Bungacast

On Brazil's containment of the crisis.

We talk to members of the Unbridled Possibility Collective (Fabio Luis B. Santos | Thais Pavez | Daniel Cunha) about their intervention, trying to look beyond this week's election in Brazil.

What does establishment support for Lula this time round represent? Is Lula guilty of "unrealistic pragmatism"? How will Brazil react to a potential coup attempt by Bolsonaro? 

And we look at the deeper social and structural context: what are the features of the Brazilian "war of all against all"? How does Bolsonaro accelerate these tendencies?

We conclude by looking at the possibility of a new 'Pink Wave' in Latin America and examining the state of the Brazilian left. 

Readings:

• After the Election: a Contribution to the Debate, Unbridled Possibility Collective, Damage
• /189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis
• Brazil's Arrested Development, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin
• Policing Bolsonaro's Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Verso

On the Brothers of Italy.

We talk to Mattia Salvia, former Rolling Stone Italia politics editor and author of Interregno, about Italy's election last weekend in the context of a Europe in crisis. The big question to start: is Meloni a fascist - and will her government be fascist?

With very low turnout, it seems like the working class has deserted politics, with 5 Star being the last gasp of proletarian participation. Does Meloni try to appeal to this constituency at all? Her low-tax anti-welfare policies don't seem like it.

And what of Meloni's pro-NATO politics? And what does this mean for the EU - will a FdI-ruled Italy weaken the union, or strengthen it? 

Readings:

• Meet the New Wolf, Giorgia Meloni, Mattia Salvia, Popula
• In Italy’s Deserted Democracy, Far-Right Giorgia Meloni Has Emerged Victorious, David Broder, Jacobin
• Meloni’s victory only strengthens the EU, Philip Cunliffe, Unherd
• What an Italy led by the far-right might mean for Europe, FT

In Italian:

• Coatta Antica, Mattia Salvia, Not Nero
• http://www.iconografie.it/

• Will Bolsonaro Be Held Responsible for Brazil’s COVID-19 Disaster?, Alcysio Canette, Jacobin
• Cálice podcast, Atabaque Produções (in Portuguese)
• Pro-Bolsonaro Protests Were Supposed to Show His Strength. Instead, They Showed His Weakness, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin (on last year's 7 September protests)
• From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin

• Emmanuel Macron Is Forming a New Right-Wing Bloc, Interview with Bruno Amable, Jacobin
• Why Macron is invincible, Christopher Caldwell, Unherd
• Le Pen was doomed from the start, Nathan Pinkoski, Compact

• Waking Up from Anesthesia: Decline and Violence in France, Alexis Moriatis, Brooklyn Rail
• Macron, Le Pen and France’s long battle between order and dissent, Sudhir Hazareesingh, FT
• Jean-Luc Mélenchon's new supporters: the young, urban working class, Julie Carriat, Le Monde

• Technopopulism: The New Logic of Democratic Politics, Chris Bickerton
• The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide, Chris Bickerton

• Charles' twitter thread on the similarities between Macron and Le Pen
• Why the French left keeps failing, Charles Devellennes, spiked
• The Gilets Jaunes and the New Social Contract, Charles Devellennes
• The Macron Régime: The Ideology of the New Right in France, Charles Devellennes (forthcoming)

On people power on three continents.

We discuss Chile's landmark elections, the first after the uprising of 2019-20, which see a face-off between left and far-right; Modi's repeal of controversial laws that provoked a huge mobilisation of farmers in India last year; and protests and riots against new lockdowns and vaccine mandates across Europe.

Articles:

• Has the Backlash to Progressivism Come to Chile?, Lili Loofbourow, Slate
• In Rare Show of Weakness, Modi Bows to India’s Farmers, Various, NYT
• Violence in Belgium and Netherlands as Covid protests erupt across Europe, Jon Henley, The Guardian

Other relevant episodes

• /93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka
• /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik

• Jacobin executive summary
• Full report (pdf)

On German's elections – and the costs of stability.

Wolfgang Streeck is back on the podcast to round-up Germany's elections last Sunday (26 September). What's behind the emphasis on continuity and competence? Is Germany stuck in the 2000s?

We also discuss the importation of US-style culture wars into Germany, the country's role in the Eurozone, and strategic relations with France. 

The second part of the conversation – where we debate the end of neoliberalism and capitalist crisis – is over at patreon.com/bungacast.

Readings:

• Will it Be Enough?, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar
• “Order” Prevails in Berlin, Gregor Baszak, The Bellows
• Things Can’t Go on Like This for the German Left, Alexander Brentler, Jacobin

On Germany's election this week.

Merkel has led Germany since 2005, outlasting any number of politicians across the West. What accounts for her longevity? How has such a non-ideological, post-political figure lasted so long? 

Germany is finally leaving her motherly embrace. But why is continuity on the cards, despite the many global crises Germany has passed through?

On the socialist case for Scottish independence.

David Jamieson and Cat Boyd, writers and hosts of Conter, the Scottish anti-capitalist website and podcast, join us to to talk about the prospects for Scottish independence in advance of the Scottish parliamentary elections in May. Would an independent Scotland within the EU be a contradiction in term? How would an independent Scotland fare - and what would it mean for the "national question" across Europe? And what's up with the factional strife among Scottish nationalists?

Readings:

• Contercast, podcast hosted by Cat & David
• Independence Beyond Salmond and Sturgeon, David Jamieson, Conter
• The Origins of Scottish Nationhood, Neil Davidson, Pluto Press

On the US election, a huge turnout and the end of Trump.

We survey the results of the presidential and legislative elections, peer through the exit polls and discuss some counterintuitive facts: Florida goes Trump but opts for a $15 minimum wage; California goes Biden while Uber gets its way; Trump did protectionism but it didn't help him win the Rustbelt; the Republicans win over more Latinos – but do Latinos even exist?

And the big questions: Will Biden and the Democrats have any authority now that they don't have anti-Trumpism to drive them? Is a Biden administration to be a Silicon Valley dictatorship? And will the GOP be Trumpism without Trump?

Readings:

• Are the Democrats losing on purpose? Amber Frost & Daniel Bessner, Jacobin

On the Covid election. 

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

On the Covid election. 

Aleksandar Vučić's coalition won the recent (21 June) Serbian parliamentary elections amidst a mass boycott. We talk to Balkanist editor Lily Lynch about what Vučić represents - violent ultranationalist or technocratic centrist? We also take time to discuss geopolitical rivalries over Kosovo. 

Plus: cigar socialism, Yugoboomers and the enduring appeal of Balkan orientalism. According to Julian Assange, the future always comes to Serbia first - what does this mean? 

Intro clip: Vučić's very creepy virtual rally | Outro clip: The Big Z 

Readings:

• Abramović, Žižek and Milanović: Yugoslavia’s First and Last Global Public Intellectuals, Srdjan Garcevic, The Nutshell Times
• The Tito–Castro Split and the End of Cigar Socialism, Lily Lynch, Balkanist
• Vucic’s nationalist party wins landslide victory in Serbian poll, Valerie Hopkins, FT
• West is best: How ‘stabilitocracy’ undermines democracy building in the Balkans, Srda Pavlovic, LSE blog