Bungacast

By Bungacast

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 discussi... more

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FAQs about Bungacast:

How many episodes does Bungacast have?

The podcast currently has 646 episodes available.

Bungacast episodes:

December 21, 2021 Excerpt: /233/ Aufhebonus Bonus
For the last time in 2021, we take your questions, comments and criticisms.

As always, lots of debate about Covid - and we start by remarking upon a possible u-turn on the issue on the British left.

Answer the Bungacast Listeners' Survey: surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9

Buy the Bunga book: linktr.ee/bungacast

This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
...more
10min
December 20, 2021 Excerpt: /232/ Reading Club: Cold, Hard / Warm, Soft
On Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism

How has the cold and hard world of bureaucratic, instrumental rationalism penetrated the intimate sphere of love and relationships? And how has open communication and emotional understanding been used to advance economic interests?
––
We want to hear what you're thinking: fill out our Bunga Listeners' Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9
––

This is a free sample. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
...more
14min
December 14, 2021 /231/ New Class Analysis ft. Catherine Liu
On Thursday 9 November, George Hoare and Alex Hochuli took part in a conversation with Catherine Liu about their recent books – The End of the End of History and Virtue Hoarders, respectively. The focus was on the social and political role of the Professional-Managerial Class in historical context.
The webinar was hosted and presented by the UCI Humanities Center, as part of their Ideas with Impact series and we're reposting the conversation as a podcast here.
...more
1h 29min
December 14, 2021Excerpt: /230/ Repetition Compulsion ft. Doug Lain, pt. 2
On the left outflanked.

We continue our discussion with Douglas Lain, formerly of Zer0 Books and now of Diet Soap Media. Has the left been overtaken by events - yet again? And we propose a typology of a left divided between progressives, populists and Marxists – progressives who are authoritarian, populists who are opportunists, and Marxists who are lonely.

Hey listener - why not tell us how you see Bunga and the world? Fill out our listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9

Links:
Diet Soap Media: Patreon | YouTube
OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast.
...more
2min
December 07, 2021/229/ Repetition Compulsion ft. Doug Lain, pt. 1
On branding and the left.
Douglas Lain, until recently publisher of Zer0 Books and now of Diet Soap Media, joins us to talk about what happened with Zer0. Mainly, we discuss the left at the End of History, revisit No Logo and the anti-branding stance, and compare Gen X and Millennial lefts - is it just a continual story of decline?

Links:
Diet Soap Media: Patreon | YouTube
OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations
...more
57min
November 30, 2021/228/ Three Articles: Popular Backlash in Chile, India, Europe
On people power on three continents.
We discuss Chile's landmark elections, the first after the uprising of 2019-20, which see a face-off between left and far-right; Modi's repeal of controversial laws that provoked a huge mobilisation of farmers in India last year; and protests and riots against new lockdowns and vaccine mandates across Europe.
Articles:
Has the Backlash to Progressivism Come to Chile?, Lili Loofbourow, Slate
In Rare Show of Weakness, Modi Bows to India’s Farmers, Various, NYT
Violence in Belgium and Netherlands as Covid protests erupt across Europe, Jon Henley, The Guardian
Other relevant episodes
/93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka
/198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
...more
1h 6min
November 29, 2021 Excerpt: /227/ Reading Club: All That Is Solid
On modernity's contradictions.

In this month's Reading Club, we discuss the introduction to Marshall Berman's marvellous All That Is Solid Melts Into Air.

This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe for $10/mo at patreon.com/bungacast

Can we revive, as Berman intends, the truly dialectical, 19th century attitude to modernity? What value is there in talking about "modernity" rather than “capitalism”? And how to we recognise possibilities for transcending today's impasses, where the question of "modernity" isn't even on the table?

The final Reading Club of 2021 will be on Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies.
...more
12min
November 23, 2021Excerpt: /226/ Science Says: No Woke
On the Jacobin & YouGov survey of the US working class.

A study (pdf) carried out by YouGov on behalf of Jacobin magazine and the Center for Working-Class Politics has learned that "working-class voters prefer progressive candidates who focus primarily on bread-and-butter economic issues, and who frame those issues in universal terms." What can we learn from the study, beyond the obvious? What are its limitations, who is it for, and what does the survey say about those who commissioned it?

Plus: does it make sense to frame your politics as 'anti-woke'?

Reading:
Jacobin executive summary
Full report (pdf)
...more
7min
November 16, 2021/225/ Wokeistan & Lebanonworld ft. Karl Sharro
On sectarianism & identitarianism.
Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) is back on Bunga to talk to us about his essay "The Retreat from Universalism in the Middle East and the World".

Lebanon has been used as a model for other Middle Eastern countries, even though its confessional system is a disaster. But Lebanese-style sectarianism isn't a form of 'feudal' backwardness – in fact it represents a precursor of the multicultural and identitarian politics in the West.
Who are the enemies of universalism today, East and West? And what sort of political projects are capable of rejuvenating secular universalism?

See also:
/141/ Oh Lebanon, What Now? ft. Rima Majed
/198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
––
Buy our book: The End of the End of History
Subscribe to the podcast: patreon.com/Bungacast
...more
1h 13min
November 09, 2021Excerpt: /224/ Three Articles: Labour Revolts?
On rising wages after the pandemic.

Workers are quitting their jobs and not going back. Restricted supply is seeing wages go up. Does this signal a new militancy, or are workers just deciding to make do with less? How has the pandemic shaped people's outlooks?

Articles:
Wages are surging across the rich world, The Economist
The Revolt of the American Worker, Paul Krugman, NYT
US Workers Are in a Militant Mood, Alex N. Press, Jacobin

The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
...more
7min

FAQs about Bungacast:

How many episodes does Bungacast have?

The podcast currently has 646 episodes available.

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