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 Jun 27, 2019
Thursday Jun 27, 2019
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.
Thursday Jun 20, 2019
Thursday Jun 20, 2019
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
Thursday Jun 13, 2019
Thursday Jun 13, 2019
Thursday Jun 06, 2019
Thursday Jun 06, 2019
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
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Thursday May 30, 2019
Thursday May 30, 2019
Monday May 27, 2019
Monday May 27, 2019
[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]
Thursday May 23, 2019
Thursday May 23, 2019
Thursday May 16, 2019
Thursday May 16, 2019
On 'neoliberal order breakdown syndrome' and the media. Glenn Greenwald talks to us about Russiagate and fake news, and is unimpressed with same old propaganda. We discuss about left-wing self-criticism, Bolsonaro and transgression, and ask how to be sceptical without sliding into cynicism.
Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST
Thursday May 02, 2019
Thursday May 02, 2019
On migration and identity. The question of migration and borders has become increasingly fraught across different societies. Why has immigration become the means through which grievance is expressed? Where has 'white' identity come from? And how durable is identity politics as a force?
Readings:
Looking Closer to Home, Kenan Malik on EU and migration
The History and Politics of White Identity, Kenan Malik
Follow us on Facebook / Twitter. Sign up on Patreon: patreon.com/bungacast
Saturday Apr 27, 2019
Saturday Apr 27, 2019
On Peterson vs Zizek. Did the 'debate of the century' live up to its billing? More importantly, what explains Peterson's appeal - and Zizek's? Why did the debate have such an odd, out of time feel?
References:
The Fool and the Madman, Jacobin critique of the debate
Evaluating the Peterson-Zizek Debate, Doug Lain, Zero Books
Enjoy what we do? Chip in to our patreon: patreon.com/BUNGACAST
Thursday Apr 18, 2019
Thursday Apr 18, 2019
On Modern Monetary Theory. Doug Henwood joins us to discuss whether MMT offers a fiscal alternative for Left governments. What is monetary sovereignty and do all states have it? What are MMT's prospects for states as different as the USA, Nigeria or Brazil? Is it a suspect economic remedy, too much of a quick fix? Are MMT proponents guilty of avoiding political confrontation?
Readings
Modern Monetary Theory Isn’t Helping, Doug Henwood, Jacobin
MMT Is Already Helping, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Jacobin
Modern Money Theory 101: A Reply to Critics (pdf), Éric Tymoigne and L. Randall Wray
Modern Money Theory (MMT) vs. Structural Keynesianism, Thomas Palley
What Is Modern Monetary Theory and Why Is It So Important to the Green New Deal?, Jacob Weindling, Paste Magazine
We can't print our own money. So please help us out: PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST
Thursday Apr 04, 2019
Thursday Apr 04, 2019
On whether we can salvage anything from postmodernism. Have we left postmodernity - and if so, can can we be properly dialectical about it: see it as progress and catastrophe all at once? Is there a moment of truth to postmodernism amidst all the falsity?
We discuss the left intelligentsia's abandonment of materialism; phoney cultural populism; the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe; Knausgaard's six volume 'Min Kamp'; and the end of cultural rebellion.
Readings:
- The Apprentice in Theory: Fan, Student, Star, Catherine Liu & Devan Bailey on Avital Ronell, LA Review of Books
- Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Frederic Jameson, NLR
- Itemised, review of Knausgaard by Jameson, LRB
- The Myth of Pruitt-Igoe, documentary
If you like what we do, please support us. Go to Patreon.com/BungaCast
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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