Bungacast

On history-ending technology. [Patreon Exclusive] The economist Tyler Cowen recently suggested that radical technological change today marks a turning point in history. Is he right, and how would we evaluate such a claim? Should we be sceptical about these big claims, especially given all the Silicon Valley-driven hype around AI? Or is 'radical agnosticism' the right stance? And what about calls to rein-in the development of artificial intelligence, especially when these calls come from Silicon Valley itself? Readings: Existential risk, AI, and the inevitable turn in human history, Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution Is this the end of “The End of History”?, Robert Stark The call for an AI halt disguises the real problems with tech, Jason Walsh, Tech Central /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power (unlocked Bungacast Reading Club episode)

On the US cultural climate. Renowned/notorious writer Norman Finkelstein joins us to discuss the themes of his latest and last book, I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It! What unites the leading intellectual proponents of wokeness today, people like Ibram X Kendi or Kimberlé Crenshaw? How do they differ from anti-racist and liberationist heroes of the past? What continuities are there between today's cancel culture and the politics of the New Left? We discuss the definition of wokeness and ask whether we have already reached peak wokeness, and examine the emergence of anti-wokness. Subscribe to the podcast: patreon.com/bungacast Readings: I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom, Norman Finkelstein, Sublation

On your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] Is the Left dead? Did the turn to culture really kill it? Or is the nostalgia for the post-war Left the real problem? We also debate what the function of imperialism in Africa is; the 'pro-worker' conservatives in the US; surveillance of app workers; what economic growth is for; and whether to f**k models.

On Inhuman Power. [Unlocked episode from Bungacast 'Reading Club', originally released 6 December 2022] Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – one of the few areas today in which capitalists still seem to have ambition. Why is this so, and is there something about AI that gets to the nub of what capitalism is, as a mode of production? Is capitalism without humanity anything more than a dystopian Skynet nightmare? And would the creation of a surplus humanity still be capitalism? Would it be techno-feudal, or something else? Reading: Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books

On cracked-up capitalism. Historian of ideas Quinn Slobodian joins us again, this time to discuss his latest book, Crack-up Capitalism – the vision of a global capitalism with its constituent nation-states perforated by ‘zones’ shorn of any national oversight or democratic accountability. We talk through these archetypal zones encompassing deregulation, investment and sweatshop labour, ranging from the glittering city scapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Canary Wharf to forgotten zones such as Ciskei in apartheid South Africa as well as the gated communities of California and bit-coin paradise Honduras. We also talk about archetypal crack-up capitalists such as Peter Thiel, William Rees-Mogg and Milton Friedman’s offspring. How did crack-up capitalism feature in the Tory vision of Brexit? Plus, why is Dominic Cummings the one true Singaporean, and why do crack-up capitalists love medieval LARPing? For part two, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Readings: Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, Quinn Slobodian The Ciskei experiment: a libertarian fantasy in apartheid South Africa, Quinn Slobodian, The Guardian /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones As special enclaves proliferate, what are the consequences for democracy?, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, The Spectator Dominic Cummings understands Singapore. The Tories still don’t, Quinn Slobodian, The Spectator Crack-up Capitalism video trailer, Twitter

On Martin Hägglund's This Life. We continue on the theme of freedom. In this episode, we look at what Martin Hägglund describes as 'spiritual freedom', which can ultimately be seen as a question of what we do with our time. Across the two chapters in question, Hägglund ties together his philosophical vision rooted in the notion of mortality and temporal life, with a social critique that draws on Hegel and Marx. He does this by centring the question of time, the only truly scarce resource. How can we negotiate anxiety-inducing freedom today? Where do our 'existential identities' come from, and does Hägglund put too much emphasis on identity? And is Buddhist karma a system analogous to the market? For local Reading Clubs, email [email protected] Readings & resources: This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Chapter 4 and 5 On time, work, freedom and necessity: /298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch On Hegel and contradiction: /167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan On Sartre: Being and Nothingness (1943) and his subsequent 1946 essay summarising ideas in the book, "Existentialism Is a Humanism"

On depicting dystopia. Acclaimed cartoonists, writers and artists Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson join us for something a little different: to talk about their new comic book, Justice Warriors. Set in a grotesquely unequal world, a police procedural (of sorts) encounters an astrology-based social movement seeking justice. We talk about how dystopian fiction often serves to manufacture consent and about how fiction can confront us with images of social decline. We also debate free will and determinism in a world that presents few opportunities, social justice warriors and politics that perpetuate the present, and why there is no 'pure' people set against the elite. Links: Justice Warriors, Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, Felipe Sobreiro, Simon & Schuster The Nib - political satire & cartoons

On geopolitical competition over Africa. [Patreon Exclusive] In light of the 'new Cold War', we look at what the US, Europe, Russia and China's respective "pitches" are to African countries – what are they selling? And we examine the factors that contribute to Africa's place in geopolitics today: Chinese hunger for raw materials, the global war on terror, the green energy transition, drug and people smuggling, and more. If the original Scramble for Africa (1884-1914) was driven by an attempt to displace European class war onto another terrain, can we say anything analogous is happening today? Links: /303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua /304/ The Failure of the French Forever War (2) ft. Yvan Guichaoua Russia in Africa, Financial Times series of articles Defending Our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity, Tricontinental Institute Italophone Somalia, Then and Now, Iman Mohamed, The Drift Emmanuel Macron must reset France’s Africa policy, Sylvie Kauffman (Le Monde editor), FT Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’, Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri, Chatham House Let’s talk about neo-colonialism in Africa, Mark Langan, LSE blog /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

On the crisis of crisis. Bulgarian critical theorist Albena Azmanova joins us to discuss her widely-discussed 2020 book, Capitalism on Edge. We talk critical theory, the paradox of emancipation, her criticisms of Thomas Piketty and why we should be thinking in terms of precarity capitalism, not neoliberalism. Albena also discusses her concept of the ‘crisis of the crisis of capitalism’ - how the current crisis of capitalism fails to augur a new type of society. Albena makes the case that concepts like neoliberalism obscure more than they clarify. We also discuss how far critical theorists can be drawn into providing practical political advice to leaders and governing institutions. Plus, what was it like coming of age in communist Bulgaria at the End of History? Links: It’s the Economic Precarity, Stupid, Albena Azmanova & Marshall Auerback, The Nation Uber’s dangerous drive to serfdom, Albena Azmanova, Unherd Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia, Albena Azmanova, Columbia UP

On the left's understanding of freedom. We continue our talk with Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again. This is followed by the After Party, where we debate the extent to which Thatcher 'sold' freedom and what the left's understanding of liberty is. To gain access to episodes like this that normally remain paywalled, subscribe to our patreon: patreon.com/bungacast Part 1 is here: https://bungacast.podbean.com/e/318-the-dead-left-ft-steve-hall-simon-winlow/ Links: /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood

On what comes after neo-liberalism. [Patreon Exclusive] After 40 years of neo-liberalism, governments are inching their way to some new settlement, under the pressure of repeated crises, as well as populist upsurges. In this episode we try to take a political, not academic, approach to the question. This is not about categorising and labelling, but about understanding what the stakes are in saying a new arrangement is emerging, and grasping how it informs political practice. What are the main "post-neoliberal" arrangements being pushed by different sides of the spectrum? What do they say about the interests of their constituencies? If successful, what sort of political playing field will they present the masses? Will it be a world of greater or fewer opportunities for emancipatory politics? Readings: TCS Special Issue: ‘Post-Neoliberalism?’, Various, Theory Culture & Society End of the Neoliberal Era?, David Kotz, NLR The new rules for business in a post-neoliberal world, Rana Forfoohar, FT What's beyond "beyond neoliberalism"?, Amy Kapczynski, LPE Project Reading the post-neoliberal right, Amy Kapczynski, LPE Project

On Martin Hägglund's This Life. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We begin the 2023 Reading Club with the theme of FREEDOM. In this episode, we examine Martin Hägglund's arguments for secular faith presented in the first half of his book. Is Hagglund right in arguing that much of religious belief, especially in relation to morality, is actually motivated by secular faith? Hägglund's enemy is not so much religion as the "Stoic" attempt to withdraw and detach from the temporal world. Instead we should be engaged and committed to the persons and projects we care about in this life. But does Hägglund underestimate alienation? Is his approach overly demanding? And what about disenchantment? How would we go about re-enchanting the secular world? For local Reading Clubs, email [email protected] Readings: This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Introduction; Chapter 1 (Sections 2, 3, 4); Chapter 2 (Sections 2, 4, 6) From Western Marxism to Western Buddhism, Slavoj Zizek, Cabinet Magazine Vulnerability as Ideology, Peter Ramsay, The Northern Star

On the mainstreaming of racial thinking. We welcome back author and broadcaster Kenan Malik to talk about his new book, Not So Black and White. The book presents a historical account of how racial thinking has accompanied the spread of notions of equality and common humanity. How is it that many supposed humanitarians in the past were often racists? And how have we reached a point where today, many liberals and supposed anti-racists sustain racial thinking? How have notions of global whiteness/blackness come to dominate the discourse? We also discuss the 'post-liberal' critics of wokeness and their shortcomings, and whether the far right is gaining from the reification of race. Want more? Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics, Kenan Malik, Hurst /70/ In Defence of Universalism ft. Kenan Malik

On the app economy. [Patreon Exclusive] Delivery apps have taken the world by storm, and the pandemic only deepened our dependence on them. What is the price of convenience – and is there anything wrong with wanting ease? Capitalist keep propping up these money-losing enterprises – why? And can they survive the end of cheap money? Is the app economy just a battering ram against labour rights? Are delivery apps out to kill off traditional restaurants? And should we defend the petite bourgeoisie and independent bars and pubs? And does the dream of freedom sold by apps to workers, of being your own boss, work as a legitimating ideology? Reading: Farewell to the servant economy, FT Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life, Adam Greenfield, Verso Delivering Restaurants to Wall Street, Alex Park, Compact 5 Reasons Marxism Has Nothing To Offer Millennials, Austrian Economics Center Links: /59/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 3 ft. Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski Excerpt: /311/ Reading Club: The Precariat Excerpt: /172/ Three Articles: Elite Production (on Uber)

On The Covid Consensus. We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnational health authorities dropped pre-pandemic plans in favour of open-ended nationwide lockdowns which were to remain in place until vaccines were developed. Why this course of action? And how to account for the unprecedented level of policy alignment across the majority of countries: was it coordination, imitation, or coercion? In part two of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm. For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left, Toby Green & Thomas Fazi /213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze /38/ The Economics of Exit ft. Thomas Fazi

[Patreon Exclusive] On your questions and criticisms. A bumper episode as we respond to your points from December through to the end of January. We discuss 'political capitalism', where the left is today, atomisation, degrowth, disciplining the working class, critical cinema, and family abolition.

On the death of the left. We talk to Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again. Is the left indeed dead, and what killed it? The turn to culture undoubtedly plays a part, but was the left wrong to turn to liberty, as Hall & Winlow argue? How can we turn back to political economy and what would that politics look like? And if there is to be a future radical movement for and by the working class, would social democracy be its lodestar? Part two of the interview and the After Party are available at patreon.com/bungacast Links: /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood

On the key events and developments in 2022. We look back at how the world transitioned from the pandemic to war over the past year, and what the socio-political fallouts have been. Is everything "better than expected"? Has managerial technocracy been rejuvenated? We discuss whether we're in a Third World War, how the US empire is strengthening its grip on Europe, and how cultural populists are taking over from economic populists. Part two is available at patreon.com/bungacast

On aesthetic criticism & performance. The hosts of a new podcast on film, Performance Anxiety, join us to talk about how a focus on performance can break through endless squabbles over wokeness and representation in film. We also discuss our best and worst films of 2022. Part two of this episode is at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Performance Anxiety podcast The Greatest Films of All Time, Sight & Sound, BFI The Radicalization of the Film Canon, Adrian Nguyen, Quillette

On the achievement of democracy and the 'impartial' state. We speak to sociologist Dylan Riley about his new book Microverses, a series of aphorisms on social theory and politics. The rational-legal state seems to be under threat by politicians who have no sense of the division between public and private – patrimonialists like Donald Trump, or Silvio Berlusconi. What are we to make of this attack on the notion of office? Anti-corruption politics is often the response, but what happens when the left positions itself as the defender of the 'impartial' bourgeois state – rather than its overthrower? And was democratic capitalism the achievement of a militant working class – or a concession made after the working class had already been disciplined by fascism and war? The second half of the interview, and our After-Party, is available at patreon.com/bungacast Readings: Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present, Dylan Riley, Verso Books Seven Theses on American Politics, Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, NLR Inflection Point (podcast), Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, UC Berkley Safe Substitutes for Posting: review of Microverses, Harold Florida, Damage

Is there a new 'transformative' class? [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We close of the 2022 Reading Club, and the final section on 'Neo-Feudalism', by discussing how class is changing. Through readings by Guy Standing and Ruy Braga, we ask if the precariat are the new serfs in a supposed feudal-ish social formation. It's clear the old Fordist arrangements have broken down, so what does the working class look like today? Is it still a class in the old sense? Braga argues we are witnessing 'class struggle without class'. But why then do the precariat's revolts only target state political authority, and not property relations? Readings: A return of class struggle without class? Moral economy and popular resistance in Brasil, south Africa and Portugal, Ruy Braga, Sociologia & Antropologia The Precariat: Today's Transformative Class?, Guy Standing, GTI

On 'degrowth communism'. [Patreon Exclusive] Why the rage for degrowth now? With deindustrialisation, energy rationing and severe pressure on standards of living, it looks increasingly like degrowth is official policy. Yet its advocates, drawing from the work of radicals like Mike Davis, John Bellamy Foster, Jason Hickel, and Kohei Saito, would argue that ecological Marxism or degrowth communism is wholly different from stagnant capitalism. How much continuity is there between much older generations of socialists and the contemporary left? Readings: The paradox of Degrowth Communism, Thomas Fazi, UnHerd ‘A new way of life’: the Marxist, post-capitalist, green manifesto captivating Japan, Justin McCurry, Guardian The degrowth delusion, Leigh Phillips, openDemocracy

On atomisation and association. Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone came out 22 years ago and the structural changes he identified then – increasing atomisation – have only worsened. Everyone now blames the internet, and though it may have accelerated some aspects, the problem goes deeper. The social consequences – loneliness, mistrust, depression – are widely discussed, but the political ones less so. Does the decline of associationalism open the door to authoritarianism? Are 'right-wing' associations (say, churches or homeowner groups) just as threatened as left-wing ones (like unions or labour clubs)? What are the political valences of growing atomisation? And are we now like the peasants that Marx described in his 18th Brumaire: just potatoes in a sack - and does this explain the crazy politics of our time? Links: Fill out our 2022 Listener Survey: tinyurl.com/bunga2022survey From Bowling Alone to Posting Alone, Anton Jäger, Jacobin Bowling Alone (2020 revised edition), Robert Putnam

On the global left after the Cold War. [Patreon Exclusive] Has the left declined, been defeated, or is it dead? Is the continuity with the Old and New Lefts of the 20th century, or should we understand 1989 as marking a definitive break? We use a long essay by Swedish Marxist sociologist Göran Therborn in the latest New Left Review as a plank to examine these questions. Therborn tries to present a synoptic analysis of where the left is, globally speaking, almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century. Is he right that the old dialectics of industrialism and colonialism are no longer operative - and that no new dialectic has emerged? And is trying to present a "balance sheet" a valid approach in the first place? FILL OUT OUR 2022 LISTENER SURVEY: tinyurl.com/bunga2022survey Links: The World and the Left, Göran Therborn, New Left Review (2022) Renewals, Perry Anderson, New Left Review (2000) /37/ The Ghosts of May ‘68 ft. Catherine Liu, Bungacast OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, ep. 3 (Boomers), Bungacast

On your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] We debate what kind of work 'shared-labour socialism' would involve in a complex society, and what role 'dispossession' or 'expropriation' has in the contemporary economy. Plus: strategies on Ukraine – backing independence, guerilla warfare, and what an 'anti-NATO' stance actually looks like; and whether the forces exist for exiting the EU. Fill out our 2022 Listener Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XNLTVLB

On Inhuman Power. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – one of the few areas today in which capitalist still seem to have ambition. Why is this so, and is there something about AI that gets to the nub of what capitalism is, as a mode of production? Is capitalism without humanity anything more than a dystopian Skynet nightmare? And would the creation of a surplus humanity still be capitalism? Would it be techno-feudal, or something else? Reading: Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books

On "techno-feudalism". In the Bungacast Reading Club for patrons, we've been discussing various works on "neo-feudalism" - a thesis that tries to explain capitalist stagnation and inequality by arguing that we are moving beyond capitalism – toward something worse. In this free episode, we discuss one of the most thoroughgoing critiques of this thesis: Evgeny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason". Why has this thesis becomes so popular today, across the political spectrum? What is the economic and political logic of feudalism, and how do current trends supposedly indicate a resurgence of these logics? Why have Marxists, who draw such a clear line between feudalism and capitalism, believe that politically-driven expropriation is replacing exploitation? And how do Big Tech companies make money - purely through rent, or do they produce commodities? To join the Reading Club, sign up for $10 at patreon.com/bungacast Readings: Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason, Evegeny Morozov, New Left Review The 'New' Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession, David Harvey, Socialist Register (pdf) Escalating Plunder, Robert Brenner, New Left Review

On Mali and the Sahel. French president Emmanuel Macron declared the end of Opération Barkhane on 9 November 2022, bringing to an end to nearly 10 years of French military intervention in Mali. But what is the legacy of the French Forever War in the Sahel, and what happens next? Sahel expert Yvan Guichaou joins us to talk about French defeat in the war on terror, the continued French military presence in the region, the growing extent of jihadi power, as well as the crisis of the post-colonial state in Africa and the new geo-politics of Franco-Russian competition in the region. How do these various political forces intersect with the political economy of aid and smuggling networks? [Part 2 is available to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast] Readings: Norms, non-combatants' agency and restraint in Jihadi violence in Northern Mali, Yvan Guichaoua and Ferdaous Bouhlel, International Interactions The bitter harvest of French interventionism in the Sahel, Yvan Guichaoua, International Affairs Music: Nous Non Plus / Bunga Bunga / courtesy of Sugaroo!

A special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. Previously released in 2021 only to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast, a year on we're releasing the whole series to everyone. Part 1: (00:00:00) Part 2: (00:38:11) Part 3: (01:07:54) Part 4: (02:50:32) Part 5: (03:59:24) Part 1: We look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages. Guests include: Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury Christ Church University Joshua Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow Part 2: We look at the emergence of ‘youth’ as political concept in the age following the French Revolution, and its shifting meanings. How important was generational consciousness in the Young Italy movement and its imitators in the 19th century, and how should we understand the so-called ‘Lost Generation’ of 1914? Guests include: Niall Whelahan, Chancellor’s Fellow in History, Strathclyde University Part 3: We examine the Baby Boomers – myth and reality. The revolt of the ’60s has been misunderstood in many dimensions. Was it betrayed or did it always express capitalist ideology? Were the Boomers the ones who really did the 1960s anyway? And what world have the Boomers created as they passed through life – and institutions? Guests include: Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow Jeffrey Alexander, professor of sociology at Yale University Holger Nehring, chair in contemporary European history at the University of Stirling Kristin Ross, professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University Part 4: We examine Generation X – the generation of the End of History. How was this generation overshadowed by the Boomer’s failures? In the Eastern Bloc, the fall of Soviet regimes was a traumatic moment – how did this shape consciousness? And how did the Iranian Revolution – and subsequent war – shape the political perspectives of Iranians? Guests include: Maren Thom, film scholar Alexei Yurchak, professor of anthropology at Berkeley Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow Arash Azizi, historian of Iran at New York University Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin Part 5: We examine the Millennials and Generation Z. Uniquely, generation war today seems to be a conflict over resources more than over values. Is there any basis for this, and what do Millennials actually want? With generational and class conflict seemingly bound together today, we analyse ‘Generation Left’ and ‘Millennial Socialism’. And we ask what the effect of the pandemic may be on the creation of a Gen Z consciousness. Guests include: Paul Taylor, former director, Pew Research Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University Helen Andrews, senior editor at The American Conservative Clive Martin, journalist who has written for VICE Magazine Josh Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow Jennifer Silva, assistant professor in sociologist, Indiana University Original music by: Jonny Mundey Additional music: Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc. Liru / For the Floor / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com Leimoti / Don’t Leave It Here / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com Leimoti / The Small Things / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com Philip Ayers / Trapped in a Maze / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com Walt Adams / Dark Tavern / courtesy of http://www.epidemicsound.com Medité / A Change in My Heart / courtesy of epidemicsound.com Ondolut / Blumen / courtesy of epidemicsound.com Elliott Holmes / Bull Chase / courtesy of epidemicsound.com Kick Castle / Kick Down / courtesy of epidemicsound.com T. Morri / Nuthin’ but Nuts / courtesy of epidemicsound.com Kit Kruger / Freakin’ Freefall / courtesy of epidemicsound.com Cacti / I Will Be Waiting / courtesy of epidemicsound.com Filthy the Kid / Vampire / courtesy of epidemicsound.com Other Clips: Black 47 Trailer © 2018 – WildCard Distribution Arracht Trailer © 2019 – Break Out Pictures The Sun Also Rises © 2019 – 20th Century Fox Mr Lloyd George Speaks To The Nation (1931) British Pathé American Pastoral Trailer © 2016 – Lionsgate Mai 1968 © France 3 Paris Ile-de-France Imitation de Daniel Cohn-Bendit © C’est Canteloup Baader Meinhof Complex © 2008

On your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] The weakness of anti-EU forces; the implications of defending Ukrainian sovereignty; what should we call the new far-right and what does it *do* in power? And the gravity of nuclear war Also, is Phil okay?

On Joel Kotkin's The Coming of Neo-Feudalism We start off by discussing your points on the last RC, on conspiracy theory. Then we delve into Kotkin's book, asking whether he has an adequate understanding of feudalism, and whether this is the right lens to understand transformations underway now. Is 'techno-feudalism' not just a downturn in 'systemic cycles of accumulation', related to the decline of the US empire? And what are Kotkin's politics and how do they relate to his analysis? Thanks for all the questions received on this one, we discussed them as we went through the episode. Reading: The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class, Joel Kotkin, Encounter Books Techno-Feudalism Is Taking Over, Yanis Varoufakis, Project-Syndicate Next month: Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books

On nuclear exterminism. To commemorate our 300th episode, we discuss how the world is closer to a nuclear conflict than at any point since the Cold War. After decades of inconsequential 'permawar' (at least inside the Western bubble), the proxy war in Ukraine between NATO and Russia is suddenly very consequential indeed. How does our situation differ from that of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis? Why might it be more unpredictable? Does today's very different ideological configuration make war more or less likely? Before that, we reflect on five and half years of Bungacast, how the world has changed over the period, and pick out some of our favourite episode from the past half-decade. The main discussion begins at 23mins. Readings: Who will stop Putin from going nuclear?, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd How to prevent World War III, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd Notes on Exterminism, the Last Stage of Civilisation, EP Thompson, New Left Review The War in Ukraine Could Lead to Nuclear War, Anatol Lieven, Quincy Institute

On reclaiming populism. With only a couple of days to go until the decisive runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro, we continue our Bungazão 2022 series by talking to to political scientist Miguel Lago about how Lula and Bolsonaro both construct a Brazilian people. Lula does so broadly on class lines, while Bolsonaro's construction is a moral one: "good citizens" and those to be excluded. Why is populism the right way to analyse the election, and how might Lula re-embody Brazil's greatest populist leader, Getúlio Vargas? We discuss how Bolsonarismo works on the basis of 'micropower' – that is, it appeals to those who hold power over others in any walk of life. And we conclude by looking at Bolsonaro's combination of transcendence and transgression, and how it has re-politicised Brazilian society. Why is this recipe proving more successful than the transactional politics of old? Readings: Batalhadores do Brasil, Miguel Lago, piauí (in Portuguese) The self-help guru who conquered Brazil, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd What Lula's Comeback Means, Alex Hochuli, Compact Do que falamos quando falamos de populismo, Miguel Lago & Tomás Zicman de Barros, Companhia das Letras (in Portuguese) Linguagem da destruição, Miguel Lago et al., Companhia de Letras (in Portuguese) Listenings: On anti-corruption: /297/ Bungazão 2022 (Clean & Godly) ft. Benjamin Fogel (on anti-corruption) On the war of all against all: /292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective On the role of the military: /284/ Bungazão 2022 ft. Alcysio Canette

On shared-labour socialism. Political theorist Alex Gourevitch talks to us about his critique of post-work thought, and how it presupposes the very labour it seeks to free us from. We start of by distinguishing post-work socialism (e.g. Fully Automated Luxury Communism) from various propositions for a Universal Basic Income, and discuss why these ideas are popular today. We then dedicate much of the time to debating Gourevitch's alternative proposal for "shared-labour socialism". What counts as necessary labour – and who is going to do it? How has globalisation changed people's perspectives on what necessary labour is? And will we be producing more under socialism? Part 2 is here: patreon.com/posts/73765804 Readings: Post-Work Socialism?, Alex Gourevitch, Catalyst Why your flights keep getting cancelled, Daniel Zamora Vargas, New Statesman Listenings: /149/ It’s Not Robots, It’s Capitalism ft. Aaron Benanav / Liz Pancotti /72/ Frankly Awesome Lefty Conversation ft. Aaron Bastani /88/ Vouchers for Toxicity ft. Anton Jäger

On corruption & anti-corruption. When Bolsonaro won in 2018, he rode a wave of anti-corruption sentiment. Now he's doled out billions in pork via a secret budget, but this doesn't seem to bother his supporters. What happened? Benjamin Fogel, who studies the history of corruption in Brazil, comes on to discuss how a moralistic account of corruption has fortified the far right. How has corruption been used as a political weapon in the past, and how has it shifted from right to left and back again? How are scandals made rather than born? And what would an anti-corruption politics that is emancipatory look like – rather than the predominant technocratic or moralistic form today? Readings: Against Anti-Corruption, Benjamin Fogel, Jacobin From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin

On Trussonomics. [Patreon Exclusive] Having stumbled upon a successful recipe under Boris Johnson which would see greater state intervention, Britain's Tories then pivoted to a much more pro-market approach. But the markets haven't liked it – they've hated it. What does this say about neoliberalism and what the new orthodoxy is? Why did markets react so badly against a budget that featured things they normally like, such as lower rates of corporate taxes? And does this mean the market's authority has been restored, but under a new guise? Readings: Liz Truss’s Britain Is a Morbid Symptom of the World’s New Era, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy The markets are wrong about ‘Trussonomics’ just like they were about Brexit, Julian Jessop, Telegraph What is Kwasi Kwarteng really up to? One answer: this is a reckless gamble to shrink the state, Adam Tooze, Guardian Britain's Tory Meltdown Is a Case of Socially Determined Stupidity, David Jamieson, Jacobin The economic consequences of Liz Truss, Martin Wolf, FT

On who's responsible for prolonging the Ukraine War + your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] We start off by discussing whether the Zelensky tail is wagging the NATO dog, and what possible exits to conflict there might be. Then, in the main section, we respond to listener comments: we talk about the possibility of a "Chinese Dream", what the point of economic growth is, the monarchy and modernisation, and whether 'fascism' is an appropriate term for the far right today.

On Empire of Conspiracy and agency panics. [Patreon Exclusive - Tiers II & III] We focus our discussion on the notion of 'agency panic' that is at the centre of Timothy Melley's account of conspiracy theories in postwar America. Does it apply to the Great Reset and Russiagate equally? Melley's approach is a useful way of understanding what conspiracy theories give voice to – but is Melley defending or attacking the liberal humanist subject? We disagree amongst ourselves. We then discuss how apathy and paranoia coexist, and wonder whether paranoia characterises the End of the End of History. And does Enlightenment scepticism reside somewhere between these two states? Finally, we discuss jealous cuck husbands and Obama's idea of an epistemological crisis. Additional reading: An extensive list of works on conspiracy theory can be found here

On the meaning of Gorbachev. [Patreon Exclusive] Mikhail Gorbachev continues to be lauded in Western circles for overseeing the collapse of the Soviet Union without much bloodshed. But given the historic societal disaster that followed, is this status unmerited? How naive was Gorbachev about the wolves at the door? And to what extent was the writing on the wall by the late '80s – was there an alternative path not taken? Readings: Big Man Walking: Gorbachev’s Dispensation, Neal Ascherson, LRB, 2017 Voices of Glasnost review Why Gorbachev Failed, Slavoj Zizek, Compact Listenings: OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 4 (on Gen X, the End of History and Soviet collapse) /276/ Broken Promises ft. Fritz Bartel (on the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism) /270/ Russia vs the West ft. Richard Sakwa (on the geopolitics of NATO expansion)

On Brazil's containment of the crisis. We talk to members of the Unbridled Possibility Collective (Fabio Luis B. Santos | Thais Pavez | Daniel Cunha) about their intervention, trying to look beyond this week's election in Brazil. What does establishment support for Lula this time round represent? Is Lula guilty of "unrealistic pragmatism"? How will Brazil react to a potential coup attempt by Bolsonaro? And we look at the deeper social and structural context: what are the features of the Brazilian "war of all against all"? How does Bolsonaro accelerate these tendencies? We conclude by looking at the possibility of a new 'Pink Wave' in Latin America and examining the state of the Brazilian left. Readings: After the Election: a Contribution to the Debate, Unbridled Possibility Collective, Damage /189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis Brazil's Arrested Development, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin Policing Bolsonaro's Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Verso

On the Brothers of Italy. We talk to Mattia Salvia, former Rolling Stone Italia politics editor and author of Interregno, about Italy's election last weekend in the context of a Europe in crisis. The big question to start: is Meloni a fascist - and will her government be fascist? With very low turnout, it seems like the working class has deserted politics, with 5 Star being the last gasp of proletarian participation. Does Meloni try to appeal to this constituency at all? Her low-tax anti-welfare policies don't seem like it. And what of Meloni's pro-NATO politics? And what does this mean for the EU - will a FdI-ruled Italy weaken the union, or strengthen it? Readings: Meet the New Wolf, Giorgia Meloni, Mattia Salvia, Popula In Italy’s Deserted Democracy, Far-Right Giorgia Meloni Has Emerged Victorious, David Broder, Jacobin Meloni’s victory only strengthens the EU, Philip Cunliffe, Unherd What an Italy led by the far-right might mean for Europe, FT In Italian: Coatta Antica, Mattia Salvia, Not Nero http://www.iconografie.it/

On La Macronie, or Macronistan Is France in perma-crisis? We talk to Nathan Sperber, independent researcher on political economy based in Paris and the author of a recent piece on Macronistan in American Affairs. Does Macron evince a neo-statist turn, away from the entrepreneurial, neoliberal rhetoric of 2017? And what about the anti-establishment forces, left and right – how much of a chance do they have to shake La Macronie, or will they be co-opted? Readings: Muddling Through in Macronia: How Populism and the Establishment Intertwine, Nathan Sperber, American Affairs Emmanuel Macron announces the “end of abundance”, Katherine Bayford, Unherd Listenings: /256/ How to Boil a Frog (1) ft. Charles Devellennes /257/ How to Boil a Frog (2) ft. Chris Bickerton /64/ These Vests Don’t Yellow ft. Aurélie Dianara

On your questions and criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] We discuss the Chinese Dream, speculation and horizontal politics, foreign fighters and spies, Dune, and killing Phil.

[Patreon Exclusive] On the death of Queen Elizabeth, a 20th century figure To our own surprise, we are doing an episode on the Queen of England. How will her death impact the UK when she was basically the only institution that still retained popular trust? Will Britons be made to face up to the question of what kind of country they want? We revisit the Nairn-Anderson theses about how and why Britain had so many seemingly feudal remnants, and ask whether there is still something to bourgeois modernisation. And we look globally at the response to the Queen's death and ask why so many people care? Readings: The Revolutionary Monarchy of Elizabeth II, Adrian Wooldridge, Bloomberg The House of Windsor, Tom Nairn, NLR 'London Bridge is down': the secret plan for the days after the Queen’s death, Sam Knight, The Guardian

On Communism's historic role. We talk to renowned Serbian-American economist Branko Milanovic about growing up in Yugoslavia and how, in much of the world, History never ended. We then dedicate much of the episode to discussing Branko's claim that communism was essentially an engine of economic convergence, allowing developing countries to haul themselves into the industrial age. We also talk about Branko's work on inequality and why growth still matters. Readings: Capitalism, Alone, Branko Milanovic, Harvard UP The Aloofness of Pax Sinica, Branko Milanovic, Global Policy Journal

On Brazil's elections and the military. A month away from the first round showdown between former president Lula and current president Jair Bolsonaro, lawyer, podcaster and communist Alcysio Canette joins us to look at the features that have shaped the past years. How did Bolsonaro's response to the Covid pandemic – denialism, essentially – tarnish his image? What role is the military playing in Brazilian politics and what is its history of political interference since the 1964-85 dictatorship? Part two available at: patreon.com/posts/71560313 Readings: Will Bolsonaro Be Held Responsible for Brazil’s COVID-19 Disaster?, Alcysio Canette, Jacobin Cálice podcast, Atabaque Produções (in Portuguese) Pro-Bolsonaro Protests Were Supposed to Show His Strength. Instead, They Showed His Weakness, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin (on last year's 7 September protests) From Anti-Politics to Authoritarian Restoration in Brazil, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin

On Anthony Giddens' The Consequences of Modernity (ch.3) [Patreon Tier 2&3 Exclusive] In the second episode of the Cynical Ideology section of the 2022 Reading Club, we look at what trust is and why it has declined so precipitously in recent decades, especially in relation to institutions. Is the opposite of trust mistrust, or is it existential angst? What's the link between the absence of trust and a sense of impending apocalypse? Is money or the market the only abstract entity we still trust? And what about the state? Reading: The Consequences of Modernity, Anthony Giddens (1990), ch. 3

Just a short announcement about what's coming up, while we're off on summer holidays. Subscribe to the podcast to support us and get two new, original, paywalled episodes a month ($5/mo). For $10/mo you also get access to the Reading Club. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

On Rojava and Ukraine. We talk to Stefan Bertram-Lee, former volunteer fighter for the the YPG in Rojava, about whom a Hollywood movie is being made. We ask him about the type of person who volunteers, and how this compares to those who have gone to Ukraine. How does this stop you "being a teenage nihilist"? And who would win in a fight: ISIS, Azov or the YPG? Part two of this episode is available at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/70597308 Reading: Ukraine the Day after Tomorrow, Stefan Bertram-Lee, Sublation The Nazification of Ukraine, Stefan Bertram-Lee, Sublation ‘Stefan Vs. ISIS’ Pic In Works, Deadline

[Patreon Exclusive] With European liberals waving Ukraine flags, how might the war and escalating geopolitical tensions between major power be prompting a return to nationalism and patriotism? Is it just a means for elites to extract sacrifices from the people? And how 'real' are nations anyway? Articles: As we unite for the jubilee, let’s believe Britain’s best days are ahead, not behind, Lucy Powell, The Guardian The Return of Liberal Nationalism, Sohrab Ahmari, Compact What Putin and liberals share, Aris Roussinos, Unherd