | |
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.
For access to the Reading Club, join for $10/mo at patreon.com/bungacast Readings:
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| Excerpt: /342/ Maybe Don’t Abolish the Family? w/ Amber A’Lee Frost | 23 May 2023 | 00:11:08 | |
On family abolition. 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:
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| /340/ How to Grow a Backbone ft. Russell Jacoby | 16 May 2023 | 01:11:40 | |
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:
Other recent articles and interviews:
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| /339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu | 10 May 2023 | 01:08:44 | |
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:
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| /338/ The Energy Theory of Everything ft. Matt Huber | 09 May 2023 | 01:15:37 | |
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:
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| /337/ Nigeria Rising Downwards ft. Sa’eed Husaini | 02 May 2023 | 01:11:38 | |
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:
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| Excerpt: /336/ Reading Club: Freedom (3) | 27 Apr 2023 | 00:09:58 | |
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:
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| /426/ Expropriate the Canon ft. Catherine Liu (sample) | 23 Jul 2024 | 00:03:13 | |
On the disaster of the culture wars. Regular contributor Catherine Liu is back on to talk about her essay in Damage, issue 2, "Professional Populists in the Culture Wars". We discuss:
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| Excerpt: /335/ AI & the End of the End of History | 25 Apr 2023 | 00:07:02 | |
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:
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| /334/ Cancellation is Cancelled ft. Norman Finkelstein | 18 Apr 2023 | 01:17:49 | |
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 | |||
| Excerpt: /333/ Aufhebonus Bonus (April 2023) | 11 Apr 2023 | 00:07:21 | |
On your questions & criticisms. 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. | |||
| UNLOCKED: /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power | 06 Apr 2023 | 01:14:11 | |
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 | |||
| /331/ The Zone (pt. 1) ft. Quinn Slobodian | 04 Apr 2023 | 00:53:17 | |
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:
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| Excerpt: /330/ Reading Club: Freedom (2) | 02 Apr 2023 | 00:14:36 | |
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:
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| /329/ Justice Warriors ft. Matt Bors & Ben Clarkson | 28 Mar 2023 | 01:10:30 | |
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:
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| Excerpt: /328/ The New Scramble for Africa | 21 Mar 2023 | 00:12:11 | |
On geopolitical competition over Africa. 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:
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| /327/ Capitalism on Edge ft. Albena Azmanova | 14 Mar 2023 | 00:58:14 | |
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:
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| UNLOCKED! /319/ The Dead Left (II) ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow | 09 Mar 2023 | 00:50:28 | |
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. To gain access to episodes like this that normally remain paywalled, subscribe to our patreon: patreon.com/bungacast Part 1 is here: https://bungacast.podbean.com/e/318-the-dead-left-ft-steve-hall-simon-winlow/ Links: | |||
| /425/ Reading Club: Russia's Imitation Democracy (sample) | 16 Jul 2024 | 00:03:49 | |
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.
Readings:
Listening Links:
Music: Éva Csepregi, "O.K. Gorbacsov", Hungaroton , WEA, High Fashion Music, Dureco | |||
| Excerpt: /326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next? | 07 Mar 2023 | 00:08:23 | |
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:
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| Excerpt: /325/ Reading Club: Freedom (1) | 28 Feb 2023 | 00:12:27 | |
On Martin Hägglund's This Life. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We begin the 2023 Reading Club with the theme of FREEDOM. In this episode, we examine Martin Hägglund's arguments for secular faith presented in the first half of his book. Is Hagglund right in arguing that much of religious belief, especially in relation to morality, is actually motivated by secular faith? Hägglund's enemy is not so much religion as the "Stoic" attempt to withdraw and detach from the temporal world. Instead we should be engaged and committed to the persons and projects we care about in this life. But does Hägglund underestimate alienation? Is his approach overly demanding? And what about disenchantment? How would we go about re-enchanting the secular world? For local Reading Clubs, email info@bungacast.com Readings:
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| /324/ Reifying Race ft. Kenan Malik | 28 Feb 2023 | 00:53:18 | |
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: | |||
| Excerpt: /323/ Tasty Frictionless Convenience | 21 Feb 2023 | 00:10:04 | |
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:
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| /321/ Covid Dissensus ft. Toby Green & Thomas Fazi | 14 Feb 2023 | 00:56:28 | |
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:
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| Excerpt: /320/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Feb 2023) | 07 Feb 2023 | 00:13:58 | |
[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.
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| /318/ The Dead Left ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow | 31 Jan 2023 | 01:04:20 | |
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:
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| /316/ From Emergency to Emergency: 2022 Review, ft. Ashley Frawley | 24 Jan 2023 | 00:58:08 | |
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
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| /314/ Shallow & Wrongheaded Filmic Squabbles ft. Maren Thom & Alex Dale | 17 Jan 2023 | 00:53:34 | |
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:
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| /312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley | 10 Jan 2023 | 01:04:00 | |
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/bungacast Readings:
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| /424/ Aufhebonus Bonus - July 2024 (sample) | 12 Jul 2024 | 00:02:44 | |
On your questions & criticisms about fertility, culture war, and more. 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.
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| Excerpt: /311/ Reading Club: The Precariat | 06 Jan 2023 | 00:06:11 | |
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:
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| Excerpt: /310/ Do You Want to De-Grow? | 03 Jan 2023 | 00:15:57 | |
On 'degrowth communism'. 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:
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| /309/ Sack of Potatoes ft. Anton Jäger | 20 Dec 2022 | 01:04:23 | |
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:
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| Excerpt: /308/ A Balance-Sheet of the Left | 13 Dec 2022 | 00:11:19 | |
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/bunga2022survey
Links:
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| Excerpt: /307/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Dec 2022) | 06 Dec 2022 | 00:07:58 | |
On your questions & criticisms. 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 | |||
| Excerpt: /306/ Reading Club: AI Capitalism | 01 Dec 2022 | 00:09:58 | |
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
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| /305/ Techno-Feudal Unreason | 29 Nov 2022 | 01:14:05 | |
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:
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| /303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua | 22 Nov 2022 | 00:45:50 | |
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:
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| OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations (FULL) | 15 Nov 2022 | 05:04:57 | |
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: We look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages. Guests include:
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:
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:
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:
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:
Original music by: Jonny Mundey Additional music:
Other Clips:
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| Excerpt: /302/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Nov 2022) | 08 Nov 2022 | 00:10:26 | |
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?
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| /423/ Who Wants the 'Worst Job' in France? ft. Charles Devellennes | 08 Jul 2024 | 01:11:58 | |
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:
Links: The Macron Régime: The Ideology of the New Right in France, Charles Devellennes | |||
| Excerpt: /301/ Reading Club: Neo-Feudalism | 04 Nov 2022 | 00:12:08 | |
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:
Next month: Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books | |||
| /300/ Bunga at the End of the World | 02 Nov 2022 | 01:17:25 | |
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:
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| /299/ Micropower & Transcendence in Brazil (Bungazão 2022) ft. Miguel Lago | 28 Oct 2022 | 01:26:17 | |
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:
Listenings:
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