The global politics podcast at the end of the End of History. Politics is back but it’s stranger than ever: join us as we chart a course beyond the age of ’bunga bunga’. Interviews, long-form discussions, docu-series.
Episodes
Friday Mar 22, 2019
Friday Mar 22, 2019
#BungaLive. Debate on the future of Europe, held at Queen Mary, University of London on 21 March 2019.
Europe After Brexit: Internationalism or Transnationalism?
Until now, most debates about Brexit have only considered the question from the viewpoint of Britain itself and the shambolic process overseen by the Tory government. However, Brexit raises issues that go beyond the UK – and beyond the nation-state. How should Brexit be considered from the global vantage point, and what are its implications for Europe as a whole? Should left wing parties and progressive movements seek to remain in and reform the European Union, or is exit the better option?
The path to internationalism always led through the nation-state, but European integration seems to open the prospect of transnational solidarity at the continental level, mediated by EU institutions. Does the EU provide the infrastructure for a better, progressive Europe that can be captured and reformed by the left? How viable is the EU as a long-term political project? And if it is not viable, should European lefts seek to exit EU institutions in each of their own countries? What might European solidarity look like in an EU that is cracking apart under the weight of its contradictions?
Speakers:
David Adler, writer and researcher; policy coordinator for European Spring. Based in Athens.
Catarina Príncipe, political activist; contributing editor, Jacobin. Based in Porto.
Lee Jones, reader in international politics, QMUL; co-founder, The Full Brexit. Based in London.
Monday Mar 18, 2019
Monday Mar 18, 2019
On 'Corbynomics'. We talk to James Meadway, former advisor to the UK's Shadow Chancellor, about what a Corbyn government could and should do. What is the scope for manoeuver of a Left Government in 2019? What does a British 'Green New Deal' look like? And we talk Brexit, because of course.
#BungaLive is this Thursday (21 March) in London - reserve your ticket now: bungacast.eventbrite.com
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
On crime and the far-right. Prof Steve Hall explains what 'ultra-realism' in criminology means - and why we need to get beyond liberal idealism. We also discuss the rise of the English far-right, the EDL - and how a narrative of betrayal coheres it. Why do middle-class liberals have such a horror of authority - and why it's essential that the Left reclaim it. How are so many contemporary ideologies no longer fit for purpose? Also: what is 'special liberty' and how does it differ from entitlement?
Readings:
Interview with Steve Hall, Injustice-Film
The Rise of the Right: English Nationalism and the Transformation of Working-Class Politics (book)
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Friday Mar 01, 2019
Friday Mar 01, 2019
On the Gilets Jaunes - again. They won’t go away. They won’t be subsumed by other forces or institutions and, after more than three months, they’re not exhausted yet. Have the Gilets Jaunes punctured France’s depression and drift? How has ‘respectable opinion’ demonised them - and is there anything to the anti-Semitism accusations? Now that they have linked up with trade unions, how far can they go? Macron is on thin ice and European elections are coming up. What next for the 5th Republic?
Readings:
A Season of Discontent, Aurelie Dianara, Jacobin
Forgotten France Rises Up, Le Monde Diplo
France’s Class War, Le Monde Diplo
Macron’s Selective Anti-Racism, Jacobin
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We are live in London on 21 March, to debate the future of Europe. Come join us: bungacast.eventbrite.com
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Thursday Feb 21, 2019
Thursday Feb 21, 2019
On the 2019 Academy Awards. Maren Thom joins us again to see what we can learn from the Oscar nominations. We debate when exactly Hollywood's 'end of history' was, and take film criticism to task for its literal-minded desire for representation. Has Hollywood - like so many other liberal institutions - tried so hard to be relevant that it has made itself irrelevant?
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Monday Feb 18, 2019
Monday Feb 18, 2019
On #NOBS in the media. So many newspapers are inadequate these days, as they shift to publishing opinion and listicles instead of hard reporting. Why has this happened and how does it relate to the end of history? Amber discusses her forthcoming article on the crisis in the media and we explain why leftists should read the Financial Times.
Plus: Amber rates previous Bunga guests and also explains why it's Bernie, bitch.
Reading:
Why the Left Can't Stand The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review
This is a bonus episode to say thanks to those who've subscribed. If you want more, sign up: patreon.com/bungacast
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
Thursday Feb 14, 2019
On Nigeria's elections. Sa'eed Husaini fills us in on the stakes of this election. President Buhari dismissed the country's top judge weeks before the election, but the former military dictator is meant to be an anti-corruption figure. His main opponent is a neoliberal privatiser. What's behind this contents between two faces of the Nigerian elite? What happens when politics is fought over the grounds of corruption? Can recent trade union mobilisations shake things up? Meanwhile violence associated with Boko Haram still festers...
Readings:
Introductory
Nigeria’s Brutal Decision: Former Dictator or Alleged Kleptocrat, Bloomberg Businessweek
Thatcher-Loving Nigeria Candidate Plans to Overhaul Economy, Bloomberg Businessweek
Election overview by Brookings
More depth
The rebirth of the Nigerian left?, Sa'eed Husaini in Africa Is a Country
Democracy fading in Nigeria, Al Jazeera
On Sowore's programme, Marxist.com
The struggle for a minimum wage, Africa Is a Country
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Thursday Jan 31, 2019
Thursday Jan 31, 2019
On the rise of the 'digital party'. If politics has become distant from the people, what if a new model of party, leveraging platform technology, could bring the people closer to power? Paolo Gerbaudo talks to us about the various parties and movements innovating new organisational forms - 5 Star Movement, Podemos, the Pirate Parties. They bring in new members and more participation, but what if they also enshrine charismatic leadership? The digital party seems a step forward from the hollowed-out neoliberal parties of the past decades, but do they also reflect some negative tendencies of the tech economy?
Plus: Italy's M5S/Lega coalition, the sovereignty question, and Italians' contradictory attitudes to the EU.
Readings:
The Return of the Party, Paolo Gerbaudo, Jacobin
Ruling the Void, Peter Mair, NLR
Senso Comune organisation, Italy
The Experiment Interview on 5 Star Movement, Jacobin
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Thursday Jan 17, 2019
Thursday Jan 17, 2019
On democratic planning. Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski propose we look at Walmart and other giant corporations as sites of planning, not of markets -- and that this fact proves planning works. Rather than rely on markets and market actors to manage production and distribution, we should it ourselves. Do advances in computing mean that the old problems of planning have been overcome? Does planning lead to authoritarianism -- or does authoritarianism lead to bad planning? Can we overcome the age of Capitalist Übermenschen?
Readings:
- People's Republic of Walmart (Verso, March 2019)
- Planning the Good Anthropocene, Leigh & Michal in Jacobin
- Pt. III of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Friedrich Engels
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Bunga theme music: Jonny Mundey
Bunga design: ramune.io
Thursday Jan 10, 2019
Thursday Jan 10, 2019
On the links between economic liberalism and fascism. Ishay Landa talks to us about the "Apprentice's Sorcerer": how political liberalism enfranchises the masses, to the disgruntlement of economic liberals, who then have to turn to an authoritarian or fascist 'daddy' to save capitalism. What does the liberal divorce between economic and political liberalism tell us about the conflict between democracy and private property? How does the fascist "principle achievement" relate to today's fondness for entrepreneurial heroes? Also, a restatement of how the horseshoe theory is horeshit.
Readings:
- Fascism and the Masses, Ishay Landa
- The Apprentice's Sorcerer, Ishay Landa
- Our episode on Losurdo & liberalism's contradictions
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Bunga theme music: Jonny Mundey
Bunga design: ramune.io
Thursday Jan 03, 2019
Thursday Jan 03, 2019
On the cult of the entrepreneur. Alex Gourevitch talks to us about the "special kinds of assholes we get in our economy" and the dangers of the heroic capitalist icon. How does the earlier ideal of meritocracy differ from entrepreneurship as an ethos? Does celebrating the special creative genius of the disruptor actually mean glorifying tyranny?
Plus: the right to strike, domination in the workplace, and campy Trump.
Readings:
- A Radical Defence of the Right to Strike, Alex Gourevitch
- From Slavery to the Cooperative Commonwealth, Alex Gourevitch
- Nietzsche's Marginal Children, Corey Robin
PATREON: Please consider donating at patreon.com/bungacast
Bunga theme music: Jonny Mundey
Bunga design: ramune.io
Thursday Dec 20, 2018
Thursday Dec 20, 2018
The big 2018 populism discussion. We trash mainstream interpretations of populism (hiya, Cas Mudde) and debate the merits and demerits of 'left populism'. Thatcher, Clinton and Blair are today thought of as anti-populists, but what if they demonstrate many populist features? Is our future 'technopopulism'? And is the 'movement of movements' a dead end?
Plus plenty of bonus stuff: debating the 20th Century disaster; Hillary as the tragic figure of our age; and José Mourinho as right-wing populist.
Readings:
Thea Riofrancos on Chantal Mouffe in n+1
Chris Bickerton on technopopulism
Thursday Dec 06, 2018
Thursday Dec 06, 2018
The 'gilets jaunes' protests have shocked France, expressing a profound exasperation and anger that goes much deeper than frustration at a fuel tax. This is clearly a movement from below, of the people. But it is leaderless and thus far rejects affiliation with political parties. How far can it go? Is Macron's government at risk? This isn't the 'start-up nation' he dreamed of...
Readings:
We're With The Rebels, by Aurélie Dianara (Jacobin)
Thursday Nov 22, 2018
Thursday Nov 22, 2018
We discuss Nervous States with its author: How has debate became so angery!1!! and fractious? Why don't we trust institutions any more -- or better, which institutions do we still trust and why? How has war increasingly encroached onto peace? And maybe believing in stats too much means that we now don't believe in anything...
Readings:
Nervous States (William Davies)
Postscript on the Societies of Control (Gilles Deleuze)
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Monday Nov 19, 2018
Theresa May's Brexit deal seems to have satisfied no one. Britain doesn't properly leave, nor does it stay, it just becomes a passive rule-taker. What are the prospects for the UK actually leaving? Will there be a second referendum? And does the difficulty in seeing through Brexit confirm that "there is no alternative"?
Readings:
The Full Brexit: for popular sovereignty, democracy and economic renewal
Costas Lapavitsas: Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour vs. the Single Market