Bungacast

/423/ Who Wants the 'Worst Job' in France? ft. Charles Devellennes

On France's surprise parliamentary election.

The left-wing 'New Popular Front' came a surprise first, for now putting a halt to expectations that the far-right Rassemblement National would soon enter government. We talk to political scientist and commentator Charles Devellennes, and ask:

• What was Macron's gamble in calling this early election? 

• Is becoming Prime Minister actually a bad thing for your future prospects?

• Is the Left actually 'far left' and the Right 'far right'? Is Le Pen a fascist?

• Did the Left actually save Macron? Why not an alliance between Left and Right against the centre?

• Will France opt for the undemocratic 'Italian Solution' and appoint an unelected technocrat?

• Can Macron's party and his style of rule survive Macron eventually being out of office?

• Does the uncertainty mean France is back to the postwar 4th Republic? Is this continuity? Something new?

Links:

The Macron Régime: The Ideology of the New Right in France, Charles Devellennes

/422/ Meat the New Prime Minister: UK Election Rundown

On Labour's landslide and sandcastle majority.

We unpick what happened in the UK's general election, discussing:

• How did Labour get such a large majority with so little enthusiasm for them?

• Is the UK now a multiparty democracy, and will there be demands for serious electoral reform?

• What accounts for low turnout and the fragmentation of the vote (Reform, Greens, Independents, etc)?

• What is Keir Starmer's electoral base and how will he govern? What is their electoral programme?

• Is Nigel Farage's reform the real opposition now? 

• Is the Brexit period now definitely over? Will there be a move to rejoin the EU?

Links:

• The McSweeney Project, Tom McTague, UnHerd

• Debasing Citizenship, Peter Ramsay, TNS

• Data on the nationalist right + driving to work in the UK and French train stations

/418/ Neoliberal Order Breakdown System, German-Style ft. Gregor Baszak (sample)

On German political derangement.

[Patreon Exclusive]

Independent researcher and writer Gregor Baszak joins us to talk about German centrism being squeezed under pressure from both left and right — Sahra Wagenknecht and the AFD. Meanwhile the German economy is getting squeezed between the US and Russia, and NATO pressures Germany to up its defence spending.  

• Is German public life remilitarising? 

• What are the prospects for Sahra Wagenknecht’s new ‘left-conservative’ politics? 

• What was the original political vision behind the Nordstream 2 pipeline? 

• Why are Marine Le Pen and Giorgia Meloni trying to carve the AFD out of pan-European national-populist cooperation? 

• Where does Germany now stand in relation to the Ukraine War? 

Links:

• Europe After America, Gregor Baszak, The American Conservative 
• What’s the Matter With Germany?, Gregor Baszak, The American Conservative
• The Left-wing maverick who could stop the AfD For many, Sahra Wagenknecht is a tribune of the people, Gregor Baszak, UnHerd

 

/410/ Reading Club: Deutscher's Stalin

On Isaac Deutscher's classic Stalin: A Political Biography.

 

[Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive]

 

We start off dealing with your questions from the first two Reading Clubs of the year, before Phil takes us through the famous biography of the Soviet leader. We discuss:

• Deutscher's work in historical context

• Stalin’s parents' experience as serfs and the significance of his boyhood education in an Orthodox seminary

• How the oppression of the Russian Empire and the promises of Soviet industrialisation shaped young Stalin's lifecourse

• Whether, compared to other Bolshevik leaders, Stalin would have succeeded anytime, anywhere

• Was Stalin honest in his commitment to the revolution? Was Trotsky right that Stalin was just a cynic?

• How did Stalin compare to the other leaders at Yalta, such as the aristocratic Churchill?

• How do we compare Stalin to Cromwell or Napoleon?

• And what's behind cheeky internet Stalinism today?

Links:

• Message of the Non-Jewish Jew, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org

• On Orwell: 1984 - The Mysticism of Cruelty, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org

• I must start completely alone: Gonzalo Pozo on Isaac Deutscher’s wartime years in London, LRB

 

/408/ Was It Raining When You Fled Paris? ft. Peter Gourevitch

On the earth-shaking events of the 20th century, through a personal lens.

 

Regular contributor Alex Gourevitch sits down with political scientist Peter Gourevitch to talk about their shared family history.

• Why did their grandparents/great-grandparents become Mensheviks?

• How did one half of the family leave the USSR and the other half remain?

• What was life like in exile in Berlin before the Nazis took power? And how did the family know to flee?

• What was distinctive about fascism and the terroristic assault on democracy?

• How was the escape from Paris just like the film Casablanca?

• What happened to those who remained in the Soviet Union and how did one member meet death via torture?

• What is the legacy of Menshevism – and what is the relationship between socialism and democracy?

Links:

Who Lived, Who Died? My Family's Struggle with Stalin and Hitler, Peter Gourevitch, Dio Press

 

Full episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast. Members who sign up for $7/mo get 4 original paywalled episodes a month and a free subscription to Damage magazine.

/406/ AufheBonus Bonus (sample)

On Euro censorship + your comments and criticisms.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

We discuss censorship in Brussels and Berlin, and put it in the context of the incorporation of right-populism. How will European politics come to look as national-conservatives become part of the establishment? What's up with these "sovereigntists" who are unserious about sovereignty?

 

Also we discuss your comments:

• If cultural production is already monopolistic, can it be democratically planned?

• Should we problematise "mental health"?

• Is love a dangerous political emotion?

• What happens if you leave the left?

• How do we kill the ghosts of the 20th century?

• Is a generational analysis of left-populism wrong?

• How do we get beyond a world of media and images?

Links:

• NatCon: are centrists the real threat to free speech?, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd

 

/396/ Enough Carnations? Portugal Decides, ft. Catarina Príncipe

On Portugal's elections, 50 years since the revolution

 

Catarina Príncipe, a long-time activist on the Portuguese left and a doctoral student of political economy, is back on the podcast to talk through what happened as Portugal went to the polls.

• How does Portugal see itself, with regard to Europe, and its own history?
• How did the right-populist Chega party break through amid high turnout?
• What kind of anti-politics did Chega bring to the table?
• Is there nostalgia for the dictatorship?
• How did immigration become an issue in a country where emigration is the big problem?
• What is going on with Portugal's huge housing crisis?
• Why has the EU disappeared as a political issue, 10 years on from the peak of the crisis?

Bungacast is expanding, with new regular contributors, partnership with Damage magazine and more. Read about it here or see the video.

Links:

• In Portugal’s Election, the Center Left Struggles to Hold On, João Murta & Guilherme Rodrigues
• Europe After Brexit, Bungacast live event, ft. Catarina Principe + others

UNLOCKED: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch

On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality

 

Previously a Patreon Exclusive. For more like this, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Lily Lynch is back on the pod to talk about Northern and Eastern Europe and growing hawkishness. We discuss:

• Why did Sweden and Finland give up decades of neutrality - and why now?
• What happens with an enlarged alliance in light of the conflict in Ukraine?
• How does the current moment compare to the apogee of the Non-Aligned Movement?
• Why were the realists right?
• How is tech mythology helping to build 'digital nationalism'?
• Why is there beef over grain between Poland and Ukraine?
• And what the hell are the "skin suit of social democracy" and the "Waluigi of neutrality"?

Links:

• Joining the West, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• The realists were right, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• The EU’s great power delusions, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Guns, grain, and history, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Tech-Mythologies, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• Imperfect Unity, Lily Lynch, Sidecar

[FROM THE VAULT] /44/ Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome (N.O.B.S.)

FROM THE VAULT: ALEX'S PICK (1)

In which we lay the liberal establishment down on the shrink's sofa. It's a systematic analysis of liberal derangement: of the inability to accept, explain, or respond to the breakdown of the current order. Why can't the liberal establishment accept that the 2008 crisis would eventually have political consequences? Why can't liberals explain why they keep losing? Why can't they offer anything but more of the same?

Symptoms:

• Incredulity and denial of political change
• Unwillingness to take responsibility
• Moralisation
• No belief in political causation (things just happen)
• Fetishising disinformation
• Elite persecution complex
• Hysteria & catastrophism
• Nostalgia for a very recent past & rewriting history
• Repetition compulsion

 

[FROM THE VAULT] /136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton

FROM THE VAULT: PHIL'S PICK (1)

On British decline.

Much ink has been spilled over the Britain’s fate since the end of its empire. Could it be that decline has been overstated? And what will happen to Britain as it leaves the European Union? We discuss how the history of the Industrial Revolution and Cold War militarism still shapes British politics today, as David Edgerton joins us to talk about the his latest book, 'The Rise and Fall of the British Nation'.

Readings:

• A misremembered empire, David Edgerton, Tortoise
• Britain’s 20th-century industrial revolution, Colin Kidd, New Statesman (review of Edgerton's book)
• Britain's persistent racism cannot simply be explained by its imperial history, David Edgerton, The Guardian

Excerpt: /380/ Josephine’s Body Count

On Ridley Scott's Napoleon.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

We couldn't avoid discussing the new biopic about the "world soul" himself, Napoleon Bonaparte. The film isn't great, but what can we learn from it? And how does it sit in a context in which most biopics today are about musicians, business leaders and scientists?

 

We discuss:

• Why did Scott choose to focus on Napoleon's relationship with Josephine?
• What is Scott trying to say, if anything, about Napoleon and the Napoleonic wars?
• Where are the depictions of youth, revolution and modernity?
• Are there any redeeming aspects to the film?
• What do we make of Phoenix's portrayal?
• Are we seeing the return of films about Great Men of History?

/379/ Sexy Pictures of Taylor Swift (Not Brexit)

On taking control.

 

The Netherlands has elected an anti-EU rightist, but he won't take the Netherlands out of the European Union. Britain left the EU, but net migration to the UK has soared to its highest levels. What's going on?

 

In this special episode, Alex treats Phil and George as interview guests and grills them over their book, Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy after Brexit. We discuss:

• Why all the fuss for Brexit, when things have ended up the same as they were before?
• Why Brexit when the same politicians are still in charge?
• Why was no section of society able to lead Brexit with a positive vision of the future?
• Did Brexiteers need a more concrete proposal beyond "democracy"?
• What lessons can be learned from Brexit by others in the EU?

/374/ You’re Gonna Need Representation ft. Vincent Bevins

On a decade of protest around the world.

 

Journalist Vincent Bevins is back on the podcast to talk about his new book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution. We discuss the 2010s protest wave across countries as varied as Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Chile, Bahrain, Yemen, South Korea and Tunisia.

 

We ask:

• Why were protests in places that were so different all look so similar?
• Why was there such a focus on spontaneity, leaderlessness, peformativity, and horizontalism?
• What are some examples of the ways protests rejected representation?
• Was class or generation more important in driving these protests?
• Why did media becomes so important in pursuing political change?
• How can we avoid a repeat of the failures of the 2010s?

Links:

• If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, Vincent Bevins, Public Affairs
• The mass protest decade: why did the street movements of the 2010s fail?, Vincent Bevins, The Guardian
• The End of the End of History: Politics in the 21st Century, Bungacast authors, Zer0 Books
• /121/ Those Murdering Bastards ft. Vincent Bevins
• /279/ Society of the Speculative ft. Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou

Excerpt: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch

On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality

 

[Patreon Exclusive - for the full episode, sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast]

 

Lily Lynch is back on the pod to talk about Northern and Eastern Europe and growing hawkishness. We discuss:

• Why did Sweden and Finland give up decades of neutrality - and why now?
• What happens with an enlarged alliance in light of the conflict in Ukraine?
• How does the current moment compare to the apogee of the Non-Aligned Movement?
• Why were the realists right?
• How is tech mythology helping to build 'digital nationalism'?
• Why is there beef over grain between Poland and Ukraine?
• And what the hell are the "skin suit of social democracy" and the "Waluigi of neutrality"?

Links:

• Joining the West, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• The realists were right, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• The EU’s great power delusions, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Guns, grain, and history, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
• Tech-Mythologies, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
• Imperfect Unity, Lily Lynch, Sidecar

/367/ Don’t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos

On sovereign debt and taking back control.

 

The leading candidate in Argentina's election this month wants to avoid defaulting on the country's debt at all costs. But back in 2001, after a mass revolt, Argentina reneged on its debts – one of the very rare cases over the past 70 years of unilateral default. 

 

Why are nations so eager to pay back creditors nowadays, especially when it means endless austerity and little prospect of economic development?

 

We talk to scholar Jerome Roos about his book, Why Not Default? and discuss a range of cases: Mexico, Greece, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Ghana - and of course Argentina. We find that the old free market system used to accept that reneging on your debts was a risk creditors had to take. No longer: transnational institutions make sure that creditors get paid every time. 

 

How might countries free themselves from international financial dictatorship?

 

For part two of the interview and the After Party, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Links:

• Why Not Default?: The Political Economy of Sovereign Debt, Jerome Roos
• Memoria del saqueo (Social Genocide), film on 2001 debt crisis and uprising in Argentina (many versions available online)
• /83/ Now It’s Syrizous (episode on Syriza's defeat in Greece)
• The World in One Country: Greece, Jonas Kyratzes (part of ep.200)