On our current attention-deficit and hyperpolitical disorder.
In our book, The End of the End of History, we discuss the move from post-politics to anti-politics; from consensus to rejection; from apathy to anger. In a 2022-01-11 07:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Thanks to everyone who's got in touch already regarding forming a local Reading Club.
Below is a list of cities in which Bunga listeners are looking to set up local groups - as well as their email contacts. Get in touch with them and if you want, cc us at info@bungacast.com.
If your city isn't there, get in touch with us with your email address and we'll add you!
Europe
We're very excited to announce our revamped Reading Club. We've put together what we believe to be a really solid syllabus (pdf attached), broaching three distinct themes, that will hold to be essential to understanding the world in 2022 and beyond.
If you want to form a local Reading Club where you are, get in touch with us and we'll try to coordinate it. You can hold your meetings before our recordings and have that generate questions for the three of us to discuss, or do it after o...
Bungacast is back for 2022, refreshed and reloaded.
We've got a completely revamped Reading Club, arranged along three themes: Emergency Politics & Control; Cynical Ideology; and Techno-Feudalism.
And there will be plenty of deep dives on national politics around the globe and discussions of big ideas with top guests.
On Millennial homeowners, the USA falling apart, and restoration in the UK.
As better-off 30-somethings start to get on the property ladder, does this put paid to 'Generation Left'? Will American decline be accompanied by a second civil war - as China serenely watches on? And does Britain represent a return to the 'End of History'? Is everything becoming boring again?
Articles:
Hey friends,
You can now choose to pay for Patreon on an annual basis. It would really help us out, and in return, you'll get a 10% discount.
It'll help keep transaction fees down, and you won't lose access in case your credit card declines in the future.
For existing patrons, the following steps will help you switch over your pledge to annual.
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 Bunga Listeners' Survey: surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9
Buy the Bunga book: 2021-12-21 22:19:53 +0000 UTC View Post
On the PMC.
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 his...
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: <...
2021-12-14 07:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
We've been going for well over four years now and thought we should have a better idea of how our listeners see the world and how it's changed – as well as what you like and like less about what we do. If you can spare a couple of minutes, please fill out our Listener Survey.
Thanks in advance!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9
2021-12-13 19:53:04 +0000 UTC View Post
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:
Our last Reading Club of the year will be on Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism and will be recorded on 14 December. If you have any questions you'd like us to discuss, please submit here or via message before then.
Eva Illouz rejects the conventional idea that capitalism has created an a-emotional world dominat...
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:
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, and what does the survey say about those who commissioned it?<...
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...
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 (pdf attached on patreon):
In pt 2, we delve deeper into the contradictions of environmentalism, the politics behind nuclear power, and look at why many people see capitalist austerity as "socialist" - and how we should respond to that.
In the Afterparty, Phil, George and Alex debate whether environmentalism has evolved, leaving behind its Romantic elements and embracing technology and grander social ambition (though not enough).
Links & Readings:
On the global energy crisis.
Nuclear energy advocate Emmet Penney (@nukebarbarian) joins us to discuss the growing energy crunch in Europe, the US and beyond. Nuclear power is opposed by an unholy alliance of environmentalists and neoliberals - yet it seems the best solution for providing plentiful, reliable, and clean energy. As a demand, it seems an open goal for the left - so why are so many resistant?
P...
Our next Reading Club will be on the introduction from Marshall Berman's All That Is Solid Melts into Air. We'll be recording on 25 November so get any questions or issues you'd like us to discuss in by then.
A pdf of the book is attached if you don't have a copy.
As always, Reading Clubs are for patrons in the $10 tier and up.
2021-10-29 10:07:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Responding to your questions, comments & criticisms.
It's a big mailbag this time round, including plenty on Covid (lockdowns, vaccines, etc), incels and dating culture, breaking out of neoliberalism's clutches, and much more.
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Bungacast will be live in New York on 19 November. Come see Alex Hochuli in conversation with Adam Tooze & Amber A'Lee Frost. 2021-10-26 06:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The fifth and final part of a series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, 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 creat...
2021-10-22 00:23:26 +0000 UTC View Post
The fourth in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, 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:
The third in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, 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:
On the end of neoliberalism – and of capitalism?
The continuation of our conversation with Wolfgang Streeck. Have the collective costs of running capitalism once and for all exceeded what societies can extract from capitalism to cover them?
2021-09-30 00:51:04 +0000 UTC View Post
On German's elections – and the costs of stability.
Wolfgang Streeck is back on the podcast to round-up Germany's elections last Sunday (26 September). What's behind the emphasis on continuity and competence? Is Germany stuck in the 2000s?
We also discuss the importation of US-style culture wars into Germany, the country's role in the Eurozone, and strategic relations with France.
Readings:
The second in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, 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:
Our next reading club is on GM Tamas' essay "Telling the truth about class", published in Socialist Register in 2009 (attached here).
"All versions of socialist endeavour can and should be classified into two principal kinds, one inaugurated by Rousseau, the other by Marx. The two have opposite visions of the social subject in need of liberation, and these visions have... 2021-09-26 17:08:38 +0000 UTC View Post
On Germany's election this week.
Merkel has led Germany since 2005, outlasting any number of politicians across the West. What accounts for her longevity? How has such a non-ideological, post-political figure lasted so long?
Germany is finally leaving her motherly embrace. But why is continuity on the cards, despite the many global crises Germany has passed through?
2021-09-22 14:09:09 +0000 UTC View Post
The first in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages.
Guests include:
On the long history of involuntary celibates.
Alex Gendler talks to us about his essay in American Affairs, "The New Superfluous Men". With growing global concern about incels and increasing anti-terrorism focus on the supposed risks posed by lonely, angry men, we discuss why this discussion has emerged today and why it's gone global.
Why do our societies seem no lo...
2021-09-14 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post