Bungacast

/268/ Emergency vs Emergency ft. Geoff Shullenberger

[Live events in Germany: Berlin / Munich]

On emergency politics today.

We talk to Geoff Shullenberger about competing emergency politics, left and right. Should politics be enjoyable and provide a frisson of transgression, or not? Is bare life all that's on offer? And is declaring the predominance of 'emergency politics' itself an emergency a problem?

Readings:

• How We Forgot Foucault, American Affairs
• The Crisis of the Crisis, The New Atlantis

/267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

On crumbling state authority.

 

Benjamin Fogel is back on the podcast to talk us through how South Africa has gone from the hopes of post-apartheid to the Durban riots of 2021. How have corruption, criminal networks, Indian oligarchs, and political forces combined to shatter any sense of a national project? We also discuss the role of xenophobia and particularist and racial politics in today's South Africa.

 

Readings & Links:

• /27/ After Zuma ft. Sean Jacobs
• The insurrection in South Africa is about more than freeing Zuma, Benjamin Fogel, Al Jazeera
• Dons have KZN in their grip — and Don of Dons Jacob Zuma has the tightest grip, Chris Makhaye, Daily Maverick
• No two elephants are alike, Ryan Brunette, Africa Is A Country
• Rising vigilantism: South Africa is reaping the fruits of misrule, Landau & Misago, The Conversation

 

Excerpt: /266/ Reading Club: Foucault & Biopolitics

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]

 

On neoliberalism and biopolitics.

 

In the fifth session of the "Emergency Politics & Control" theme of the 2022 Reading Club, we take on The Birth of Biopolitics, Michel Foucault's 1978-9 lectures at the College de France (no's 4-6, 9-10).

 

How does Foucault trace a line between German ordo- and American neo-liberalism to biopolitics? What role does human capital play? Is 'biopolitics' a critique or a manual? And how useful a tool is it to understand the management of the Covid pandemic?

Excerpt: /265/ Three Articles: Inflation!

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

On the economic drivers and political choices of inflation.

 

In the absence of workers demanding higher wages, where is inflation coming from? Is there more to it than pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and the Ukraine war? How responsible is Biden's spending package? And how can generations who have never known serious inflation respond?

 

Three Articles:

• Chartbook #122: What drives inflation?, Adam Tooze, Substack
• Inflation Is No Accident, Christopher Caldwell, Compact
• Britain is drifting towards economic oblivion, Ben Marlow, Telegraph

Excerpt: /264/ Aufhebonus Bonus

[Patreon Exclusive]

On your comments & criticisms.

We tackle ideological realignments over the use of history; conspiracy theorising; a game-show called The Last True Marxist; whether we've had any progress over the last 50 years; and much more. 

/262/ The Useless Past ft. Matt Karp

On liberals' embrace of the past and history wars.

We talk to Matthew Karp about his essay, "History As End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the past". It seems as if there's an ideological inversion going on, where liberals see history in terms of original sin and cycles of injustice, or at best, want to relitigate the past in order to fight battles of the present. Meanwhile conservatives have abandoned the past. What does this say about current attitudes to capital-h History and making the future?

Readings:

• History As End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the past, Matt Karp, Harpers
• Ends in Sight: Marx/Fukuyama/Hobsbawm/Anderson, Gregory Elliott
• The End of the End of History, Bungacast

Excerpt: /261/ Three Articles: Macronistan

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

We analyse the French presidential election results, the country's geographical and class divides, and what a second term for Macron means for the EU.

 

Three Articles:

• Emmanuel Macron Is Forming a New Right-Wing Bloc, Interview with Bruno Amable, Jacobin
• Why Macron is invincible, Christopher Caldwell, Unherd
• Le Pen was doomed from the start, Nathan Pinkoski, Compact

Other readings:

• Waking Up from Anesthesia: Decline and Violence in France, Alexis Moriatis, Brooklyn Rail
• Macron, Le Pen and France’s long battle between order and dissent, Sudhir Hazareesingh, FT
• Jean-Luc Mélenchon's new supporters: the young, urban working class, Julie Carriat, Le Monde

Excerpt: /260/ Reading Club: Fear II - Furedi

[Patreon Tier 2 Exclusive]

On Frank Furedi's How Fear Works.

Following on from last month's discussion of Corey Robin's Fear, we examine a differing attempt to demystify the politics and culture of fear. 

To join a local Reading Club where you are, email info@bungacast.com 

/258/ Conformist Rebellion ft. Elena Lange & Joshua Pickett-Depaolis

On Marxism & the Left.

We talk to Elena & Joshua about their new edited collection, The Conformist Rebellion: Marxist Critiques of the Contemporary Left. Who or what is "the Left" today – merely the left wing of Capital? And what distinguishes a specifically Marxist critique of the Left? How has Marxism and the question of exploitation been sidelined in favour of a libera concern with discrimination?

Over on Patreon you can hear the second part of the interview, plus our After Party debating the contemporary Left's connection to Marxism, the history of social democracy, and moral versus materialist critique. 

Readings:

• Counterattack journal
• Counter Attack telegram 
• Elena's substack
• Value without Fetish: Uno Kōzō’s Theory of ‘Pure Capitalism’ in Light of Marx’s Critique of Political Economy, Elena Lange

/257/ How to Boil a Frog (2) ft. Chris Bickerton

The second part of our double ep on France's presidential election.

Ahead of the second round, we discuss how likely a Le Pen victory could be and the effect of Zemmour’s candidacy – which appears to have made her seem more centrist. We also debate how the French deep state and EU might react to a Le Pen victory.

We also ask Chris, co-author of Technopopulism, whether this is a classically 'technopopulist' election.

Reading:

• Technopopulism: The New Logic of Democratic Politics, Chris Bickerton
• The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide, Chris Bickerton

/256/ How to Boil a Frog (1) ft. Charles Devellennes

On France's presidential elections.

 

We talk to Charles Devellennes to digest the first round, which saw centre-right Macron and far-right Le Pen come out on top, with leftist Mélenchon missing out. How similar are Macron and Le Pen's proposals actually? And has Macron's attempts to play statesman over Ukraine affected his chances?

 

With Le Pen and Macron both going after Mélenchon's 20% of the voter share, how will each approach this challenge?

 

Readings:

• Charles' twitter thread on the similarities between Macron and Le Pen
• Why the French left keeps failing, Charles Devellennes, spiked
• The Gilets Jaunes and the New Social Contract, Charles Devellennes
• The Macron Régime: The Ideology of the New Right in France, Charles Devellennes (forthcoming)

  

 

Excerpt: /255/ Reading Club: Fear I – Robin

[Patreon Tier 2 Exclusive]

On Corey Robin's Fear: The History of a Political Idea. 

This is March's Reading Club, the third in the Emergency Politics section of the 2022 Syllabus.

/254/ Three Articles: Ukraine

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

On US proxy wars, Russia's elite, Ukrainian neutrality.

 

'Three Articles' aims to provide serious political discussion on current affairs that we feel is lacking elsewhere, drawing out the logical conclusions of the three pieces' arguments.

 

Articles:

• A proxy war in Ukraine is the worst possible outcome — except for all the others, Sam Winter-Levy, War on the Rocks
• “Now we're going to f*ck them all.” What's happening in Russia's elites after a month of war, Farida Rustamova, Faridaily
• Zelensky’s muddled neutrality plan is not the answer for Ukraine, James Sherr, FT (attached)

/252/ Technopopulism & Toxic Politics ft. Carlo Invernizzi Accetti

On the fusion of technocracy & populism.

Carlo Invernizzi Accetti talks to us about his book, Technopopulism, co-authored with Chris Bickerton. This is the "new logic of democratic politics". How are all politicians today effectively technocratic and populist at the same time? How does this distinguish our age from a more ideological age in the past? And what can be done to make politics ideological again?

Part 2, which includes the rest of the interview, and the After Party where Alex, George and Phil debate why politics are toxic today, is available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/64729183/

Readings:

• The Age of Technopopulism? George Hoare, Damage
• Alex's thread on consensus-through-dissensus
• The Berlusconi - cocktail recipe

/250/ Oil & Disorder ft. Helen Thompson

On energy, the material basis for all our politics?

Helen Thompson, podcaster and professor of political economy at Cambridge and author of Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century, joins us to talk about the geopolitics of oil, stretching from the 1956 Suez Crisis to the Fracking Revolution of today. How does US energy independence help explain shifting politics in Europe and the Middle East?

Plus, did the End of History stay afloat on a sea of cheap oil?  

Part 2 of the interview, plus our After Party, is here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/251-oil-disorder-64394535

Readings:

• Profits from fossil fuel energy power Russia's war machine, and Ukraine suffers, Helen Thompson, New Statesman
• What Is Fueling Our Century’s Global “Disorder”?, Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, The Nation
• How Did Europe Get Hooked On Russian Energy?, Paul J. Davies, Bloomberg