Episodes
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
/116/ Mr Bunga Goes to Washington (1) ft. Nick Frayn
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
In the first of an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nick Frayn, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in New England. How have things gone on the campaign trail? What is next for the Democratic primaries delayed by the corona outbreak? Can Bernie regain ground in the primaries against Joe Biden? How will the corona crisis impact the Democratic primaries?
Readings:
Friday Feb 07, 2020
/107/ Ireland’s Return to History ft. Colin Coulter
Friday Feb 07, 2020
Friday Feb 07, 2020
On Ireland's elections.
With Sinn Fein riding high in the polls, are we looking at an upset? Is this a populist upsurge in Ireland, finally, more than a decade after the start of the crisis? We discuss what Ireland's 'end of history' was like and how the 'Celtic Tiger' economy sustained it; and look at how the country was the EU's "model prisoner" of austerity. Are there new stirrings? And what are the prospects for unification?
Readings:
- Mary Lou McDonald could take Sinn Féin into the political mainstream, Jason Walsh, The New European
- This Month’s Elections in Ireland Are a Historic Opportunity, Michael Taft, Jacobin
- The End of Irish History, Colin Coulter et al., Manchester UP (Edited book; pdf)
Monday Dec 16, 2019
/101/ UK Election: A Disaster Foretold
Monday Dec 16, 2019
Monday Dec 16, 2019
On how Labour lost.
Was it Brexit that did for Labour? In what sense? What now for the British Left - and for democracy?
Running order:
- (02:40) Opening chat
- (05:15) The electoral map, the generational divide
- (21:46) Class
- (33:52) The leadership and the media
- (48:10) Holding our prediction to account
- (53:30) Reaction of various Labour factions
- (01:03:10) Future of left-populism
Readings:
- How class, turnout and the Brexit party shaped the general election result, Financial Times
- The Failure of the Left to Grasp Brexit, Michael Wilkinson, Verfassungs Blog
- Anti-politics & the last gasp of British Labourism, Tad Tietze, Left-Flank
- Hate to say it, but #BrexitWouldveWon, Alex Hochuli
- Don’t blame Corbyn or Brexit: Labour failed to rage against the hated political system, Adam Ramsay, openDemocracy
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
Tuesday Dec 03, 2019
Excerpt: /99/ Proof in the Pudding
Tuesday Dec 03, 2019
Tuesday Dec 03, 2019
UK general election preview.
Go to patreon.com/BungaCast for the full episode
Is is really the Brexit election, if Labour doesn't want it to be? We survey the parties' positions, and promises, and ask some big what ifs. Could there be a major realignment in the offing? And we make some predictions - which you can hold us to account for later on...
Thursday Oct 24, 2019
/93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka
Thursday Oct 24, 2019
Thursday Oct 24, 2019
On Argentina's elections and Chile & Ecuador's revolts.
Macri's election was heralded by the right across the continent as the end to a sequence of centre-left governments in South America. Now only four years later, he is likely to be thrown out of office by the return of 'Kirchnerismo'. Next door, the supposedly "stable and growing" Chile is in flames as protests and riots challenge the conservative Piñera administration and the country's deep inequality. This follows on the heels of weeks of mobilisations in Ecuador against the ending of a fuel subsidy. What's going on and what does it all signify?
[Chile & Ecuador discussion starts at 46mins]
Readings:
- The Day After Macri’s Downfall, Martín Mosquera, Jacobin
- Lenín Moreno Has Betrayed Ecuador. Now the Country Is in Revolt, Guillaume Long, Jacobin
- Did Chile ditch its authoritarian government 26 years ago? Not quite., Jennifer Prible, WaPo
- If Piñera wants to wage war in Chile he should fight the real enemy: inequality, Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, Guardian
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
/83/ Now It’s Syrizous [UNLOCKED]
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
-
Greece’s Long Road Ahead, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacobin
-
Defeat and decomposition, Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism
-
Syriza’s rise and fall, Stathis Kouvelakis, NLR
-
New Democracy Against Democracy, Various (incl. Leo Panitch), Jacobin
-
The Radical Left: The Time for its Re-founding, Costas Lapavitsas & Stathis Kouvelakis, Verso blog
-
Book Review: The Populist Radical Left in Europe, Anton Jäger, LSE blog
This episode was previously exclusive to patrons. To access all our content, please subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
Thursday Aug 08, 2019
Excerpt: /83/ Now It's Syrizous
Thursday Aug 08, 2019
Thursday Aug 08, 2019
-
Greece’s Long Road Ahead, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacobin
-
Defeat and decomposition, Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism
-
Syriza’s rise and fall, Stathis Kouvelakis, NLR
-
New Democracy Against Democracy, Various (incl. Leo Panitch), Jacobin
-
The Radical Left: The Time for its Re-founding, Costas Lapavitsas & Stathis Kouvelakis, Verso blog
-
Book Review: The Populist Radical Left in Europe, Anton Jäger, LSE blog
Subscribe for the full episode at Patreon.com/BungaCast
Monday May 27, 2019
Excerpt: /73/ Eurosads ft. Anton Jäger & Catarina Príncipe
Monday May 27, 2019
Monday May 27, 2019
[For the full episode, please subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
On the European Parliamentary elections. Is this the day the 20th century truly died? Traditional social democratic and conservative parties took a pounding. The Greens surged. The populists didn't surge - but are now entrenched. And the radical and populist Left has not capitalised. What's the meaning behind what are often purely symbolic euro elections?
Readings:
[pieces by Anton & Catarina coming shortly]
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
/61/ Making Plans for Naija ft. Sa'eed Husaini
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
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
Wednesday Oct 31, 2018
/51/ Oh, Brazil: What Now?
Wednesday Oct 31, 2018
Wednesday Oct 31, 2018
In which we update the latest from Brazil, post-election. What will Bolsonaro's government look like? We plot best & worst case scenarios and discuss how bad this really is (really, really bad). And is "fascism" the correct term to use?
Readings:
Bolsonaro Rising (Alex) https://thebaffler.com/latest/bolsonaro-rising-hochuli
Bolsonaro: more dangerous than Trump (Alex) https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/brazil-presidential-election-who-jair-bolsonaro-popular-candidate-more-dangerous-ncna925011
What Bolsonaro's election victory means (Ben) https://mg.co.za/article/2018-10-28-what-bolsonaros-election-victory-could-mean
Fascism has arrived in Brazil (Ben) https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election-results-president-fascism-far-right-fernando-haddad-a8606391.html
Privilege vs Democracy in Brazil (Alfredo Saad-Filho) https://jacobinmag.com/2018/10/brazil-election-bolsonaro-haddad-lula-pt-democracy
Wednesday Oct 03, 2018
/48/ Ultra-Politics in Brazil ft. Sabrina Fernandes
Wednesday Oct 03, 2018
Wednesday Oct 03, 2018
Special episode in partnership with Jacobin: Brazil election preview - democracy at stake.
Who is Bolsonaro and why should Bolsonaro be understood as a neofascist? We discuss the #EleNão feminist resistance and the backdrop of 'antipetismo'. How has the political centre and the middle class so easily swung over to vote for such an extremist? The notion of 'ultra-politics' is explained and we look at what might happen should Bolsonaro win - and should he lose.
Readings:
Essential Chomsky article: https://theintercept.com/2018/10/02/lula-brazil-election-noam-chomsky/
Jacobin archive on Brazil: https://jacobinmag.com/location/brazil
Thursday Jul 05, 2018
/42/ Erdogan Ever-Present? ft. Yasemin Yilmaz
Thursday Jul 05, 2018
Thursday Jul 05, 2018
In which we survey Turkey's election results in light of five years of tumult - Gezi, economic downturn, terrorist attacks, Syrian war, coup, repression. Are cracks beginning to show for Erdogan? He teamed up with ultranationalists, while opposition secularists and Islamists joined forces, but Erdogan held on. How demoralised are the Turkish people, and what are the prospects for the Left? We conclude by debating whether Erdogan represents a generalisable type of political leader today: initally moderate and neoliberal, but tacking increasingly authoritarian and socially conservative.
Wednesday Jun 27, 2018
/41/ The Colombian Exception ft. Pablo Medina Uribe
Wednesday Jun 27, 2018
Wednesday Jun 27, 2018
In which we discuss how the Right won this month's election -- in a country that has never seen the Left in power. Is Colombia an exception? The civil war there feels like part of the Cold War that forgot to end. We discuss the fragile peace, the militarisation of politics, and drug cartels.
Tuesday Apr 10, 2018
/33/ Hungary's Illiberal Democracy ft. Tamas Gerocs
Tuesday Apr 10, 2018
Tuesday Apr 10, 2018
In which we unpick another Fidesz's victory and ask whether neoliberalism in an nationalist-authoritarian shell is the future
Wednesday Feb 28, 2018
/30/ Italy: Country of the Future? ft. David Broder
Wednesday Feb 28, 2018
Wednesday Feb 28, 2018
In which we debate the upcoming Italian elections. Also corruption, bunga bunga, communism, migrants, fascism, & Europe.