Episodes

Friday Oct 28, 2022
/299/ Micropower & Transcendence in Brazil (Bungazão 2022) ft. Miguel Lago
Friday Oct 28, 2022
Friday Oct 28, 2022
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Batalhadores do Brasil, Miguel Lago, piauí (in Portuguese)
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The self-help guru who conquered Brazil, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd
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What Lula's Comeback Means, Alex Hochuli, Compact
- Do que falamos quando falamos de populismo, Miguel Lago & Tomás Zicman de Barros, Companhia das Letras (in Portuguese)
- Linguagem da destruição, Miguel Lago et al., Companhia de Letras (in Portuguese)
Listenings:
- On anti-corruption: /297/ Bungazão 2022 (Clean & Godly) ft. Benjamin Fogel (on anti-corruption)
- On the war of all against all: /292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective
- On the role of the military: /284/ Bungazão 2022 ft. Alcysio Canette

Thursday Sep 29, 2022
/292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
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

Thursday Sep 29, 2022
/291/ The Right Timeline ft. Mattia Salvia
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
Thursday Sep 29, 2022
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/

Monday Sep 05, 2022
/284/ Bungazão 2022 ft. Alcysio Canette
Monday Sep 05, 2022
Monday Sep 05, 2022
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Will Bolsonaro Be Held Responsible for Brazil’s COVID-19 Disaster?, Alcysio Canette, Jacobin
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Cálice podcast, Atabaque Produções (in Portuguese)
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Pro-Bolsonaro Protests Were Supposed to Show His Strength. Instead, They Showed His Weakness, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin (on last year's 7 September protests)
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From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin

Tuesday May 03, 2022
Excerpt: /261/ Three Articles: Macronistan
Tuesday May 03, 2022
Tuesday May 03, 2022
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Emmanuel Macron Is Forming a New Right-Wing Bloc, Interview with Bruno Amable, Jacobin
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Why Macron is invincible, Christopher Caldwell, Unherd
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Le Pen was doomed from the start, Nathan Pinkoski, Compact
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Waking Up from Anesthesia: Decline and Violence in France, Alexis Moriatis, Brooklyn Rail
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Macron, Le Pen and France’s long battle between order and dissent, Sudhir Hazareesingh, FT
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Jean-Luc Mélenchon's new supporters: the young, urban working class, Julie Carriat, Le Monde

Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
/257/ How to Boil a Frog (2) ft. Chris Bickerton
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Reading:

Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
/256/ How to Boil a Frog (1) ft. Charles Devellennes
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
Tuesday Apr 19, 2022
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Why the French left keeps failing, Charles Devellennes, spiked
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The Macron Régime: The Ideology of the New Right in France, Charles Devellennes (forthcoming)

Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
/228/ Three Articles: Popular Backlash in Chile, India, Europe
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
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

Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Excerpt: /226/ Science Says: No Woke
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
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Full report (pdf)

Thursday Sep 30, 2021
/218/ Stability Über Alles ft. Wolfgang Streeck
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
Thursday Sep 30, 2021
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

Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
/216/ Goodbye Mutti! Election Preview ft. Dominik Leusder
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
Wednesday Sep 22, 2021
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?

Tuesday Mar 16, 2021
/181/ Juche in North Britain? ft. Cat Boyd & David Jamieson
Tuesday Mar 16, 2021
Tuesday Mar 16, 2021
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

Saturday Nov 07, 2020
/159/ Biden Time ft. Amber A'Lee Frost & Alex Gourevitch
Saturday Nov 07, 2020
Saturday Nov 07, 2020
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

Friday Oct 23, 2020
Friday Oct 23, 2020
On the Covid election.

Tuesday Oct 20, 2020
Excerpt: /154/ A Reasonably Important Election ft. Alex Gourevitch
Tuesday Oct 20, 2020
Tuesday Oct 20, 2020
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On the Covid election.