Bungacast

/45/ Liberalism: A Counter-Podcast

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 

/44/ Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome (N.O.B.S.)

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

 

/43/ City Struggles ft. Ben Bradlow / David Adler

In which we ask why the urban question become so pointed today - in the Global North as well as in the South? We look at contestation in urban politics - in São Paulo, Johannesburg, London, New York, and beyond. What are the social movement struggles around housing, rent, transport, and the right to the city? What are the limits to housing & transport politics -- are they just consumer movements at the end of the day?

Guests:

• David Adler talks to us about rent in London and beyond.
• Ben Bradlow joins us to debate the big one: can municipal politics be sexy? And can city politics become national politics?

We conclude by returning to a recurring theme: is the Global North actually becoming more like the Global South? 

 

Readings:

Ben Bradlow, Let Them Occupy: https://africasacountry.com/2018/02/let-them-occupy-housing-struggles-in-brazil-and-south-africa 

David Adler, Generation Rent: https://jacobinmag.com/2016/04/big-short-housing-loans-renters-affordability 

 

Review of Justin McGuirk's 'Radical Cities' https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/11/radical-cities-latin-america-architecture-justin-mcguirk-review

Interview with Raquel Rolnik https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2792-the-complete-subjugation-of-urban-policy-an-interview-with-raquel-rolnik

Steve Graham on vertical cities https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2995-elite-takeovers-of-the-vertical-city 

 

Cover image: 📷Claudio Edinger 

 

/42/ Erdogan Ever-Present? ft. Yasemin Yilmaz

In which we survey Turkey's election results in light of five years of tumult - Gezi, economic downturn, terrorist attacks, Syrian war, coup, repression. Are cracks beginning to show for Erdogan? He teamed up with ultranationalists, while opposition secularists and Islamists joined forces, but Erdogan held on. How demoralised are the Turkish people, and what are the prospects for the Left? We conclude by debating whether Erdogan represents a generalisable type of political leader today: initally moderate and neoliberal, but tacking increasingly authoritarian and socially conservative.

/41/ The Colombian Exception ft. Pablo Medina Uribe

In which we discuss how the Right won this month's election -- in a country that has never seen the Left in power. Is Colombia an exception? The civil war there feels like part of the Cold War that forgot to end. We discuss the fragile peace, the militarisation of politics, and drug cartels. 

/40/ Centrists Are the Bad Guys ft. David Adler

In which we try to understand why it's not the extremes, but the centre, that has given up on democracy. David Adler talks to us about his research, and we learn about the centrist tribes: elites, anti-elite populists, and the apathetic. We talk about how we think about political space and what 'moderate' really means... maybe that horeshoe needs to be turned upside down? 

Readings:

David Adler in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/23/opinion/international-world/centrists-democracy.html 

David Adler's working paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fOGwtRUF-y-98IcDs-3YYrtREl8GbaoH/view 

/39/ Geopolitics of the World Cup ft. Karl Sharro & Euan Marshall

In which we talk about the politics of hosting the World Cup + the sublots & intrigues that will animate the tournament: hot and cold wars, Salah's revenge, Brazil after the 7-1. Featuring lots of hating on Sergio Ramos. 

/38/ The Economics of Exit ft. Thomas Fazi

In which we discuss why the Left should not to be scared of sovereignty: Brexit, Italexit, and Modern Monetary Theory

/37/ The Ghosts of May '68 ft. Catherine Liu

In which we unpick the legacies of 1968 and all that: political fragmentation, the loss of authority, the cult of youth.

/36/ Portugal: The Soft Whip? ft. Catarina Príncipe

In which we debate whether Portugal really represents an alternative to austerity

/35/ (Dis)Arm the People? ft. Reid Kane

In which we delve into the gun control debate: are guns really essential for democracy? Plus, the 2018 UK university strike.

/34/ War Propaganda ft. Tara McCormack

In which we laugh at The Times' hatchet job with one of its targets & wonder what the West's endgame is in Syria

/33/ Hungary's Illiberal Democracy ft. Tamas Gerocs

In which we unpick another Fidesz's victory and ask whether neoliberalism in an nationalist-authoritarian shell is the future

/32/ Brazil Moves Right? ft. Sabrina Fernandes

In which we ask who killed Marielle Franco & discuss the shooting at Lula's caravan + Brazil's absent center

/31/ Woke Neoliberalism ft. James Heartfield

In which we debate the 'equal opportunities revolution': how race & gender has changed, in the workplace & beyond