Bungacast

Excerpt: /144/ Reading Club: New Social Movements

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We discuss a chapter taken from James Heartfield's "The 'Death of the Subject' Explained", which was recently republished in Damage Magazine as The New Social Movements Against the Old Left

 

Thanks for all your questions and points, we address them in the last third of the episode.

Excerpt: /143/ Aufhebonus Bonus (August)

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In this semi-regular slot, we respond to your comments and criticisms received over the past month or so.

 

Discussion features whether we're right about the "end of the End of History", social conservatism, policing in America, British declinism, the use and misuses of Islamism, and more.

/142/ Dollar Empire (2) ft. Daniel Bessner

On US foreign policy.   

Following on from our episode on the political-economy of dollar hegemony (no. 139), we turn to look at how the dollar underpins American empire. Is 'permawar' a product of structural factors, rather than merely the result of poor policy decisions? And how is this related to the global financial architecture? 

We also discuss how the current period fits into US history, how US foreign policy might evolve over the next four years, and what a left-wing alternative foreign policy might look like.

Readings:

• To End Forever War, End the Dollar’s Global Dominance, David Adler & Daniel Bessner, TNR
• Trump’s America may be declining in global soft power—but US empire rolls on, Daniel Bessner, Prospect
• The coronavirus crisis is an opportunity to finally move past the post-WWII era, Daniel Bessner, Responsible Statecraft

/141/ Oh Lebanon, What Now? ft. Rima Majed

On Lebanon's crisis.

We call up Rima Majed in Beirut to talk us through the aftermath of the enormous explosion and ensuing protests. How has Lebanon's history since the civil war created such a profound, multi-layered crisis? We cover the desperate economic situation and the October 2019 revolt, before going deep on the politics of sectarianism, the regional scenario impacting Lebanon, the legacy of the Arab Spring, and the risks of foreign intervention.  

Running Order:

• Beirut explosion and protests - (07:04)
• Lebanese history 1990-today - (23:53)
• Economic crisis - (38:05)
• Sectarianism - (51:16)
• Regional scenario and foreign intervention - (01:04:54)
• International solidarity - (01:24:38)

–> For donations & help for local organisations other than the Red Cross: Google Doc

Readings (all Rima Majed):

• Lebanon’s ‘October Revolution’ must go on!, openDemocracy
• The Political (or Social) Economy of Sectarianism in Lebanon, Middle East Institute
• Financial Collapse, Revolution, and Pandemic: Where are the Unions?, LCPS
• Why the Lebanese support the same sectarian leaders, al Jazeera
• Lebanon's October Revolution: Hope in the Midst of Crisis, Princeton
• Understanding the October Uprisings in Iraq and Lebanon, Global Dialogue ISA

 

Excerpt: /140/ Three Articles: Right-Populism

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In this latest Three Articles, we discuss the durability or otherwise of right-populism in the UK, US and Brazil.

Reading:

• Conservatives’ grip on ‘red wall’ holding firm, Sebastian Payne, FT
• Lawmakers ‘Alarmed’ by Reports U.S. Envoy Told Brazil It Could Help Re-elect Trump, Ernesto Londoño, Manuela Andreoni and Letícia Casado, NYT
• “Imagine the damage a president could cause”: What would happen if Trump refused defeat?, Emily Tamkin, New Statesman

/139/ Dollar Empire ft. Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder

On dollar hegemony.

 

Dutch disease has long been seen as the curse of resource-rich economies in which a currency appreciates and jobs are lost overseas. But what if the greenback is having the same effects on the US economy, the largest in the world? Many historians and economists have studied the global effects of having the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. But what is the effect on the US economy itself? The authors of an influential essay on this question join us to talk about the feedback effects of dollar hegemony. 

 

Readings:

• The Class Politics of the Dollar System, Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder, Phenomenal World
• Dollar and Empire, Herman Mark Schwartz, Phenomenal World

Excerpt: /138/ Fuck, Abolish, Defund: The Police

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The protests in the US against police violence - and their globalisation - prompts us to discuss radical proposals for what to do about the police. We look at the US, the UK and Brazil, each in their own national contexts, and debate how policing is structure and what makes realistic responses to state repression a political priority.

Readings:

• Symposium on Policing, NonSite, various authors incl. Dustin Guastella, Christian Parenti
• Global Perspectives on Policing, Verso Books blog, various authors incl. Alex Hochuli

Excerpt: /137/ Reading Club: War, Technology, The State

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This month we discuss Wolfgang Streeck's reading of Friedrich Engels which appeared recently in the New Left Review, which deals with the Marxian understanding of war and technology, how they relate to social development, and what this all means for our understanding of the state.

 

Engels's Second Theory: Technology, Warfare and the Growth of the State, Wolfgang Streeck, New Left Review

/136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton

On British decline.

Much ink has been spilled over the Britain’s fate since the end of its empire. Could it be that decline has been overstated? And what will happen to Britain as it leaves the European Union? We discuss how the history of the Industrial Revolution and Cold War militarism still shapes British politics today, as David Edgerton joins us to talk about the his latest book, 'The Rise and Fall of the British Nation'.

Readings:

• A misremembered empire, David Edgerton, Tortoise
• Britain’s 20th-century industrial revolution, Colin Kidd, New Statesman (review of Edgerton's book)
• Britain's persistent racism cannot simply be explained by its imperial history, David Edgerton, The Guardian

UNLOCKED /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones

Singapore is held up as a free-market utopia: rich, orderly and clean. But the reality is quite different. Why does Singapore exert such a magnetism for neoliberals, when its reality strays from orthodox prescriptions? What and who made this model 'global city', and how does its communist and anti-colonial past lead to its hyper-capitalist present?

Excerpt: /135/ Aufhebonus Bonus (June)

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Mailbag + bonus content ft. Corey Robin 

 

In this new semi-regular slot, we feature bonus recordings (here, 20mins of additional discussion with Corey Robin from episode 129) and respond to your comments and criticisms received over the past month.

Excerpt: /134/ The Call - Afterparty

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The three of us discuss some of the themes that emerged from our interview with Krithika Varagur (ep.133) - the entanglement of the US state with Islamism, the Americanisation of the Middle East, and especially the Gulf States, and Wahhabism as religious justification for the Saudi state project.

/133/ The Call ft. Krithika Varagur

On Saudi religious proselytism.

Saudi Arabia has actively sought to export Salafism. How has it done this - and what have been its effects, in countries like Indonesia, Nigeria and Kosovo? Why was fighting against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s such a formative experience for jihadists? And why has appeal of secularism faded?

Readings:

• The Call: Inside the Global Saudi Religious Project, Krithika Varagur
• How Saudi Arabia's religious project transformed Indonesia (Long excerpt from the book)
• The Coronavirus Threatens Saudi Arabia’s Global Ambitions, Krithika Varagur, Foreign Affairs
• Saudis and Extremism: 'Both the Arsonists and the Firefighters', Scott Shane, NYT
• China as the New Frontier for Islamic Daʿwah, Mohammed Turki al-Sudairi, Journal of Arabian Studies

/132/ Partial to Slavs ft. Lily Lynch

Aleksandar Vučić's coalition won the recent (21 June) Serbian parliamentary elections amidst a mass boycott. We talk to Balkanist editor Lily Lynch about what Vučić represents - violent ultranationalist or technocratic centrist? We also take time to discuss geopolitical rivalries over Kosovo. 

Plus: cigar socialism, Yugoboomers and the enduring appeal of Balkan orientalism. According to Julian Assange, the future always comes to Serbia first - what does this mean? 

Intro clip: Vučić's very creepy virtual rally | Outro clip: The Big Z 

Readings:

• Abramović, Žižek and Milanović: Yugoslavia’s First and Last Global Public Intellectuals, Srdjan Garcevic, The Nutshell Times
• The Tito–Castro Split and the End of Cigar Socialism, Lily Lynch, Balkanist
• Vucic’s nationalist party wins landslide victory in Serbian poll, Valerie Hopkins, FT
• West is best: How ‘stabilitocracy’ undermines democracy building in the Balkans, Srda Pavlovic, LSE blog

Excerpt: /131/ Reading Club: The PMC

This episode is for patrons $10 and up. Please sign up at patreon.com/bungacast 

On the Ehrenreich's re-evaluation of the Professional-Managerial Class. 

We discuss Barbara and John Ehrenreich's "Death of a Yuppy Dream". Also attached are the Ehrenreichs' analyses from the late 70s, also referenced in the discussion. 

Thanks again for all your questions!