Bungacast

On the achievement of democracy and the 'impartial' state.

We speak to sociologist Dylan Riley about his new book Microverses, a series of aphorisms on social theory and politics.

The rational-legal state seems to be under threat by politicians who have no sense of the division between public and private – patrimonialists like Donald Trump, or Silvio Berlusconi. What are we to make of this attack on the notion of office?

Anti-corruption politics is often the response, but what happens when the left positions itself as the defender of the 'impartial' bourgeois state – rather than its overthrower? And was democratic capitalism the achievement of a militant working class – or a concession made after the working class had already been disciplined by fascism and war?

The second half of the interview, and our After-Party, is available at patreon.com/bungacast

Readings:

• Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present, Dylan Riley, Verso Books
• Seven Theses on American Politics, Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, NLR
• Inflection Point (podcast), Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, UC Berkley
• Safe Substitutes for Posting: review of Microverses, Harold Florida, Damage

Is there a new 'transformative' class?  

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]

We close of the 2022 Reading Club, and the final section on 'Neo-Feudalism', by discussing how class is changing. Through readings by Guy Standing and Ruy Braga, we ask if the precariat are the new serfs in a supposed feudal-ish social formation.

It's clear the old Fordist arrangements have broken down, so what does the working class look like today? Is it still a class in the old sense? Braga argues we are witnessing 'class struggle without class'. But why then do the precariat's revolts only target state political authority, and not property relations?

Readings:

• A return of class struggle without class? Moral economy and popular resistance in Brasil, south Africa and Portugal, Ruy Braga, Sociologia & Antropologia
• The Precariat: Today's Transformative Class?, Guy Standing, GTI

On 'degrowth communism'.

[Patreon Exclusive]

Why the rage for degrowth now? With deindustrialisation, energy rationing and severe pressure on standards of living, it looks increasingly like degrowth is official policy.

Yet its advocates, drawing from the work of radicals like Mike Davis, John Bellamy Foster, Jason Hickel, and Kohei Saito, would argue that ecological Marxism or degrowth communism is wholly different from stagnant capitalism. How much continuity is there between much older generations of socialists and the contemporary left?

Readings:

• The paradox of Degrowth Communism, Thomas Fazi, UnHerd
• ‘A new way of life’: the Marxist, post-capitalist, green manifesto captivating Japan, Justin McCurry, Guardian
• The degrowth delusion, Leigh Phillips, openDemocracy

On atomisation and association.

 

Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone came out 22 years ago and the structural changes he identified then – increasing atomisation – have only worsened. Everyone now blames the internet, and though it may have accelerated some aspects, the problem goes deeper. The social consequences – loneliness, mistrust, depression – are widely discussed, but the political ones less so. 

 

Does the decline of associationalism open the door to authoritarianism? Are 'right-wing' associations (say, churches or homeowner groups) just as threatened as left-wing ones (like unions or labour clubs)? What are the political valences of growing atomisation?

 

And are we now like the peasants that Marx described in his 18th Brumaire: just potatoes in a sack - and does this explain the crazy politics of our time?

Links: 

• Fill out our 2022 Listener Survey: tinyurl.com/bunga2022survey 
• From Bowling Alone to Posting Alone, Anton Jäger, Jacobin
• Bowling Alone (2020 revised edition), Robert Putnam

On the global left after the Cold War.

[Patreon Exclusive]

Has the left declined, been defeated, or is it dead? Is the continuity with the Old and New Lefts of the 20th century, or should we understand 1989 as marking a definitive break?

We use a long essay by Swedish Marxist sociologist Göran Therborn in the latest New Left Review as a plank to examine these questions. Therborn tries to present a synoptic analysis of where the left is, globally speaking, almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century. Is he right that the old dialectics of industrialism and colonialism are no longer operative - and that no new dialectic has emerged? 

And is trying to present a "balance sheet" a valid approach in the first place?

 

FILL OUT OUR 2022 LISTENER SURVEY: tinyurl.com/bunga2022survey

Links:

• The World and the Left, Göran Therborn, New Left Review (2022)
• Renewals, Perry Anderson, New Left Review (2000)
• /37/ The Ghosts of May ‘68 ft. Catherine Liu, Bungacast
• OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, ep. 3 (Boomers), Bungacast

On your questions & criticisms.

[Patreon Exclusive]

We debate what kind of work 'shared-labour socialism' would involve in a complex society, and what role 'dispossession' or 'expropriation' has in the contemporary economy. Plus: strategies on Ukraine – backing independence, guerilla warfare, and what an 'anti-NATO' stance actually looks like; and whether the forces exist for exiting the EU.

Fill out our 2022 Listener Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNLTVLB 

On Inhuman Power.

 

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]

 

Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – one of the few areas today in which capitalist 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

On "techno-feudalism".

In the Bungacast Reading Club for patrons, we've been discussing various works on "neo-feudalism" - a thesis that tries to explain capitalist stagnation and inequality by arguing that we are moving beyond capitalism – toward something worse. 

In this free episode, we discuss one of the most thoroughgoing critiques of this thesis: Evgeny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason". 

Why has this thesis becomes so popular today, across the political spectrum? What is the economic and political logic of feudalism, and how do current trends supposedly indicate a resurgence of these logics? Why have Marxists, who draw such a clear line between feudalism and capitalism, believe that politically-driven expropriation is replacing exploitation? 

And how do Big Tech companies make money - purely through rent, or do they produce commodities? 

To join the Reading Club, sign up for $10 at patreon.com/bungacast 

Readings: 

• Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason, Evegeny Morozov, New Left Review
• The 'New' Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession, David Harvey, Socialist Register (pdf)
• Escalating Plunder, Robert Brenner, New Left Review

On Mali and the Sahel.

 

French president Emmanuel Macron declared the end of Opération Barkhane on 9 November 2022, bringing to an end to nearly 10 years of French military intervention in Mali. But what is the legacy of the French Forever War in the Sahel, and what happens next?

 

Sahel expert Yvan Guichaou joins us to talk about French defeat in the war on terror, the continued French military presence in the region, the growing extent of jihadi power, as well as the crisis of the post-colonial state in Africa and the new geo-politics of Franco-Russian competition in the region. How do these various political forces intersect with the political economy of aid and smuggling networks?

 

[Part 2 is available to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast]

 

Readings:

• Norms, non-combatants' agency and restraint in Jihadi violence in Northern Mali, Yvan Guichaoua and Ferdaous Bouhlel, International Interactions
• The bitter harvest of French interventionism in the Sahel, Yvan Guichaoua, International Affairs

Music: Nous Non Plus / Bunga Bunga / courtesy of Sugaroo!

A special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.

Previously released in 2021 only to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast, a year on we're releasing the whole series to everyone.

• Part 1: (00:00:00)
• Part 2: (00:38:11)
• Part 3: (01:07:54)
• Part 4: (02:50:32)
• Part 5: (03:59:24)

Part 1:

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

Part 2:

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

Part 3:

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

Part 4:

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

Part 5:

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:

• Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc.
• Liru / For the Floor / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
  
• Leimoti / Don’t Leave It Here / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
• Leimoti / The Small Things / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
• Philip Ayers / Trapped in a Maze / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
• Walt Adams / Dark Tavern / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com
• 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
• Kit Kruger / Freakin’ Freefall / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
• Cacti / I Will Be Waiting / courtesy of epidemicsound.com
• Filthy the Kid / Vampire / courtesy of 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
• 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

On your questions & criticisms.

[Patreon Exclusive]

 

The weakness of anti-EU forces; the implications of defending Ukrainian sovereignty; what should we call the new far-right and what does it *do* in power? And the gravity of nuclear war

 

Also, is Phil okay?

On Joel Kotkin's The Coming of Neo-Feudalism 

We start off by discussing your points on the last RC, on conspiracy theory.

Then we delve into Kotkin's book, asking whether he has an adequate understanding of feudalism, and whether this is the right lens to understand transformations underway now. Is 'techno-feudalism' not just a downturn in 'systemic cycles of accumulation', related to the decline of the US empire? And what are Kotkin's politics and how do they relate to his analysis?

Thanks for all the questions received on this one, we discussed them as we went through the episode.

Reading:

• The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class, Joel Kotkin, Encounter Books
• Techno-Feudalism Is Taking Over, Yanis Varoufakis, Project-Syndicate 

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

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

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

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