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
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
PATREON: Help us grow (pay what you want) patreon.com/bungacast
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
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
Thursday Nov 08, 2018
In which we learn of Duterte's promises of blood and how he's lived up to those promises. Is massacring drug user, dealers and anyone caught in the crossfire actually popular? How does violence fit in with his development model? Do elites back his rule - and which elites? And how does he compare to other far-right authoritarians?
Readings:
The Duterte Reader (ed. Nicole Curato)
Nicole Curato in the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/opinion/philippines-rodrigo-duterte.html?smid=fb-share&referer=http://m.facebook.com
Wednesday Oct 31, 2018
Wednesday Oct 31, 2018
In which we update the latest from Brazil, post-election. What will Bolsonaro's government look like? We plot best & worst case scenarios and discuss how bad this really is (really, really bad). And is "fascism" the correct term to use?
Readings:
Bolsonaro Rising (Alex) https://thebaffler.com/latest/bolsonaro-rising-hochuli
Bolsonaro: more dangerous than Trump (Alex) https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/brazil-presidential-election-who-jair-bolsonaro-popular-candidate-more-dangerous-ncna925011
What Bolsonaro's election victory means (Ben) https://mg.co.za/article/2018-10-28-what-bolsonaros-election-victory-could-mean
Fascism has arrived in Brazil (Ben) https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election-results-president-fascism-far-right-fernando-haddad-a8606391.html
Privilege vs Democracy in Brazil (Alfredo Saad-Filho) https://jacobinmag.com/2018/10/brazil-election-bolsonaro-haddad-lula-pt-democracy
Thursday Oct 25, 2018
Thursday Oct 25, 2018
In which we discuss (post)modern relationships: dating, narcissism and capitalism. Are we all scared of each other? Are we trying to quantify the interpersonal? What does #MeToo et al suggest about contemporary womanhood?
Plus assorted stuff on Russophobia, fascism and anti-fascism, and how great Lana del Rey is.
Readings:
Christopher Lasch on narcissism: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1976/09/30/the-narcissist-society
The Last Psychiatrist: https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/11/a_generational_pathology.html
Friday Oct 12, 2018
Friday Oct 12, 2018
In which we talk to Amber about the limitations of liberal feminism and why socialism is better (duh). Personal trauma as a form of political argumentation is critiqued. And we debate the unfashionable topic of parenting and families. Maybe, beyind so much beyond subcultural squabbling and posturing on the Left, is actually a deep-rooted individualism. So we discuss how to get beyond that.
Readings:
Confession Booth: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/confession-booth-frost
Daddy Issues: https://thebaffler.com/all-tomorrows-parties/daddy-issues-frost
It's Okay to Have Children https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/08/its-okay-to-have-children
Wednesday Oct 03, 2018
Wednesday Oct 03, 2018
Special episode in partnership with Jacobin: Brazil election preview - democracy at stake.
Who is Bolsonaro and why should Bolsonaro be understood as a neofascist? We discuss the #EleNão feminist resistance and the backdrop of 'antipetismo'. How has the political centre and the middle class so easily swung over to vote for such an extremist? The notion of 'ultra-politics' is explained and we look at what might happen should Bolsonaro win - and should he lose.
Readings:
Essential Chomsky article: https://theintercept.com/2018/10/02/lula-brazil-election-noam-chomsky/
Jacobin archive on Brazil: https://jacobinmag.com/location/brazil
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
Thursday Sep 13, 2018
In which we ask whether political consumerism is still a thing. We chart its course from 90s Adbusters-style anti-branding, to 2000s ethical consumerism, through to today's woke outrage economy. Has commodification and cynicism overwhelmed all consumer activism?
Plus, we catch up with election results from Sweden and look forward to next month's Brazilian elections.
Readings:
Adbusted https://jacobinmag.com/2013/10/adbusted
The Philanthropy Racket https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/the-philanthropy-racket
Thursday Aug 30, 2018
Thursday Aug 30, 2018
The third in our Neoliberal Breakdown series. In which we discuss the late Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism, 10 years on. Does his analysis still hold? The mood music of the time - the age of 'TINA' and the end of history - was acutely described by Fisher. But did it only really describe Britain? And has the world now entered a new period?
Readings:
Capitalist Realism http://www.zero-books.net/books/capitalist-realism
'Exiting the Vampire Castle' https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/mark-fisher/exiting-vampire-castle
Mark Fisher's k-punk blog https://k-punk.org/
Cover image: 📸 Stephanie Jung
Thursday Aug 16, 2018
Thursday Aug 16, 2018
In which we discuss the work of the late Domenico Losurdo, especially his brilliant Liberalism: A Counter-History. Part of an ongoing series on the contradictions of liberalism, we debate whether Losurdo is right to point to liberalism's complicity with slavery, racism and colonialism. Why were arguments for self-rule often accompanied by justifications for slavery? Why were some liberal abolitionist arguments in favour of despotism?
We tie these discussions into contemporary paradoxes of liberalism and ask why liberalism is unable to realise its own values.
Reading:
Liberalism: A Counter-History (book) https://www.versobooks.com/books/960-liberalism
Obituary of Losurdo (Jacobin) https://jacobinmag.com/2018/07/domenico-losurdo-italian-marxism-counter-history
Thursday Aug 09, 2018
Thursday Aug 09, 2018
In which we lay the liberal establishment down on the shrink's sofa. It's a systematic analysis of liberal derangement: of the inability to accept, explain, or respond to the breakdown of the current order. Why can't the liberal establishment accept that the 2008 crisis would eventually have political consequences? Why can't liberals explain why they keep losing? Why can't they offer anything but more of the same?
Symptoms:
- Incredulity and denial of political change
- Unwillingness to take responsibility
- Moralisation
- No belief in political causation (things just happen)
- Fetishising disinformation
- Elite persecution complex
- Hysteria & catastrophism
- Nostalgia for a very recent past & rewriting history
- Repetition compulsion