Bungacast

/415/ Left-Populism That Works? (II) ft. Juan David Rojas

On MORENA and Claudia Sheinbaum's huge victory.

Mexico has elected its first woman president, tasked with extending the hugely popular AMLO'S legacy. What are her prospects and challenges? We ask:

• What was the effect of NAFTA on Mexico, and particularly manufacturing?

• How is US-China competition playing out in Mexico?

• Why did Trump and leftist AMLO get along? What about Scheinbaum and Trump?

• How does the politics of migration play out in Mexico?

• How come there is no hardline Mexican right, especially given the problems of crime and drug trafficking?

• Can other countries follow MORENA's example of centre-left success?

Links:

• Mexico’s Political Revolution, Juan David Rojas, Compact

• AMLO and Mexico’s Fourth Transformation, Juan David Rojas, American Affairs

• Lessons of the AMLO-Trump Bromance, Juan David Rojas, Compact

• /413/ Left-Populism That Works? (I) ft. Roger Lancaster

/413/ Left-Populism That Works? (I) ft. Roger Lancaster

On Mexico's elections.

 

[Full episode at patreon.com/bungacast]

 

Mexico goes to the polls this Sunday with the ruling centre-left MORENA party holding a commanding lead. Anthropologist Roger Lancaster joins us to preview the election and look at outgoing President AMLO's record.

• What are the stakes in this election?
• Has Mexico bucked the trend of class realignment? Where is the 'Brahmin Left'?
• What is "republican austerity" and has this actually combatted corruption?
• What do make of AMLO's use of the military? Militarising public life or domesticating the military?
• What has AMLO done for the working class? And what might it do for itself?
• What is AMLO's populism and has he rekindled class consciousness?

Links:

• The AMLO Project, Edwin Ackerman, Sidecar
• The Mexican Question, Ramon Centeno, Sidecar
• The Struggle to Be Gay—in Mexico, for Example, Roger Lancaster

/402/ Revolution and Conservatism, e.g. in Mexico ft. Roger Lancaster (sample)

On President AMLO and the rebuilding the working class.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

We continue our discussion with anthropologist Roger Lancaster who has lived and researched in Mexico for decades, on the past and present of Mexican radicalism.

• How has popular conservatism served as a boost for radicalism and revolution 
• Is there any basis for a 'romantic' anti-capitalism, in Mexico, or in the Global North?
• Is President AMLO synthesising a new politics? 
• Has he “ended neoliberalism” or on the way to it?
• How socially conservative is AMLO really?

/401/ Modernity is Very Gay ft. Roger Lancaster

On Mexico, class, and sexuality. 

 

We welcome anthropologist Roger Lancaster onto the pod to talk about his new book, The Struggle to Be Gay – in Mexico, for Example.  

 

We discuss:

• How much is being gay tied to being modern? And conversely, how much of globalized culture is itself "gay"?

• Do you need to be middle class to be gay?

• Why did neoliberalism provide more sexual freedom than corporatism in Mexico? 

• How was Mexico ahead of the US in introducing ‘progressive neoliberalism’?

• Is now a time of freedom, or should we think of it differently?

In part two, we discuss AMLO's "synthetic" presidency, and the way peasant conservatism in central America has traditionally provided a boost to radicalism – and ask whether this is still the case.

 

Only available at patreon.com/bungacast.

 

See also: /180/ Bunga Bunga (but Gay) ft. Mark Simpson & River Page

/388/ Betting on Bukele (I) ft. Nelson Rauda / Juan Rojas

On El Salvador and mass incarceration. 

 

Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, has just been re-elected on a landslide. His trademark policy is a state of emergency and the locking-up of tens of thousands of suspected gang members. He also made Bitcoin legal tender. What is 'Bukelismo', will it last, and will it spread? 

 

First, we talk to Nelson Rauda, an editor at investigative outlet El Faro about the mood in El Salvador, what the state of emergency has been like, who the main gangs are and whether Bukele has secretly been negotiating with them, and what opposition there is to Bukele's subversion of democracy and civil liberties. 

 

Then, Juan Rojas, Latin America columnist at Compact Magazine, joins us to discuss why such 'mano dura' (iron fist) policies have failed elsewhere but why they continue to appeal across the region – including among the poor and working class. 

 

For part two, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Readings:

• El Salvador’s Bitcoin Paradise Is a Mirage, Nelson Rauda, NYT
• Behind Bukele's Revolution, Juan Rojas & Geoff Shullenberger, Compact
• On Security, Bukele and Petro Have a Problem in Common, Juan Rojas, Americas Quarterly
• In response to killings, El Salvador’s bitcoin president attacks civil liberties, Nelson Rauda, LA Times
• The Rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's Authoritarian President, Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker
• Chaos in Ecuador, Guillaume Long, Sidecar/NLR
• ¡Viva la ‘eficracia’!, Martin Caparrós, El País

/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

/371/ The Milei Massacre Didn’t Happen ft. Ernesto Seman

On Argentina's historic election.

 

Historian of populism and anti-populism Ernesto Seman tells us what is happening in Argentina amidst severe economic crisis. The radical libertarian madman Javier Milei failed to win, and a second-round runoff will be needed, but politics has changed irreparably. The establishment right has been outflanked, while the left-populism of 'Kirchnerismo' is in crisis.

 

We discuss:

• What is 'Peronism' and how does it occupy so much political space?
• How does Milei appeal to informal workers using market ideology?
• What is distinct about Latin American populism?
• How is anti-populism used to denigrate the masses?
• What is the role of nostalgia for the golden age in Argentina?

Reading:

• In Chile and Argentina, anti-populist politics is failing, Ernesto Seman, FT
• Breve historia del antipopulismo (Brief History of Antipopulism), Ernesto Seman
• Ambassadors of the Working Class, Ernesto Seman
• Javier Milei is not done yet, Alex Hochuli, Unherd
• Javier Milei is not a South American Trump, Alex Hochuli, Unherd

Links:

• /367/ Don’t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos
• /189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis
• /93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka

/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)

UNLOCKED: /351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs

On the radical right in the global periphery.

 

[This was originally a Patreon Exclusive]

 

Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro, Duterte. Though the latter two are gone, the first three are still going strong, in government for a decade or more. What unites these figures? They’re all right wing and authoritarian, but also popular and anti-establishment.

 

How similar are these politicians to their analogues in the core of global capitalism? Might they even be seen to be forerunners of developments in the rich world? And to what extent are they able to resolve the crises of the end of the end of history?

 

In this episode, we talk to two of the editors of a new book, The Radical Right: Politics of Hate on the Margins of Global Capital.

 

Previous episodes on this theme:

• Turkey /339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu
• Brazil: /299/ Micropower & Transcendence in Brazil (Bungazão 2022) ft. Miguel Lago
• Brazil: /292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective
• India: /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
• Hungary: /33/ Hungary's Illiberal Democracy ft. Tamas Gerocs
• Philippines: /52/ Duterte's Despotism ft. Nicole Curato

Excerpt: /351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs

On the radical right in the global periphery.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro, Duterte. Though the latter two are gone, the first three are still going strong, in government for a decade or more. What unites these figures? They’re all right wing and authoritarian, but also popular and anti-establishment.

 

How similar are these politicians to their analogues in the core of global capitalism? Might they even be seen to be forerunners of developments in the rich world? And to what extent are they able to resolve the crises of the end of the end of history?

 

In this episode, we talk to two of the editors of a new book, The Radical Right: Politics of Hate on the Margins of Global Capital.

 

Previous episodes on the theme:

• Turkey /339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu
• Brazil: /299/ Micropower & Transcendence in Brazil (Bungazão 2022) ft. Miguel Lago
• Brazil: /292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective
• India: /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
• Hungary: /33/ Hungary's Illiberal Democracy ft. Tamas Gerocs
• Philippines: /52/ Duterte's Despotism ft. Nicole Curato

/299/ Micropower & Transcendence in Brazil (Bungazão 2022) ft. Miguel Lago

On reclaiming populism.

 

With only a couple of days to go until the decisive runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro, we continue our Bungazão 2022 series by talking to to political scientist Miguel Lago about how Lula and Bolsonaro both construct a Brazilian people. Lula does so broadly on class lines, while Bolsonaro's construction is a moral one: "good citizens" and those to be excluded. 

 

Why is populism the right way to analyse the election, and how might Lula re-embody Brazil's greatest populist leader, Getúlio Vargas? We discuss how Bolsonarismo works on the basis of 'micropower' – that is, it appeals to those who hold power over others in any walk of life.

 

And we conclude by looking at Bolsonaro's combination of transcendence and transgression, and how it has re-politicised Brazilian society. Why is this recipe proving more successful than the transactional politics of old?

 

Readings:

• Batalhadores do Brasil, Miguel Lago, piauí (in Portuguese)
• The self-help guru who conquered Brazil, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd
• 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

/297/ Bungazão 2022 (Clean & Godly) ft. Benjamin Fogel

On corruption & anti-corruption.

When Bolsonaro won in 2018, he rode a wave of anti-corruption sentiment. Now he's doled out billions in pork via a secret budget, but this doesn't seem to bother his supporters. What happened?

Benjamin Fogel, who studies the history of corruption in Brazil, comes on to discuss how a moralistic account of corruption has fortified the far right. How has corruption been used as a political weapon in the past, and how has it shifted from right to left and back again?

How are scandals made rather than born? And what would an anti-corruption politics that is emancipatory look like – rather than the predominant technocratic or moralistic form today?

Readings:

• Against Anti-Corruption, Benjamin Fogel, Jacobin
• From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin

 

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

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

 

/286/ What Was Communism? ft. Branko Milanovic

On Communism's historic role.

 

We talk to renowned Serbian-American economist Branko Milanovic about growing up in Yugoslavia and how, in much of the world, History never ended. We then dedicate much of the episode to discussing Branko's claim that communism was essentially an engine of economic convergence, allowing developing countries to haul themselves into the industrial age.

 

We also talk about Branko's work on inequality and why growth still matters. 

 

Readings:

• Capitalism, Alone, Branko Milanovic, Harvard UP
• The Aloofness of Pax Sinica, Branko Milanovic, Global Policy Journal

/284/ Bungazão 2022 ft. Alcysio Canette

On Brazil's elections and the military.

 

A month away from the first round showdown between former president Lula and current president Jair Bolsonaro, lawyer, podcaster and communist Alcysio Canette joins us to look at the features that have shaped the past years.

 

How did Bolsonaro's response to the Covid pandemic – denialism, essentially – tarnish his image? What role is the military playing in Brazilian politics and what is its history of political interference since the 1964-85 dictatorship?

 

Part two available at: patreon.com/posts/71560313

 

Readings:

• 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