Bungacast

Excerpt: /333/ Aufhebonus Bonus (April 2023)

On your questions & criticisms.

[Patreon Exclusive]

Is the Left dead? Did the turn to culture really kill it? Or is the nostalgia for the post-war Left the real problem?

We also debate what the function of imperialism in Africa is; the 'pro-worker' conservatives in the US; surveillance of app workers; what economic growth is for; and whether to f**k models. 

UNLOCKED: /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power

On Inhuman Power.

[Unlocked episode from Bungacast 'Reading Club', originally released 6 December 2022] 

Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – one of the few areas today in which capitalists still seem to have ambition. Why is this so, and is there something about AI that gets to the nub of what capitalism is, as a mode of production?

Is capitalism without humanity anything more than a dystopian Skynet nightmare? And would the creation of a surplus humanity still be capitalism? Would it be techno-feudal, or something else?

Reading:

Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books

/331/ The Zone (pt. 1) ft. Quinn Slobodian

On cracked-up capitalism.

Historian of ideas Quinn Slobodian joins us again, this time to discuss his latest book, Crack-up Capitalism – the vision of a global capitalism with its constituent nation-states perforated by ‘zones’ shorn of any national oversight or democratic accountability. We talk through these archetypal zones encompassing deregulation, investment and sweatshop labour, ranging from the glittering city scapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Canary Wharf to forgotten zones such as Ciskei in apartheid South Africa as well as the gated communities of California and bit-coin paradise Honduras.

We also talk about archetypal crack-up capitalists such as Peter Thiel, William Rees-Mogg and Milton Friedman’s offspring. How did crack-up capitalism feature in the Tory vision of Brexit? Plus, why is Dominic Cummings the one true Singaporean, and why do crack-up capitalists love medieval LARPing?

For part two, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

Readings:

• Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, Quinn Slobodian
• The Ciskei experiment: a libertarian fantasy in apartheid South Africa, Quinn Slobodian, The Guardian
• /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
• As special enclaves proliferate, what are the consequences for democracy?, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, The Spectator
• Dominic Cummings understands Singapore. The Tories still don’t, Quinn Slobodian, The Spectator

• Crack-up Capitalism video trailer, Twitter

Excerpt: /330/ Reading Club: Freedom (2)

On Martin Hägglund's This Life.

We continue on the theme of freedom. In this episode, we look at what Martin Hägglund describes as 'spiritual freedom', which can ultimately be seen as a question of what we do with our time. Across the two chapters in question, Hägglund ties together his philosophical vision rooted in the notion of mortality and temporal life, with a social critique that draws on Hegel and Marx. He does this by centring the question of time, the only truly scarce resource.

How can we negotiate anxiety-inducing freedom today? Where do our 'existential identities' come from, and does Hägglund put too much emphasis on identity? And is Buddhist karma a system analogous to the market?

For local Reading Clubs, email info@bungacast.com

Readings & resources:

• This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Chapter 4 and 5
• On time, work, freedom and necessity: /298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch
• On Hegel and contradiction: /167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
• On Sartre: Being and Nothingness (1943) and his subsequent 1946 essay summarising ideas in the book, "Existentialism Is a Humanism"

/329/ Justice Warriors ft. Matt Bors & Ben Clarkson

On depicting dystopia.

Acclaimed cartoonists, writers and artists Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson join us for something a little different: to talk about their new comic book, Justice Warriors. Set in a grotesquely unequal world, a police procedural (of sorts) encounters an astrology-based social movement seeking justice.

We talk about how dystopian fiction often serves to manufacture consent and about how fiction can confront us with images of social decline. We also debate free will and determinism in a world that presents few opportunities, social justice warriors and politics that perpetuate the present, and why there is no 'pure' people set against the elite.

Links:

• Justice Warriors, Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, Felipe Sobreiro, Simon & Schuster
• The Nib - political satire & cartoons

Excerpt: /328/ The New Scramble for Africa

On geopolitical competition over Africa.

[Patreon Exclusive]

In light of the 'new Cold War', we look at what the US, Europe, Russia and China's respective "pitches" are to African countries – what are they selling? And we examine the factors that contribute to Africa's place in geopolitics today: Chinese hunger for raw materials, the global war on terror, the green energy transition, drug and people smuggling, and more. 

If the original Scramble for Africa (1884-1914) was driven by an attempt to displace European class war onto another terrain, can we say anything analogous is happening today?

Links:

• /303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua 
• /304/ The Failure of the French Forever War (2) ft. Yvan Guichaoua 
• Russia in Africa, Financial Times series of articles
• Defending Our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity, Tricontinental Institute
• Italophone Somalia, Then and Now, Iman Mohamed, The Drift
• Emmanuel Macron must reset France’s Africa policy, Sylvie Kauffman (Le Monde editor), FT
• Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’, Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri, Chatham House
• Let’s talk about neo-colonialism in Africa, Mark Langan, LSE blog
• /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

/327/ Capitalism on Edge ft. Albena Azmanova

On the crisis of crisis.

 

Bulgarian critical theorist Albena Azmanova joins us to discuss her widely-discussed 2020 book, Capitalism on Edge. We talk critical theory, the paradox of emancipation, her criticisms of Thomas Piketty and why we should be thinking in terms of precarity capitalism, not neoliberalism.

 

Albena also discusses her concept of the ‘crisis of the crisis of capitalism’ - how the current crisis of capitalism fails to augur a new type of society. Albena makes the case that concepts like neoliberalism obscure more than they clarify.

 

We also discuss how far critical theorists can be drawn into providing practical political advice to leaders and governing institutions. Plus, what was it like coming of age in communist Bulgaria at the End of History?

 

Links:

• It’s the Economic Precarity, Stupid, Albena Azmanova & Marshall Auerback, The Nation
• Uber’s dangerous drive to serfdom, Albena Azmanova, Unherd
• Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia, Albena Azmanova, Columbia UP

UNLOCKED! /319/ The Dead Left (II) ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow

On the left's understanding of freedom.

We continue our talk with Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again.

This is followed by the After Party, where we debate the extent to which Thatcher 'sold' freedom and what the left's understanding of liberty is.

To gain access to episodes like this that normally remain paywalled, subscribe to our patreon: patreon.com/bungacast

Part 1 is here: https://bungacast.podbean.com/e/318-the-dead-left-ft-steve-hall-simon-winlow/ 

Links:

• /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall
• /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell
• /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood

Excerpt: /326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next?

On what comes after neo-liberalism.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

After 40 years of neo-liberalism, governments are inching their way to some new settlement, under the pressure of repeated crises, as well as populist upsurges. In this episode we try to take a political, not academic, approach to the question. This is not about categorising and labelling, but about understanding what the stakes are in saying a new arrangement is emerging, and grasping how it informs political practice.

 

What are the main "post-neoliberal" arrangements being pushed by different sides of the spectrum? What do they say about the interests of their constituencies? If successful, what sort of political playing field will they present the masses? Will it be a world of greater or fewer opportunities for emancipatory politics?

 

Readings:

• TCS Special Issue: ‘Post-Neoliberalism?’, Various, Theory Culture & Society
• End of the Neoliberal Era?, David Kotz, NLR
• The new rules for business in a post-neoliberal world, Rana Forfoohar, FT
• What's beyond "beyond neoliberalism"?, Amy Kapczynski, LPE Project
• Reading the post-neoliberal right, Amy Kapczynski, LPE Project

 

Excerpt: /325/ Reading Club: Freedom (1)

On Martin Hägglund's This Life.

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]

We begin the 2023 Reading Club with the theme of FREEDOM. In this episode, we examine Martin Hägglund's arguments for secular faith presented in the first half of his book. Is Hagglund right in arguing that much of religious belief, especially in relation to morality, is actually motivated by secular faith?

Hägglund's enemy is not so much religion as the "Stoic" attempt to withdraw and detach from the temporal world. Instead we should be engaged and committed to the persons and projects we care about in this life. But does Hägglund underestimate alienation? Is his approach overly demanding?

And what about disenchantment? How would we go about re-enchanting the secular world?

For local Reading Clubs, email info@bungacast.com

Readings:

• This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Introduction; Chapter 1 (Sections 2, 3, 4); Chapter 2 (Sections 2, 4, 6)
• From Western Marxism to Western Buddhism, Slavoj Zizek, Cabinet Magazine
• Vulnerability as Ideology, Peter Ramsay, The Northern Star

/324/ Reifying Race ft. Kenan Malik

On the mainstreaming of racial thinking.

We welcome back author and broadcaster Kenan Malik to talk about his new book, Not So Black and White. The book presents a historical account of how racial thinking has accompanied the spread of notions of equality and common humanity.  How is it that many supposed humanitarians in the past were often racists?

And how have we reached a point where today, many liberals and supposed anti-racists sustain racial thinking? How have notions of global whiteness/blackness come to dominate the discourse?

We also discuss the 'post-liberal' critics of wokeness and their shortcomings, and whether the far right is gaining from the reification of race.

 

Want more? Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Links:

• Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics, Kenan Malik, Hurst
• /70/ In Defence of Universalism ft. Kenan Malik

Excerpt: /323/ Tasty Frictionless Convenience

On the app economy.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

Delivery apps have taken the world by storm, and the pandemic only deepened our dependence on them. What is the price of convenience – and is there anything wrong with wanting ease? Capitalist keep propping up these money-losing enterprises – why? And can they survive the end of cheap money?

 

Is the app economy just a battering ram against labour rights? Are delivery apps out to kill off traditional restaurants? And should we defend the petite bourgeoisie and independent bars and pubs?

 

And does the dream of freedom sold by apps to workers, of being your own boss, work as a legitimating ideology?

 

Reading:

• Farewell to the servant economy, FT
• Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life, Adam Greenfield, Verso
• Delivering Restaurants to Wall Street, Alex Park, Compact
• 5 Reasons Marxism Has Nothing To Offer Millennials, Austrian Economics Center

Links:

• /59/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 3 ft. Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski
• Excerpt: /311/ Reading Club: The Precariat
• Excerpt: /172/ Three Articles: Elite Production (on Uber)

/321/ Covid Dissensus ft. Toby Green & Thomas Fazi

On The Covid Consensus.

 

We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnational health authorities dropped pre-pandemic plans in favour of open-ended nationwide lockdowns which were to remain in place until vaccines were developed. Why this course of action? 

 

And how to account for the unprecedented level of policy alignment across the majority of countries: was it coordination, imitation, or coercion?

 

In part two of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm.  

 

For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast 

 

Links:

• The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left, Toby Green & Thomas Fazi
• /213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze
• /38/ The Economics of Exit ft. Thomas Fazi

Excerpt: /320/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Feb 2023)

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

On your questions and criticisms.

 

A bumper episode as we respond to your points from December through to the end of January. We discuss 'political capitalism', where the left is today, atomisation, degrowth, disciplining the working class, critical cinema, and family abolition.

/318/ The Dead Left ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow

On the death of the left.

 

We talk to Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again.

 

Is the left indeed dead, and what killed it? The turn to culture undoubtedly plays a part, but was the left wrong to turn to liberty, as Hall & Winlow argue? How can we turn back to political economy and what would that politics look like? And if there is to be a future radical movement for and by the working class, would social democracy be its lodestar?  

 

Part two of the interview and the After Party are available at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Links:

• /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall 
• /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell
• /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood