Bungacast

/303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua

On Mali and the Sahel.

 

French president Emmanuel Macron declared the end of Opération Barkhane on 9 November 2022, bringing to an end to nearly 10 years of French military intervention in Mali. But what is the legacy of the French Forever War in the Sahel, and what happens next?

 

Sahel expert Yvan Guichaou joins us to talk about French defeat in the war on terror, the continued French military presence in the region, the growing extent of jihadi power, as well as the crisis of the post-colonial state in Africa and the new geo-politics of Franco-Russian competition in the region. How do these various political forces intersect with the political economy of aid and smuggling networks?

 

[Part 2 is available to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast]

 

Readings:

• Norms, non-combatants' agency and restraint in Jihadi violence in Northern Mali, Yvan Guichaoua and Ferdaous Bouhlel, International Interactions
• The bitter harvest of French interventionism in the Sahel, Yvan Guichaoua, International Affairs

Music: Nous Non Plus / Bunga Bunga / courtesy of Sugaroo!

/267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

On crumbling state authority.

 

Benjamin Fogel is back on the podcast to talk us through how South Africa has gone from the hopes of post-apartheid to the Durban riots of 2021. How have corruption, criminal networks, Indian oligarchs, and political forces combined to shatter any sense of a national project? We also discuss the role of xenophobia and particularist and racial politics in today's South Africa.

 

Readings & Links:

• /27/ After Zuma ft. Sean Jacobs
• The insurrection in South Africa is about more than freeing Zuma, Benjamin Fogel, Al Jazeera
• Dons have KZN in their grip — and Don of Dons Jacob Zuma has the tightest grip, Chris Makhaye, Daily Maverick
• No two elephants are alike, Ryan Brunette, Africa Is A Country
• Rising vigilantism: South Africa is reaping the fruits of misrule, Landau & Misago, The Conversation

 

Excerpt: /202/ 3 Articles: Clerisy, War, Football

In our latest 3A, we discuss "the clerisy" and how it relates to the PMC; how the EU is doing forever war just as much as the US; and the hyper-commodification of football.

The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

Articles:

• Did Populism Start A 21st Century Anti-Clerical Revolution?, Angela Nagle, Substack
• Interview with Wolfgang Streeck: The EU’s war in Africa, Jonas Elvander, Brave New Europe
• Cursed and compromised but Euro 2020’s irresistible circus rolls on, Barney Ronay, The Guardian

Excerpt: /134/ The Call - Afterparty

This is a sample. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast 

The three of us discuss some of the themes that emerged from our interview with Krithika Varagur (ep.133) - the entanglement of the US state with Islamism, the Americanisation of the Middle East, and especially the Gulf States, and Wahhabism as religious justification for the Saudi state project.

/133/ The Call ft. Krithika Varagur

On Saudi religious proselytism.

Saudi Arabia has actively sought to export Salafism. How has it done this - and what have been its effects, in countries like Indonesia, Nigeria and Kosovo? Why was fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s such a formative experience for jihadists? And why has appeal of secularism faded?

Readings:

• The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project, Krithika Varagur
• How Saudi Arabia's religious project transformed Indonesia (Long excerpt from the book)
• The Coronavirus Threatens Saudi Arabia’s Global Ambitions, Krithika Varagur, Foreign Affairs
• Saudis and Extremism: 'Both the Arsonists and the Firefighters', Scott Shane, NYT
• China as the New Frontier for Islamic Daʿwah, Mohammed Turki al-Sudairi, Journal of Arabian Studies

/61/ Making Plans for Naija ft. Sa'eed Husaini

On Nigeria's elections. Sa'eed Husaini fills us in on the stakes of this election. President Buhari dismissed the country's top judge weeks before the election, but the former military dictator is meant to be an anti-corruption figure. His main opponent is a neoliberal privatiser. What's behind this contents between two faces of the Nigerian elite? What happens when politics is fought over the grounds of corruption? Can recent trade union mobilisations shake things up? Meanwhile violence associated with Boko Haram still festers... 

Readings:

Introductory

Nigeria’s Brutal Decision: Former Dictator or Alleged Kleptocrat, Bloomberg Businessweek

Thatcher-Loving Nigeria Candidate Plans to Overhaul Economy, Bloomberg Businessweek

Election overview by Brookings

More depth

The rebirth of the Nigerian left?, Sa'eed Husaini in Africa Is a Country

Democracy fading in Nigeria, Al Jazeera

On Sowore's programme, Marxist.com 

The struggle for a minimum wage, Africa Is a Country 

 

PATREON: Help us grow (pay what you want) patreon.com/bungacast

/27/ After Zuma ft. Sean Jacobs

In which we explore what Ramaphosa's South Africa will be like. Plus BRICS, Pan-Africanism, and @AfricasACountry 

/20/ The Coup in Zimbabwe

In which we do the big picture of the coup. With deep context from David Moore & the political goings-on from Chipo Dendere.