Bungacast

/225/ Wokeistan & Lebanonworld ft. Karl Sharro

On sectarianism & identitarianism.

Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) is back on Bunga to talk to us about his essay "The Retreat from Universalism in the Middle East and the World".

Lebanon has been used as a model for other Middle Eastern countries, even though its confessional system is a disaster. But Lebanese-style sectarianism isn't a form of 'feudal' backwardness – in fact it represents a precursor of the multicultural and identitarian politics in the West.

Who are the enemies of universalism today, East and West? And what sort of political projects are capable of rejuvenating secular universalism?

See also:

• /141/ Oh Lebanon, What Now? ft. Rima Majed
• /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik

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Buy our book: The End of the End of History

Subscribe to the podcast: patreon.com/Bungacast

 

Excerpt: /224/ Three Articles: Labour Revolts?

On rising wages after the pandemic.

 

Workers are quitting their jobs and not going back. Restricted supply is seeing wages go up. Does this signal a new militancy, or are workers just deciding to make do with less? How has the pandemic shaped people's outlooks?

 

Articles:

• Wages are surging across the rich world, The Economist
• The Revolt of the American Worker, Paul Krugman, NYT
• US Workers Are in a Militant Mood, Alex N. Press, Jacobin

 

The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

/222/ Nukes 4 Kids ft. Emmet Penney, pt. 1

On the global energy crisis. 

 

Nuclear energy advocate Emmet Penney (@nukebarbarian) joins us to discuss the growing energy crunch in Europe, the US and beyond. Nuclear power is opposed by an unholy alliance of environmentalists and neoliberals - yet it seems the best solution for providing plentiful, reliable, and clean energy. As a demand, it seems an open goal for the left - so why are so many resistant?

 

Part 2 is available here for patreon subscribers. 

 

Links & Readings:

• Nuclear Barbarian - pro-nuclear podcast & newsletter
• ex.haust - Emmet's other, co-hosted pod
• Undeveloping America, Emmet Penney, The American Conservative
• Political Life in the Lottery of Babylon, Emmet Penney, The American Conservative
• How we happened to sell off our electricity, James Meek, LRB 
• A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations, Robert Bryce, Public Affairs (book)

Excerpt: /221/ Reading Club: Truth About Class

This month we discuss GM Tamas' essay "Telling the Truth About Class" published in the Socialist Register. Is Tamas' division between Marxist and Rousseauian socialism useful? Does it help us to understand the Left today? And is Tamas right that "authentic proletarian revolution... has never occurred in its anti-capitalist purity anywhere"?

 

Reading Clubs are for patrons $10+, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

 

Additional readings:

• Why the left must abandon the myth of British decline, David Edgerton, New Statesman
• Ellen Meiksins Wood on the Nairn-Anderson thesis and the Bourgeois paradigm, Verso Books blog

Excerpt: /220/ Aufhebonus Bonus

Responding to your questions, comments & criticisms.

 

It's a big mailbag this time round, including plenty on Covid (lockdowns, vaccines, etc), incels and dating culture, breaking out of neoliberalism's clutches, and much much more.

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Bungacast will be live in New York on 19 November. Come see Alex Hochuli in conversation with Adam Tooze & Amber A'Lee Frost. Tickets at Eventbrite

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The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast 

Excerpt: OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations, pt. 5

The fifth and final part of a series on generational consciousness and conflict.

This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

In this episode, we examine the Millennials and Generation Z. Uniquely, generation war today seems to be a conflict over resources more than over values. Is there any basis for this, and what do Millennials actually want? With generational and class conflict seemingly bound together today, we analyse 'Generation Left' and 'Millennial Socialism'. And we ask what the effect of the pandemic may be on the creation of a Gen Z consciousness.

Guests include:

• Paul Taylor, former director, Pew Research
• Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
• Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
• Clive Martin, journalist who has written for VICE Magazine
• Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
• Jennifer Silva, assistant professor in sociologist, Indiana University

Original music by: Jonny Mundey

Additional music:

• Cacti / I Will Be Waiting / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
• Filthy the Kid / Vampire / courtesy of epidemicsound.com

OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 4

The fourth in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.

 

In this episode, we examine Generation X – the generation of the End of History. How was this generation overshadowed by the Boomer's failures? In the Eastern Bloc, the fall of Soviet regimes was a traumatic moment – how did this shape consciousness? And how did the Iranian Revolution – and subsequent war – shape the political perspectives of Iranians?

 

Guests include:

• Maren Thom, film scholar
• Alexei Yurchak, professor of anthropology at Berkeley 
• Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
• Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
• Arash Azizi, historian of Iran at New York University
• Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin

Original music by: Jonny Mundey

 

Additional music:

• Kit Kruger / Freakin' Freefall / courtesy of epidemicsound.com

 

Excerpt: OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 3

The third in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.

 

This is an excerpt. For the full 1h40min episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

 

In this episode, we examine the Baby Boomers – myth and reality. The revolt of the '60s has been misunderstood in many dimensions. Was it betrayed or did it always express capitalist ideology? Were the Boomers the ones who really did the 1960s anyway? And what world have the Boomers created as they passed through life – and institutions?

 

Guests include:

• Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
• Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative
• Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
• Jeffrey Alexander, professor of sociology at Yale University
• Holger Nehring, chair in contemporary European history at the University of Stirling
• Kristin Ross, professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University

Original music by: Jonny Mundey

 

Additional music:

• Medité / A Change in My Heart / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
• Ondolut / Blumen / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
• Elliott Holmes / Bull Chase / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
• Kick Castle / Kick Down / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
• T. Morri / Nuthin' but Nuts / courtesy of epidemicsound.com

Other Clips:

• American Pastoral Trailer © 2016 - Lionsgate
• Mai 1968 © France 3 Paris Ile-de-France
• Imitation de Daniel Cohn-Bendit © C'est Canteloup
• Baader Meinhof Complex © 2008

/218/ Stability Über Alles ft. Wolfgang Streeck

On German's elections – and the costs of stability.

Wolfgang Streeck is back on the podcast to round-up Germany's elections last Sunday (26 September). What's behind the emphasis on continuity and competence? Is Germany stuck in the 2000s?

We also discuss the importation of US-style culture wars into Germany, the country's role in the Eurozone, and strategic relations with France. 

The second part of the conversation – where we debate the end of neoliberalism and capitalist crisis – is over at patreon.com/bungacast.

Readings:

• Will it Be Enough?, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar
• “Order” Prevails in Berlin, Gregor Baszak, The Bellows
• Things Can’t Go on Like This for the German Left, Alexander Brentler, Jacobin

OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 2

The second in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.

In this episode, we look at the emergence of 'youth' as political concept in the age following the French Revolution, and its shifting meanings. How important was generational consciousness in the Young Italy movement and its imitators in the 19th century, and how should we understand the so-called 'Lost Generation' of 1914?

Guests include:

• Niall Whelahan, Chancellor’s Fellow in History, Strathclyde University

Original music by: Jonny Mundey

Additional music:

• Leimoti / Don't Leave It Here / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
• Leimoti / The Small Things / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
• Philip Ayers / Trapped in a Maze / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
• Walt Adams / Dark Tavern / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com

Other Clips:

• Black 47 Trailer © 2018 - WildCard Distribution
• Arracht Trailer © 2019 - Break Out Pictures
• The Sun Also Rises © 2019 - 20th Century Fox
• Mr Lloyd George Speaks To The Nation (1931) British Pathé

 

For access to all Aufhebunga Bunga content, including the entirety of this series, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Excerpt: /217/ Reading Club: Intersectional Stalinism

This month's Reading Club is on Mike McNair's "Intersectionalism, the highest stage of western Stalinism?" from the journal Critique (pdf attached on Patreon).

 

How convincing is his genealogy in which he traces intersectionalism back to the 1930s Popular Front and 1960s soft Maoism? What function does intersectionalism play on the Left - and for the ruling class? And is McNair right that intersectionalism is self-defeating on its own terms? Or is it self-perpetuating?

 

Bungacast's monthly Reading Clubs are for subscribers $10+

Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

/216/ Goodbye Mutti! Election Preview ft. Dominik Leusder

On Germany's election this week.

Merkel has led Germany since 2005, outlasting any number of politicians across the West. What accounts for her longevity? How has such a non-ideological, post-political figure lasted so long? 

Germany is finally leaving her motherly embrace. But why is continuity on the cards, despite the many global crises Germany has passed through?

OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 1

The first in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.

In this episode, we look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages.

Guests include:

• Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
• Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury Christ Church University
• Joshua Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow

Original music by: Jonny Mundey

Additional music:

Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc.

Liru / For the Floor / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com

 

For access to all Aufhebunga Bunga content, including the entirety of this series, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Excerpt: /215/ Organize the Incels?! ft. Alex Gendler

On the long history of involuntary celibates.

 

Alex Gendler talks to us about his essay in American Affairs, "The New Superfluous Men". With growing global concern about incels and increasing anti-terrorism focus on the supposed risks posed by lonely, angry men, we discuss why this discussion has emerged today and why it's gone global. 

 

Why do our societies seem no longer to find use for young men? Do they benefit from patriarchy? And how does this all relate to class?

 

The full episode is available to subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

/213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze

On Covid and the end of the end of history.

Adam Tooze joins us to discuss his new book, Shutdown. In 2020 everything changed... so that everything might remain the same.

What were the reasons behind the global shutdown? Was it a result of over-protection, a policy of repression, or the result of structural tensions? Has China been the winner of the pandemic? How have central banks been victims of their own success? And does this represent the end of neoliberalism?  

The latter part of the interview continues over on patreon.com/bungacast