Bungacast

/436/ Slovakia's Four World Directions ft. Dominik Zelinsky

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

 

UNLOCKED: /419/ Who Owns Power ft. Fred Stafford

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

/435/ Reading Club: Stalin's General – Winning WWII (sample)

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

/434/ Bodiless Bodies ft. Matthew Thompson & Jonny Gordon-Farleigh (sample)

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

/433/ Aufhebonus Bonus – August 2024 (sample)

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

/432/ Median Left Thought and its Monsters ft. Ben Burgis (sample)

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

/431/ The Myth of Monolithic China ft. Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri

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

/430/ Welcome to the Tourist Age ft. Marco d'Eramo

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

/429/ Reading Club: Treason of the Intellectuals (sample)

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

/428/ The First Poaster (Vice) President? ft. Ryan Zickgraf

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

/427/ Why Do We Make Our Emotions Match the Market? ft. Eva Illouz

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

 

Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast

Follow us:

X

Instagram

TikTok 

YouTube

/426/ Expropriate the Canon ft. Catherine Liu (sample)

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 

/425/ Reading Club: Russia's Imitation Democracy (sample)

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

/424/ Aufhebonus Bonus - July 2024 (sample)

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.

 

 

/423/ Who Wants the 'Worst Job' in France? ft. Charles Devellennes

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