PODCAST

Bungacast (Patreon feed)

The global politics podcast at the end of the "End of History". Join us as we chart a course beyond the age of "bunga bunga". [Listeners on Spotify and other apps will only be able to access episodes in line with the tier you are subscribed to]

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/331/ The Zone (pt. 1) ft. Quinn Slobodian

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/04/04

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

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/330/ Reading Club: Freedom (2)

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/04/02

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

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/329/ Justice Warriors ft. Matt Bors & Ben Clarkson

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/03/28

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

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/328/ The New Scramble for Africa

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/03/21

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

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/327/ Capitalism on Edge ft. Albena Azmanova

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/03/14

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

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/326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next?

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/03/07

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

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/235/ Reading Club: Freedom (1)

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/02/28

On Martin Hägglund's This Life.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

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/324/ Reifying Race ft. Kenan Malik

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/02/28

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

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/323/ Tasty Frictionless Convenience

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/02/21

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

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/322/ Covid Dissensus (II) ft. Toby Green & Thomas Fazi

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/02/14

On The Covid Consensus.[Patreon Exclusive]In the second part of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm. How did the consensus go global? And we discuss those few countries that bucked the trend in different ways: Sweden, Mexico, Brazil. Is there a risk of the opposite extreme to lockdowns – social neglect?In the After Party, the boys debate how important global coordination really was; the idea of

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/321/ Covid Dissensus ft. Toby Green & Thomas Fazi

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/02/14

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

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/320/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Feb 2023)

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/02/07

On your questions and criticisms.[Patreon Exclusive]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.

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/319/ The Dead Left (II) ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/31

On the left's understanding of freedom.[Patreon Exclusive]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. Links: /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell /68/

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/318/ The Dead Left ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/31

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

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/317/ From Emergency to Emergency: 2022 Review (II),...

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/24

On labour militancy and our predictions for 2023. [Patreon Exclusive]We discuss what the substance is of the apparent rise in labour militancy in some Western countries, and contrast it with the reality that much protest is directed at the state. We finish of by identifying some things to look forward to in 2023.

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/316/ From Emergency to Emergency: 2022 Review, ft....

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/24

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.

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/315/ Shallow & Wrongheaded Filmic Squabbles II ft....

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/17

On cinema in 2023 and 'anti-capitalist' film & TV.[Patreon Exclusive]We continue our discussion with Maren Thom and Alex Dale from the Performance Anxiety podcast. We debate representation in film, and the backlash against wokeness as a form of anti-politics. Also, looking forward to what cinema might hold in 2023 and what do works like White Lotus, The Menu, and Triangle of Sadness actually tell us about the elite they portray, or for that matter, anti-capitalism today?Links: Performance

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/314/ Shallow & Wrongheaded Filmic Squabbles ft....

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/17

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. Links: Performance Anxiety podcast The Greatest Films of All Time, Sight & Sound, BFI The Radicalization of the Film Canon, Adrian Nguyen, Quillette

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/312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga...

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/10

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

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/313/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga...

Bungacast (Patreon feed) ·

2023/01/10

On political capitalism and social justice.We continue our interview with Dylan Riley, discussing the limitations of ‘social justice’. Both woke and social-democratic demands today hinge on a notion of fairness. How realistic is it to petition the state to apportion justice in this way?Together with Robert Brenner, Dylan Riley has advanced the thesis that we are entering an age of 'political capitalism' in which the state becomes central for guaranteeing the rate of return. How convincing is this

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