Bungacast

/86/ Monsters of the Interregnum ft. Rune Stahl

Why hasn't neoliberalism died? We talk to Rune Møller Stahl about his paper "Ruling the Interregnum" in which he examines previous interregnums, such as the 1920s or the 1970s, and the forces that led to the establishment of new orders. What points the way forward today: resilient neoliberalism, economic nationalism or left populism?

Reading:

Ruling the Interregnum: Politics and Ideology in Nonhegemonic Times, Rune Møller Stahl

Excerpt: /85/ Reading Club No.1

In our first Reading Club, we discuss Nancy Fraser's The Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born (Verso, 2019) and take readers questions and contributions.

Readings:

• The Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born, Verso
• From Progressive Neoliberalism to Trump—and Beyond, American Affairs

Listen to the whole episode by subscribing at patreon.com/BungaCast

/84/ How To Fail Better ft. Adam Proctor

Scenario-planning for Bernie: what is success, what is productive failure? We attempt to "dream realistically" with Adam Proctor (Dead Pundits Society): how far can this wave of 'democratic socialism' go? Bernie will fail - he won't bring in socialism, so how do we make that failure something to build on? How do we avoid the risk of demoralisation? And most dangerous of all, how to not interpret failure as success?

Plus bonus stuff on Syriza, Brexit and talking in platitudes. 

Excerpt: /83/ Now It's Syrizous

Syriza lost the last Greek elections after 4 1/2 years in power. What happened to the party that for a time represented the European radical left's hopes? Did it achieve anything in power? Many talk about Tspiras' "betrayal" - is that the right way to look at it? And what are the wider consequences of this defeat - is time up for this wave of "left populists"? 

 

Readings:

• Greece’s Long Road Ahead, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacobin
• Defeat and decomposition, Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism
• Syriza’s rise and fall, Stathis Kouvelakis, NLR
• New Democracy Against Democracy, Various (incl. Leo Panitch), Jacobin
• The Radical Left: The Time for its Re-founding, Costas Lapavitsas & Stathis Kouvelakis, Verso blog
• Book Review: The Populist Radical Left in Europe, Anton Jäger, LSE blog

Subscribe for the full episode at Patreon.com/BungaCast

/82/ Socialist Trumplandia ft. Eric Blanc

2018 saw a strike wave in the US, as anger was given material form. We talk to Eric Blanc about his book on the wave of teachers' strikes in otherwise 'conservative' states. How can this experience be broadened out to other sectors? Is education a site for future struggle? And what is the role of public opinion in trade union victories? We also try to recover some lost radical history of West Virginia and Oklahoma. 

Readings:

• Red State Revolt, Eric Blanc
• America's new redneck rebellion, Edward Luce, FT

/79/ CaliBunga: Tech, Drugs & Capitalist Soul, Pt. 4 [UNLOCKED]

In part four, we broaden the scope, to talk about the Frankfurt School, the humanities and 'romantic anti-capitalism'. If modernity features a battle between romanticism and rationalism, then the hippies represented an attempt to re-enchant a disillusioned world. But as that spirit was incorporated into market dynamics, it became rationalised and commodified. George and Alex sat down with Catherine Liu and Tyrus Miller (Dean of the UCI School of Humanities, and expert on Lukács) to mull over these questions.

 

#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.

 

Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.

 

Subscribe for full access: patreon.com/bungacast 

/80/ CaliBunga: Tech, Drugs & Capitalist Soul, Pt.5

In part five, we explore the professionalisation of friendship, by speaking to Dutch director and producer Menna Laura Meijer about her documentary on life coaching, Now Something Is Slowly Changing. The global rise of coaching seems to encapsulate many of the themes we've explored so far: an inward focus on the self, combined with marketisation, and bound together by ‘solutionism’ - quick fixes to deep social problems.  

 

#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.

 

Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.

 

Links:

Now Something Is Slowly Changing, mint film office

Excerpt: /79/ CaliBunga: Tech, Drugs & Capitalist Soul, Pt. 4

In part four, we broaden the scope, to talk about the Frankfurt School, the humanities and 'romantic anti-capitalism'. If modernity features a battle between romanticism and rationalism, then the hippies represented an attempt to re-enchant a disillusioned world. But as that spirit was incorporated into market dynamics, it became rationalised and commodified. George and Alex sat down with Catherine Liu and Tyrus Miller (UCI Humanities and expert on Lukacs) to mull over these questions.

 

#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.

 

Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.

 

Subscribe for full access: patreon.com/bungacast 

/78/ CaliBunga: Tech, Drugs & Capitalist Soul, Pt. 3

In part three, we move from the Californian Ideology to talk about the Californian reality: class, suburbs and social mobility. We meet up with Joel Kotkin to discuss the new Californian class structure and the end of the Californian dream. Also, more bar chat, as friend of the podcast, Tim Abrahams, joins us to chat about the idea of LA, Californian urbanism and mobility. 

#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.

Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.

Readings:

• The New Class Conflict, Joel Kotkin
• Californian Feudalism, Joel Kotkin

Excerpt: /77/ CaliBunga: Tech, Drugs & Capitalist Soul, Pt. 2

In part two, we chat about recreational drugs and mental states in a Hollywood bar with friends of the podcast, Amber A'Lee Frost and Alex Gendler. But mostly, we delve deeper into capitalism and depression with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Thomas Williams, Michael Mahoney, Benjamin Kruger-Robins).

#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.

Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.

/76/ CaliBunga: Tech, Drugs & Capitalist Soul, Pt. 1

Special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.

In part one, we talk to Richard Barbrook about the Californian Ideology today before discussing health and mental illness with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Benjamin Kruger-Robins, Michael Mahoney, Thomas Williams).

Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.

Readings:

• Natural Causes, Barbara Ehrenreich
• The Happiness Industry, William Davies
• Coming Up Short, Jennifer Silva

Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast

Excerpt: /75/ Synthesis Session: Order Not Freedom

Synthesising what we learned about neoliberalism (ep74), discussing some concrete examples and drawing out the broader importance of it all.

 

-What gets called 'neoliberal' but actually isn't? And vice-versa?

-Was the postwar social-democratic state more racialised than the neoliberal one?

-Should we bring back 'rationalisation'?

-Are Orban, Trump and Bolsonaro 'neoliberals'?

-Is the EU peak neoliberal? Is Brexit necessarily anti-neoliberal?

 

Subscribe for access: patreon.com/bungacast

/74/ Order Not Freedom ft. Quinn Slobodian

On the unexpected origins of neoliberalism. We talk to Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists, about how neoliberals look back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the League of Nations. Why does neoliberalism talk about freedom, but promote order? Is neoliberalism about more or less state - or is it about what kind of state?

Plus why the genuine neoliberals didn’t care about the Cold War and how Murray Rothbard laid the ground for Trump.

Readings:

• Globalists, Quinn Slobodian
• Neoliberalism’s World Order, Adam Tooze
• Why I am not a conservative, F.A. von Hayek
• The EU is a betrayal of Europe’s exceptionalism, Douglas Carswell

Subscribe for access to the Synthesis Session, where the guys discuss the broader implications: patreon.com/bungacast

/72/ Frankly Awesome Lefty Conversation ft. Aaron Bastani [UNLOCKED]

On 'Fully Automated Luxury Communism'. We talk about being pro-technology without being determinist. Does full automation mean the end of work? How do we craft a practical utopian vision? Plus some stuff about wolves and also Brexit.

 

Reading:

Fully Automated Luxury Communism, Verso Books

 

Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at patreon.com/BUNGACAST

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Excerpt: /73/ Eurosads ft. Anton Jäger & Catarina Príncipe

[For the full episode, please subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]

On the European Parliamentary elections. Is this the day the 20th century truly died? Traditional social democratic and conservative parties took a pounding. The Greens surged. The populists didn't surge - but are now entrenched. And the radical and populist Left has not capitalised. What's the meaning behind what are often purely symbolic euro elections?

Readings:

[pieces by Anton & Catarina coming shortly]