Bungacast

/150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi

On Iran at the End of History.

When the US assassinated Iran's 'shadow commander', Qassem Soleimani, everyone thought WW3 would break out. What happened instead? We talk to the author of a new book on Soleimani about the "local boy who made it", and look at how Soleimani masterminded Iran's interventions all over the region. 

We also discuss how the Iranian Revolution represented a degradation of universalism, as it marginalised secular nationalism, socialism and communism. Would the Shia-Sunni conflict, with Iran as leader of the Shia faction, therefore be yet another step away from universalism? And what role did the US play in fomenting sectarian conflict?

Readings:

• Book: The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran's Global Ambitions, Arash Azizi, OneWorld
• Qassem Soleimani and How Nations Decide To Kill, Adam Entous & Evan Osnos, New Yorker

 

/149/ It's Not Robots, It's Capitalism ft. Aaron Benanav / Liz Pancotti

On unemployment.

The Covid crisis has led to millions out of work - but the situation was none too rosy before, either. Post-crisis recoveries seem increasingly 'jobless', while the overall labour force participation rate keeps falling as people drop out entirely. 

We interview to Liz Pancotti of Employ America for a picture of what's driving US unemployment.

Then we talk to Aaron Benanav about his new book and learn that it's not robots who are stealing jobs, but rather capitalism's own stagnation. Why are both radical Keynesian ideas and UBI proposals no real solution? And, finally, what is the working class to do in a world with depressed demand for labour?

Running order:

• Liz Pancotti - (04:09)
• Aaron Benanav - (53:09)

 

Readings:

• Automation and the Future of Work, Aaron Benanav, Verso
• Unemployment Benefit Expansions: A Guide for Policy Responses in the Wake of COVID-19, Elizabeth Pancotti, Employ America
• Do not let homeworking become digital piecework for the poor, Sarah O'Connor, FT

Excerpt: /148/ Three Articles (September)

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On Brexit negotiations and state aid; on pandemic policies and confirmation bias; and on Beethoven and access to high culture.

 

Readings:

• Of moonshots and bus subsidies: How state aid became a Brexit deal-breaker, The Economist (attached in patreon)
• Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment holds a worldwide warning, Wolfgang Münchau, FT (attached in patreon)
• Why are we racialising Beethoven, Ralph Leonard, Unherd

Additional referenced pieces:

• Anders Tegnell and the Swedish Covid experiment, FT
• We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole, Katherine Yik & Martin Kulldorff, Jacobin

/147/ The Past Doesn't Go Away ft. Benjamin Moser

On modernism and its end. 

We're joined by 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner Benjamin Moser to discuss the tensions between hating your national culture and wanting to leave it behind, and the effacement of national culture by postmodern homogenisation.

We talk about his biography of Susan Sontag, plus a range of other questions: Brazil, USA, literature, architecture, sex, imperialism, Freud, the image and representation, and contemporary wokeness.

Moser's Books:

• Sontag: Her Life and Work
• Autoimperialismo
• Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector

Excerpt: /146/ Class is Cancelled ft. Ben Tippet

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

On class.

Class as an idea and an identity is now supposedly redundant. It’s been replaced by conflicts between generations and transcended by more up-to-date identities linking people together through common experiences of victimhood and inequality, rather than along lines related to production or power. Or is it? We discuss these questions with Ben Tippett, author of Split: Class Divides Uncovered to find out whether class still has any place in society and theory (spoiler: it does).

Reading:

• Split: What Love Island Tells Us About Culture & Class In Modern Britain, Ben Tippet, The Quietus (Excerpt from book)
  Split: Class Divides Uncovered, Ben Tippet, Pluto Press
  

 

/145/ The End of Conservatism ft. Julius Krein

On political decline and realignment.

The editor of American Affairs joins us to discuss the decay of conservatism and we ask whether this decay doesn't apply to other parts of the political spectrum too. Is today's 'class struggle' really just between the upper-middle class and the elite? And we discuss the 'late-Soviet' USA - the sense of decline embodied in the gerontocracy of the ruling class. 

Readings:

• The Real Class War, Julius Krein, American Affairs
• America’s Unhealthy Gerontocracy, Julius Krein, American Affairs
• Conservatism Is A Collection Of Losers. It Doesn’t Have To Be. Julius Krein, The American Conservative

 

Excerpt: /144/ Reading Club: New Social Movements

This episode is for patrons only. Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast 

 

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