Bungacast

Excerpt: /148/ Three Articles (September)

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On Brexit negotiations and state aid; on pandemic policies and confirmation bias; and on Beethoven and access to high culture.

 

Readings:

• Of moonshots and bus subsidies: How state aid became a Brexit deal-breaker, The Economist (attached in patreon)
• Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment holds a worldwide warning, Wolfgang Münchau, FT (attached in patreon)
• Why are we racialising Beethoven, Ralph Leonard, Unherd

Additional referenced pieces:

• Anders Tegnell and the Swedish Covid experiment, FT
• We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole, Katherine Yik & Martin Kulldorff, Jacobin

Excerpt: /140/ Three Articles: Right-Populism

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In this latest Three Articles, we discuss the durability or otherwise of right-populism in the UK, US and Brazil.

Reading:

• Conservatives’ grip on ‘red wall’ holding firm, Sebastian Payne, FT
• Lawmakers ‘Alarmed’ by Reports U.S. Envoy Told Brazil It Could Help Re-elect Trump, Ernesto Londoño, Manuela Andreoni and Letícia Casado, NYT
• “Imagine the damage a president could cause”: What would happen if Trump refused defeat?, Emily Tamkin, New Statesman

/136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton

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

/132/ Partial to Slavs ft. Lily Lynch

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

Excerpt: /130/ Three Articles: BLM

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On this latest Three Articles, we discuss the global Black Lives Matter protests. 

 

Reading:

• The Triumph of Black Lives Matter and Neoliberal Redemption, Cedric Johnson, NonSite
• ‘As soon as I saw the slaveowner’s statue being toppled in Bristol, I knew the real anti-racism protest was OVER’, Lisa McKenzie, RT
• The Triumph of American Idealism, Alex Hochuli, Damage
• Alex's additional notes on his blog

UNLOCKED /120/ Damaged Beyond Repair? ft. Anton Jäger

On the end of Left Populism.

 

Friend of the podcast Anton Jäger joins us to discuss the fate of Left Populism, investigate the response of the Left to the ongoing Coronacrisis, and question whether we're really witnessing the end of neoliberalism. We refer to his recent piece in Damage magazine, in the readings below.

 

Did Left populism ask the right questions but get the wrong answers? Are the next three years going to see the blossoming of the 'Well, Actually' Left? Or is the stage set for the triumph of covid corporatism?

 

Readings:

• It might take a while before history starts again, Anton Jäger, Damage
• Are we all covid communists now?, Philip Cunliffe, Medium

Excerpt: /120/ Damaged Beyond Repair ft. Anton Jäger

On the end of Left Populism.

 

This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/BungaCast

 

Friend of the podcast Anton Jäger joins us to discuss the fate of Left Populism, investigate the response of the Left to the ongoing Coronacrisis, and question whether we're really witnessing the end of neoliberalism. We refer to his recent piece in Damage magazine, in the readings below.

 

Did Left populism ask the right questions but get the wrong answers? Are the next three years going to see the blossoming of the 'Well, Actually' Left? Or is the stage set for the triumph of covid corporatism?

 

Readings:

• It might take a while before history starts again, Anton Jäger, Damage
• Are we all covid communists now?, Philip Cunliffe, Medium

/107/ Ireland’s Return to History ft. Colin Coulter

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)

/101/ UK Election: A Disaster Foretold

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

/100/ What Was the End of History? ft. Many Guests

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

Excerpt: /99/ Proof in the Pudding

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...

Excerpt: /96/ Three Articles

This is a sample. Go to Patreon for the full episode. 

On Bolivia, Macron, Randian Chile.

 

In this month's 'Three Articles' - in which we each bring to the table a key article to unpick and unpack - we discuss Bolivia's coup and a left-wing argument against Morales; Macron's big interview in the economist and his questionable 'defence of sovereignty'; and a libertarian nutjob goes berserk in Chile.

 

Readings:

• Bolivia: The Extreme Right Takes Advantage of a Popular Uprising, Raúl Zibechi, Toward Freedom (originally in Spanish in Uninomadasur)
• Emmanuel Macron in his own words, The Economist
• A Californian economist loves neoliberalism. When Chileans started protesting it, he opened fire. Teo Armus, Washington Post (also available from SFGate)

/83/ Now It’s Syrizous [UNLOCKED]

Syriza lost the last Greek elections after 4 1/2 years in power. What happened to a party that, for a time, represented the European radical left's hopes? Did it achieve anything in power? Many talk about Tspiras' "betrayal" - is that the right way to look at it? And what are the wider consequences of this defeat: is time up for this wave of "left populists"? 

 

Readings:

• 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

Excerpt: /87/ Berluscoming

We discuss Paolo Sorrentino's "Loro" (2018), a dreamlike cinematic depiction of Silvio Berlusconi. Does the film succeed in capturing Silvio, or does it glamourise him? What explains the appeal he had - and why was the left never able to properly dethrone him? What does it say about 2000s Italy, and its relevance to our times?

 

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If you can't find the film where you are, try this magnet link to torrent it:

 

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Excerpt: /83/ Now It's Syrizous

Syriza lost the last Greek elections after 4 1/2 years in power. What happened to the party that for a time represented the European radical left's hopes? Did it achieve anything in power? Many talk about Tspiras' "betrayal" - is that the right way to look at it? And what are the wider consequences of this defeat - is time up for this wave of "left populists"? 

 

Readings:

• 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