Bungacast

Excerpt: /130/ Three Articles: BLM

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On this latest Three Articles, we discuss the global Black Lives Matter protests. 

 

Reading:

• The Triumph of Black Lives Matter and Neoliberal Redemption, Cedric Johnson, NonSite
• ‘As soon as I saw the slaveowner’s statue being toppled in Bristol, I knew the real anti-racism protest was OVER’, Lisa McKenzie, RT
• The Triumph of American Idealism, Alex Hochuli, Damage
• Alex's additional notes on his blog

/129/ The Right Is Weak ft. Corey Robin

On the left case for freedom.  

We talk to Corey Robin about how the left has sacrificed the realm of freedom to the right. And why the Left's weakness is also the Right's. Plus, why is it clear that Trump is not a fascist? And insight into the BLM protests in NYC and responses to the pandemic. 

Reading:

• What People Power Looks Like in a Pandemic Democracy, Corey Robin, NYRB
• Symposium on the Challenges Facing Democrats: Freedom Now, Corey Robin & Alex Gourevitch, Polity
• If authoritarianism is looming in the US, how come Donald Trump looks so weak?, Corey Robin, Guardian

/128/ BACKLASCH! ft. Anna Khachiyan

On culturally conservative critics of capitalism. 

Neoliberalism’s fragmentary and atomising tendencies have gone too far. In response, some right-wingers have turned against the market. At the same time, there’s a (marginal) tendency on the left turning against cultural liberalism. Are we witnessing a major political realignment underway? What is the substance of these "culturally conservative" critiques, and do they offer anything new, beyond what people like Christopher Lasch advanced decades ago?  

Readings:

• The new intellectuals of the American right, Nick Burns, New Statesman
• The Problem of Hyper Liberalism, John Gray, The TLS
• The Real Class War, Julius Krein, American Affairs
• Socialism in One Country, David Runciman, LRB (on Maurice Glasman & Blue Labour)
• The idea that the British working class is socially conservative is a nonsense, Kenan Malik, The Guardian
• Zero to One, Peter Thiel (pdf)
• The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Daniel Bell (pdf)

Excerpt: /127/ Mr Bunga Goes to Washington (3bis) ft. Angela Nagle & Michael Tracey

This is a sample. For the full episode go to patreon.com/bungacast 

Bonus content (always the best stuff) from our interview with Angela and Michael (episode 126). 

/126/ Mr Bunga Goes to Washington (3) ft. Angela Nagle & Michael Tracey

Why did Bernie Sanders fail?

In the third in an occasional series on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Angela Nagle and Michael Tracey about their analysis of Bernie Sanders' campaign. We put to bed some bad arguments as to why Bernie didn't win the nomination, and examine some better ones: was the campaign was too establishment-friendly? too "left"? too middle-class? too anti-nationalist?... or are structural factors to blame instead?

And we ponder the end of the union of Old and New Lefts, of cultural liberalism and socialism. And the most worrying of all: was Bernie just a blip?

Reading:

• First as Tragedy, Then as Farce: The Collapse of the Sanders Campaign and the "Fusionist" Left, Angela Nagle & Michael Tracey, American Affairs

Excerpt: /124/ Three Articles: Money & Power

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In this latests Three Articles we discuss power, money and the power of money - in a post-Covid world.

 

Readings:

• The Death of the Central Bank Myth, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
• Why the Neoliberals Won’t Let This Crisis Go to Waste, Philip Mirowski, Jacobin
• Plan A for the coronavirus, Curtis Yarvin, Medium

/123/ Mr Bunga Goes to Washington (2) ft. Nicholas Kiersey

In the second in an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nicholas Kiersey, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in Texas and host of the Fully Automated podcast. What were things like on the campaign trail, and what went wrong for Bernie? Will Biden go the distance, and are there more shenanigans in store?

Readings:

• Like It or Not, If We Run Third Party, We Will Lose, Dustin Guastella, Jacobin
• The Tyranny of Decorum Hurt Bernie Sanders’s 2020 Prospects, David Sirota, Jacobin
• ‘Life After Bernie’: The Young Left Braces for Disappointment in 2020, Tim Alberta, Politico
• The Left Can’t Just Dismiss the Anti-Lockdown Protests, Ben Burgis, Jacobin

Excerpt: /122/ TFW NO GF

On the so-called "incel documentary", TFW NO GF.

 

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We discuss the new documentary TFW NO GF, which focuses on the lives of extremely online alienated loners in the US. It has consequently been labelled the "incel documentary". Because the subjects are allowed to speak for themselves, it's also been called "irresponsible".

 

We take apart what, if anything, makes this cohort distinct from the past - is it the internet? are they lonelier? are their prospects worse? - and try to place the phenomenon in a wider context. If you haven't watched the documentary, there are clips from it interspersed throughout.

 

TFW NO GF on Amazon Prime

List of Pirate Bay proxies

UNLOCKED /120/ Damaged Beyond Repair? ft. Anton Jäger

On the end of Left Populism.

 

Friend of the podcast Anton Jäger joins us to discuss the fate of Left Populism, investigate the response of the Left to the ongoing Coronacrisis, and question whether we're really witnessing the end of neoliberalism. We refer to his recent piece in Damage magazine, in the readings below.

 

Did Left populism ask the right questions but get the wrong answers? Are the next three years going to see the blossoming of the 'Well, Actually' Left? Or is the stage set for the triumph of covid corporatism?

 

Readings:

• It might take a while before history starts again, Anton Jäger, Damage
• Are we all covid communists now?, Philip Cunliffe, Medium

/121/ Those Murdering Bastards ft. Vincent Bevins

On The Jakarta Method.

We're joined by Vincent Bevins to discuss his new book on the 1965-66 mass killings in Indonesia, Cold War anti-communism, and the destruction it wrought around the world. The mid-60s proved pivotal, with US-backed coups in Indonesia and Brazil setting the template. What was their effect on the Left worldwide? How did it alter developmental trajectories across the Third World? What lessons can we take from these historical experiences?

Running Order:

• Indonesia - (10:43)
• Brazil & application of Jakarta Method - (36:14)
• Themes of anticommunism - (43:55)
• Global consequences - (53:03)
• Anticommunism today - (01:14:39)
• Bonus stuff - (1:21:18)

Reading:
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World

Excerpt: /120/ Damaged Beyond Repair ft. Anton Jäger

On the end of Left Populism.

 

This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/BungaCast

 

Friend of the podcast Anton Jäger joins us to discuss the fate of Left Populism, investigate the response of the Left to the ongoing Coronacrisis, and question whether we're really witnessing the end of neoliberalism. We refer to his recent piece in Damage magazine, in the readings below.

 

Did Left populism ask the right questions but get the wrong answers? Are the next three years going to see the blossoming of the 'Well, Actually' Left? Or is the stage set for the triumph of covid corporatism?

 

Readings:

• It might take a while before history starts again, Anton Jäger, Damage
• Are we all covid communists now?, Philip Cunliffe, Medium

Excerpt: /119/ Reading Club: Digital Socialism

On whether new tech can help build decentralised socialism.

Reading Club episodes are for $10+ patrons. Sign up: patreon.com/bungacast

We discuss Evgeny Morozov's New Left Review essay, Digital Socialism? The Calculation Debate in the Age of Big Data. A useful companion to this (mentioned by George in the episode) is a lecture given by Morozov, that can be found at the bottom of this page.

Thanks for all the questions, they are addressed in the last third of the episode. 

Excerpt: /118/ Three Articles: Covid

This episode is for subscribers only. To hear the full thing, go to patreon.com/bungacast

 

In this latest Three Articles, we discuss responses to Covid-19.

 

Articles

• Virus lays bare the frailty of the social contract, Editorial, FT
• Herd Immunity is Epidemiological Neoliberalism, The Quarantimes
• We’re on the Brink of Cyberpunk, Kelsey D. Atherton, Slate

/117/ Against The Virus ft. John McAfee

On freedom in coronavirus times.

John McAfee joins us to address the lockdown, privacy and armed insurrection. Plus: why he prefers Fidel to Che, and how it came to be that his US presidential campaign HQ is in Havana, Cuba.

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/116/ Mr Bunga Goes to Washington (1) ft. Nick Frayn

In the first of an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nick Frayn, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in New England. How have things gone on the campaign trail? What is next for the Democratic primaries delayed by the corona outbreak? Can Bernie regain ground in the primaries against Joe Biden? How will the corona crisis impact the Democratic primaries?

Readings:

• How the coronavirus pandemic is disrupting the US Democratic primary calendar, FT
• Biden Wins Coronavirus Primary, The Atlantic
• Joe Biden sweeps key primaries and moves closer to nomination, The Guardian