Bungacast

/300/ Bunga at the End of the World

On nuclear exterminism. 

To commemorate our 300th episode, we discuss how the world is closer to a nuclear conflict than at any point since the Cold War. After decades of inconsequential 'permawar' (at least inside the Western bubble), the proxy war in Ukraine between NATO and Russia is suddenly very consequential indeed.

How does our situation differ from that of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis? Why might it be more unpredictable? Does today's very different ideological configuration make war more or less likely?

Before that, we reflect on five and half years of Bungacast, how the world has changed over the period, and pick out some of our favourite episode from the past half-decade.

The main discussion begins at 23mins.

Readings:

• Who will stop Putin from going nuclear?, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd
• How to prevent World War III, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd
• Notes on Exterminism, the Last Stage of Civilisation, EP Thompson, New Left Review
• The War in Ukraine Could Lead to Nuclear War, Anatol Lieven, Quincy Institute

/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

/298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch

On shared-labour socialism.

Political theorist Alex Gourevitch talks to us about his critique of post-work thought, and how it presupposes the very labour it seeks to free us from. We start of by distinguishing post-work socialism (e.g. Fully Automated Luxury Communism) from various propositions for a Universal Basic Income, and discuss why these ideas are popular today.

We then dedicate much of the time to debating Gourevitch's alternative proposal for "shared-labour socialism". What counts as necessary labour – and who is going to do it? How has globalisation changed people's perspectives on what necessary labour is? And will we be producing more under socialism?

Part 2 is here: patreon.com/posts/73765804 

Readings:

• Post-Work Socialism?, Alex Gourevitch, Catalyst
• Why your flights keep getting cancelled, Daniel Zamora Vargas, New Statesman

Listenings: 

• /149/ It’s Not Robots, It’s Capitalism ft. Aaron Benanav / Liz Pancotti
• /72/ Frankly Awesome Lefty Conversation ft. Aaron Bastani
• /88/ Vouchers for Toxicity ft. Anton Jäger 

/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

 

Excerpt: /296/ Last-Gasp Neoliberalism (Trussonomics)

On Trussonomics.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

Having stumbled upon a successful recipe under Boris Johnson which would see greater state intervention, Britain's Tories then pivoted to a much more pro-market approach. But the markets haven't liked it – they've hated it.

 

What does this say about neoliberalism and what the new orthodoxy is? Why did markets react so badly against a budget that featured things they normally like, such as lower rates of corporate taxes? And does this mean the market's authority has been restored, but under a new guise?

Readings:

• Liz Truss’s Britain Is a Morbid Symptom of the World’s New Era, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
• The markets are wrong about ‘Trussonomics’ just like they were about Brexit, Julian Jessop, Telegraph
• What is Kwasi Kwarteng really up to? One answer: this is a reckless gamble to shrink the state, Adam Tooze, Guardian
• Britain's Tory Meltdown Is a Case of Socially Determined Stupidity, David Jamieson, Jacobin
• The economic consequences of Liz Truss, Martin Wolf, FT

Excerpt: /295/ Aufhebonus Bonus: October

On who's responsible for prolonging the Ukraine War + your questions & criticisms.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

We start off by discussing whether the Zelensky tail is wagging the NATO dog, and what possible exits to conflict there might be. 

 

Then, in the main section, we respond to listener comments: we talk about the possibility of a "Chinese Dream", what the point of economic growth is, the monarchy and modernisation, and whether 'fascism' is an appropriate term for the far right today.

Excerpt: /294/ Reading Club: Conspiracy Theory

On Empire of Conspiracy and agency panics.

 

[Patreon Exclusive - Tiers II & III]

 

We focus our discussion on the notion of 'agency panic' that is at the centre of Timothy Melley's account of conspiracy theories in postwar America. Does it apply to the Great Reset and Russiagate equally?

 

Melley's approach is a useful way of understanding what conspiracy theories give voice to – but is Melley defending or attacking the liberal humanist subject? We disagree amongst ourselves.

 

We then discuss how apathy and paranoia coexist, and wonder whether paranoia characterises the End of the End of History. And does Enlightenment scepticism reside somewhere between these two states?

 

Finally, we discuss jealous cuck husbands and Obama's idea of an epistemological crisis.

 

Additional reading: An extensive list of works on conspiracy theory can be found here

Excerpt: /293/ Goodbye 20th Century (RIP Gorby)

On the meaning of Gorbachev.

 

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

Mikhail Gorbachev continues to be lauded in Western circles for overseeing the collapse of the Soviet Union without much bloodshed. But given the historic societal disaster that followed, is this status unmerited? How naive was Gorbachev about the wolves at the door? And to what extent was the writing on the wall by the late '80s – was there an alternative path not taken?

 

Readings:

• Big Man Walking: Gorbachev’s Dispensation, Neal Ascherson, LRB, 2017
• Voices of Glasnost review 
• Why Gorbachev Failed, Slavoj Zizek, Compact

 

Listenings:

• OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 4 (on Gen X, the End of History and Soviet collapse)
• /276/ Broken Promises ft. Fritz Bartel (on the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism)
• /270/ Russia vs the West ft. Richard Sakwa (on the geopolitics of NATO expansion)

/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

 

/291/ The Right Timeline ft. Mattia Salvia

On the Brothers of Italy.

We talk to Mattia Salvia, former Rolling Stone Italia politics editor and author of Interregno, about Italy's election last weekend in the context of a Europe in crisis. The big question to start: is Meloni a fascist - and will her government be fascist?

With very low turnout, it seems like the working class has deserted politics, with 5 Star being the last gasp of proletarian participation. Does Meloni try to appeal to this constituency at all? Her low-tax anti-welfare policies don't seem like it.

And what of Meloni's pro-NATO politics? And what does this mean for the EU - will a FdI-ruled Italy weaken the union, or strengthen it? 

Readings:

• Meet the New Wolf, Giorgia Meloni, Mattia Salvia, Popula
• In Italy’s Deserted Democracy, Far-Right Giorgia Meloni Has Emerged Victorious, David Broder, Jacobin
• Meloni’s victory only strengthens the EU, Philip Cunliffe, Unherd
• What an Italy led by the far-right might mean for Europe, FT

In Italian:

• Coatta Antica, Mattia Salvia, Not Nero
• http://www.iconografie.it/

 

/290/ Cassoulet of Disruption ft. Nathan Sperber

On La Macronie, or Macronistan

Is France in perma-crisis? We talk to Nathan Sperber, independent researcher on political economy based in Paris and the author of a recent piece on Macronistan in American Affairs.

 

Does Macron evince a neo-statist turn, away from the entrepreneurial, neoliberal rhetoric of 2017? And what about the anti-establishment forces, left and right – how much of a chance do they have to shake La Macronie, or will they be co-opted?

Readings:

• Muddling Through in Macronia: How Populism and the Establishment Intertwine, Nathan Sperber, American Affairs
• Emmanuel Macron announces the “end of abundance”, Katherine Bayford, Unherd

Listenings:

• /256/ How to Boil a Frog (1) ft. Charles Devellennes
• /257/ How to Boil a Frog (2) ft. Chris Bickerton
• /64/ These Vests Don’t Yellow ft. Aurélie Dianara

 

Excerpt: /289/ Aufhebonus Bonus (September)

On your questions and criticisms.

[Patreon Exclusive]

We discuss the Chinese Dream, speculation and horizontal politics, foreign fighters and spies, Dune, and killing Phil.

Excerpt: /288/ Feudal Limpets (Bunga Goes Royal)

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

On the death of Queen Elizabeth, a 20th century figure

 

To our own surprise, we are doing an episode on the Queen of England. How will her death impact the UK when she was basically the only institution that still retained popular trust? Will Britons be made to face up to the question of what kind of country they want?

 

We revisit the Nairn-Anderson theses about how and why Britain had so many seemingly feudal remnants, and ask whether there is still something to bourgeois modernisation. And we look globally at the response to the Queen's death and ask why so many people care?

 

Readings:

• The Revolutionary Monarchy of Elizabeth II, Adrian Wooldridge, Bloomberg
• The House of Windsor, Tom Nairn, NLR 
• 'London Bridge is down': the secret plan for the days after the Queen’s death, Sam Knight, The Guardian

/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