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 "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

A special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.

• Part 1: (00:00:00)

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

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?

Part 4:

• Maren Thom, film scholar

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

Original music by: Jonny Mundey

Additional music:

• Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc.

Other Clips:

• Black 47 Trailer © 2018 – WildCard Distribution

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

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.

• Who will stop Putin from going nuclear?, Philip Cunliffe, UnHerd

Listenings:

• On anti-corruption: /297/ Bungazão 2022 (Clean & Godly) ft. Benjamin Fogel (on anti-corruption)