Episodes
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
/200/ The World In One Country ft. Many Guests
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
Tuesday Jun 29, 2021
On world history, 1900-2020.
For our 200th episode special, we pose the question: "If you had to study the history of only one country from 1900-2020, and thereby understand the history of the whole world, which would you pick?"
We invited 10 contributors to each pitch one country, whose particularities capture the universal sweep of world history from the start of the 20th century till now.
Vote for which you think is best, and we'll have the top 3 back on to discuss in more depth: Link to voting page
Running order:
- (18:20) Germany - Dominik Leusder
- (23:02) Greece - Jonas Kyratzes
- (27:57) India - David Adler
- (33:46) Indonesia - Vincent Bevins
- (38:25) Iraq - Liam Meissner
- (44:03) Italy - David Broder
- (49:19) Mexico - Roger Lancaster
- (54:01) Taiwan - Nic Johnson
- (59:44) Turkey - Arash Azizi
- (01:04:32) Yugoslavia - Lily Lynch
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Friday Jun 18, 2021
/198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
Friday Jun 18, 2021
Friday Jun 18, 2021
On secularism, nationalism and identity politics.
India is held up as a model developing country: liberal, democratic, multicultural. Renowned Indian writer and activist Achin Vanaik joins us to examine how India has turned away from universalism and secularism.
How did Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress as a whole lay the seeds for today's Hindu chauvinism? What are the consequences of defining secularism as merely 'tolerance'? And how has caste come to function a bit like identity politics in relation to the state?
Readings:
- Nationalist Dangers, Secular Failings, Achin Vanaik, Aakar Books
- The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism, Achin Vanaik, Verso Books
- The Rise of Hindu Nationalism and the Failures of the Indian Left, Interview with Achin Vanaik, Jacobin
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
/195/ No Shock China ft. Isabella Weber
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
On China, economic reform, and the future.
While Russia famously succumbed to destructive neoliberal "shock therapy", China managed to avoid it. How and why? Isabella Weber, author of How China Escaped Shock Therapy, tells us about China's opting for gradual reform instead.
What did reform mean for understandings of socialism? Do communists make the best capitalists? And is the pursuit of growth and development at any cost China's own version of the End of History?
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
/186/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Lee Jones
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
Tuesday Apr 13, 2021
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How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
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COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state, Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
/185/ Discipline-Flourishing Democracy ft. Lee Jones
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
Tuesday Apr 06, 2021
On the uprising in Myanmar, plus Covid state failure.
Southeast Asia scholar (and Bunga recidivist) Lee Jones joins us to talk about the coup in Myanmar (and why the word “coup” can be misleading), and explains the nature of the forces opposing the military, in the context of the country’s recent transition to civilian rule.
Then, from 40mins, we discuss how the UK failed in dealing with the pandemic, and how this applies across the West. Lee's recent work looks at the neoliberal "regulatory state" and its incapacities, so we compare the UK's failure with Korea's relative success.
Readings:
- Preliminary thoughts on the Myanmar “coup”, Lee Jones, Medium
- Responding to the Myanmar coup, Crisis Group
- How the Civil Disobedience Movement can win, Aye Min Thant and Yan Aung, Frontier
- How the pandemic has exposed Britain’s failed ‘regulatory state’, Lee Jones, Daily Telegraph
- COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state (pdf), Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri, Review of International Political Economy
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
/156/ Cosmo-Jihad ft. Darryl Li
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
Tuesday Oct 27, 2020
Internationalism used to be a defining characteristic of the Left. Globalism is a defining characteristic of neoliberal capitalism. Both seem to be characteristic of Islamist jihadism. How did Islamist reaction become globalised? How far does Islamist globalism connect to radical legacies of Third Worldism, internationalism and radical solidarity? Political anthropologist Darryl Li, author of The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity joins us to discuss the transnational history of jihad over the last 30 years.
Reading:
The Universal Enemy - Book Forum, The Immanent Frame, Various Authors
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
/150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
Tuesday Sep 29, 2020
On Iran at the End of History.
When the US assassinated Iran's 'shadow commander', Qassem Soleimani, everyone thought WW3 would break out. What happened instead? We talk to the author of a new book on Soleimani about the "local boy who made it", and look at how Soleimani masterminded Iran's interventions all over the region.
We also discuss how the Iranian Revolution represented a degradation of universalism, as it marginalised secular nationalism, socialism and communism. Would the Shia-Sunni conflict, with Iran as leader of the Shia faction, therefore be yet another step away from universalism? And what role did the US play in fomenting sectarian conflict?
Readings:
- Book: The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran's Global Ambitions, Arash Azizi, OneWorld
- Qassem Soleimani and How Nations Decide To Kill, Adam Entous & Evan Osnos, New Yorker
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
UNLOCKED /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Singapore is held up as a free-market utopia: rich, orderly and clean. But the reality is quite different. Why does Singapore exert such a magnetism for neoliberals, when its reality strays from orthodox prescriptions? What and who made this model 'global city', and how does its communist and anti-colonial past lead to its hyper-capitalist present?
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Excerpt: /134/ The Call - Afterparty
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
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.
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
/133/ The Call ft. Krithika Varagur
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
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
Tuesday May 05, 2020
/121/ Those Murdering Bastards ft. Vincent Bevins
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Tuesday May 05, 2020
On The Jakarta Method.
We're joined by Vincent Bevins to discuss his new book on the 1965-66 mass killings in Indonesia, Cold War anti-communism, and the destruction it wrought around the world. The mid-60s proved pivotal, with US-backed coups in Indonesia and Brazil setting the template. What was their effect on the Left worldwide? How did it alter developmental trajectories across the Third World? What lessons can we take from these historical experiences?
Running Order:
- Indonesia - (10:43)
- Brazil & application of Jakarta Method - (36:14)
- Themes of anticommunism - (43:55)
- Global consequences - (53:03)
- Anticommunism today - (01:14:39)
- Bonus stuff - (1:21:18)
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Excerpt: /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
This is a sample. The full episode is available by subscribing at patreon.com/bungacast
Singapore is held up as a free-market utopia: rich, orderly and clean. But the reality is quite different. Why does Singapore exert such a magnetism for neoliberals, when its reality strays from orthodox prescriptions? What and who made this model 'global city', and how does its communist and anti-colonial past lead to its hyper-capitalist present?
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
/108/ Coronageddon? ft. Mark Honigsbaum / Lee Jones
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
On pandemics, panics, and China.
The 2019 Novel Coronavirus is yet another new epidemic to appear on the scene this century. What accounts for their increasing frequency, and who decides if an epidemic is classed as a pandemic? More importantly, what governs that choice? The WHO and the whole intergovernmental management of health has 'securitised' these questions. Are they privileging the free flow of capital over public health? And what of China's draconian response and lockdown of Wuhan - is it effective? And who will bear the blame if things go wrong? Might Coronavirus become a threat to Xi Jingping and the Chinese regime?
Readings:
- ‘Rumormonger’ Doctor Who Raised the Alarm Says He Has Coronavirus, Sixth Tone
- 'Hero who told the truth': Chinese rage over coronavirus death of whistleblower doctor, The Guardian
- The Free Market Isn’t Up to the Coronavirus Challenge, Leigh Phillips, Jacobin
- Locked-down Wuhan and why we always overplay the threat of the new, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
- Coronavirus: nature fights back, Michael Roberts blog
Guests' books:
Mark Honigsbaum: The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria and Hubris
Lee Jones (& Shahar Hameiri): Governing Borderless Threats: Non-Traditional Security and the Politics of State Transformation
Running order:
- (00:44) Introduction
- (06:21) Mark Honigsbaum
- (38:48) Lee Jones
Tuesday Dec 10, 2019
/100/ What Was the End of History? ft. Many Guests
Tuesday Dec 10, 2019
Tuesday Dec 10, 2019
On the 30 years since 1989.
For our 100th episode, we invited our favourite guests to reflect on the question: “What one event, personal or political, most captures for you the past thirty years, since 1989?”
Are we still living in the death throes of the 20th century, or is something new emerging?
Guests:
- (00:07:42) - Maren Thom
- (00:14:14) - David Broder
- (00:21:33) - Ashley Frawley
- (00:26:11) - Catherine Liu
- (00:33:05) - Angela Nagle
- (00:40:49) - Benjamin Fogel
- (00:46:25) - Alex Gourevitch
- (00:51:31) - BungaCast hosts
- (00:59:22) - David Adler
- (01:04:05) - Amber A’Lee Frost
- (01:08:48) - James Heartfield
- (01:16:17) - Anton Jaeger
- (01:23:24) - Leigh Phillips
- (01:30:25) - Lee Jones
- (01:36:03) - Karl Sharro
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
Thursday Sep 26, 2019
/89/ On the Lam: Hong Kong Rebels ft. Toby Carroll
Thursday Sep 26, 2019
Thursday Sep 26, 2019
On the Hong Kong rebellion. Four months of protests is forcing a confrontation with the Hong Kong authorities and the Chinese state. The demands are for civil liberties and some more democracy - but what are the social conditions underlying the protests? How important is colonial nostalgia and Hong Konger chauvinism? How is this playing with mainland Chinese - and what will be the CCP's response?
Reading:
- Hong Kong is one of the most unequal cities in the world. So why aren’t the protesters angry at the rich and powerful?, Toby Carroll, The Conversation
- Four Points on the Hong Kong Protests, Kevin Lin, Jacobin
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