On culturally conservative critics of capitalism.
Neoliberalism’s fragmentary and atomising tendencies have gone too far. In response, some right-wingers have turned against the market. At the same time, there’s a (marginal) tendency on the left turning against cultural liberalism. Are we witnessing a major political realignment underway? What is the substance of these "culturally conservative" critiques, and do they offer anything new, beyond what people like Christopher Lasc...
2020-06-16 07:11:00 +0000 UTC
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Bonus content (always the best stuff) from our interview with Angela and Michael (episode 126). For the main interview, see: https://www.patreon.com/posts/126-mr-bunga-to-37790732
2020-06-09 07:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Our next Reading Club will be on Barbara and John Ehrenreich's reflections on the rise and fall of the professional-managerial class: Death of a Yuppie Dream (pdf attached). Also attached are the Ehrenreich's original analyses of the PMC from 1976.
The episode will be recorded on Weds 24 June, so get your points/comments/questions in before then, for us to discuss.
As ever, Reading Clubs are for patrons $10 and up.
2020-06-07 17:11:18 +0000 UTC
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Why did Bernie Sanders fail?
In the third in an occasional series on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Angela Nagle and Michael Tracey about their analysis of Bernie Sanders' campaign. We put to bed some bad arguments as to why Bernie didn't win the nomination, and examine some better ones: was the campaign was too establishment-friendly? too "left"? too middle-class? too anti-nationalist?... or are structural factors to blame instead?
And we ponder the end of ...
2020-06-02 06:17:59 +0000 UTC
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In this latests Three Articles we discuss power, money and the power of money - in a post-Covid world.
Readings:
In the second in an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nicholas Kiersey, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in Texas and host of the Fully Automated podcast. What were things like on the campaign trail, and what went wrong for Bernie? Will Biden go the distance, and are there more shenanigans in store?
Readings:
On the so-called "incel documentary", TFW NO GF.
We discuss the new documentary TFW NO GF, which focuses on the lives of extremely online alienated loners in the US. It has consequently been labelled the "incel documentary". Because the subjects are allowed to speak for themselves, it's also been called "irresponsible".
We take apart what, if anything, makes this cohort distinct from the past - is it the internet? are they lonelier? are their pro...
2020-05-12 07:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Our next episode (out Tuesday 12 May) will be on the new documentary, TFW NO GF. If you're interested in watching it before listening to our discussion, it's on Amazon Prime - or if you don't do Amazon, from your favourite piracy website (Pirate Bay proxies here).
2020-05-06 21:01:24 +0000 UTC
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On The Jakarta Method.We're joined by Vincent Bevins to discuss his new book on the 1965-66 mass killings in Indonesia, Cold War anti-communism, and the destruction it wrought around the world. The mid-60s proved pivotal, with US-backed coups in Indonesia and Brazil setting the template. What was their effect on the Left worldwide? How did it alter developmental trajectories across the Third World? What lessons can we take from these historical experiences?Running Order:
In this latest Three Articles, we discuss responses to Covid-19.
Articles
On freedom in coronavirus times.
John McAfee joins us to address the lockdown, privacy and armed insurrection. Plus: why he prefers Fidel to Che, and how it came to be that his US presidential campaign HQ is in Havana, Cuba.
Subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast
2020-04-14 06:31:00 +0000 UTC
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In the first of an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nick Frayn, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in New England. How have things gone on the campaign trail? What is next for the Democratic primaries delayed by the corona outbreak? Can Bernie regain ground in the primaries against Joe Biden? How will the corona crisis impact the Democratic primaries?
Readings:
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has been hailed by some and scorned by others as offering a new framework to understand the financial system. But what is specifically 'modern' about MMT, and how does it differ from rival accounts of the financial economy? We talk to Bill Mitchell, one of the leading proponents of MMT, who gives us an introductory rundown, plus tells us why the Japanese economy is unfairly maligned and explains what the future has in store for MMT as its inexorably advances again...
2020-03-10 08:00:02 +0000 UTC
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What follows below is an unpublished article written by Alex Hochuli & George Hoare, synthesising the proceeds of our first live event, held in London in March 2019, in advance of what was meant to be the UK's withdr...
2019-12-19 21:49:07 +0000 UTC
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On Argentina's elections and Chile & Ecuador's revolts.
Macri's election was heralded by the right across the continent as the end to a sequence of centre-left governments in South America. Now only four years later, he is likely to be thrown out of office by the return of 'Kirchnerismo'. Next door, the supposedly "stable and growing" Chile is in flames as protests and riots challenge the conservative Piñera administration and the country's deep inequality. This follows on th...
2019-10-24 12:00:00 +0000 UTC
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On the Hong Kong rebellion. Four months of protests is forcing a confrontation with the Hong Kong authorities and the Chinese state. The demands are for civil liberties and some more democracy - but what are the social conditions underlying the protests? How important is colonial nostalgia and Hong Konger chauvinism? How is this playing with mainland Chinese - and what will be the CCP's response?
Reading:
On post-work. We discuss Anton's review of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs and why it seems to have such appeal, even amongst elites. There is a crisis in the work ethic, but is it an error to counterpose work and leisure and simply opt for leisure? Is leisure even 'ours' anymore, or has it been fully colonised by capitalism? Ultimately, is the problem today more about bullshit in jobs, rather than bullshit jobs per se?
Readings:
Hi gang. Just letting you know that the next book we'll be discussing is Anti-Politics: on the demonisation of ideology, authority and the state, by Eliane Glaser.
Date to be announced shortly, but figured we'd give you a heads-up in case you wanna get reading. It's a short one anyway ;-)
Cheers.
2019-09-13 20:01:37 +0000 UTC
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We discuss Paolo Sorrentino's "Loro" (2018), a dreamlike cinematic depiction of Silvio Berlusconi. Does the film succeed in capturing Silvio, or does it glamourise him? What explains the appeal he had - and why was the left never able to properly dethrone him? What does it say about 2000s Italy, and its relevance to our times?
If you can't find the film where you are, try this magnet link to torrent it :
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:920ac6bdfe5a2bb33a9a100e3032c4ba197ec2a4&...
2019-09-05 06:31:00 +0000 UTC
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Why hasn't neoliberalism died? We talk to Rune Møller Stahl about his paper "Ruling the Interregnum" in which he examines previous interregnums, such as the 1920s or the 1970s, and the forces that led to the establishment of new orders. What points the way forward today: resilient neoliberalism, economic nationalism or left populism?
Reading:
Ru...
2019-08-29 06:16:00 +0000 UTC
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Scenario-planning for Bernie: what is success, what is productive failure? We attempt to "dream realistically" with Adam Proctor (Dead Pundits Society): how far can this wave of 'democratic socialism' go? Bernie will fail - he won't bring in socialism, so how do we make that failure something to build on? How do we avoid the risk of demoralisation? And most dangerous of all, how to not interpret failure as success?
Plus bonus stuff on Syriza, Brexit and talking in platitudes.
2019-08-15 07:35:59 +0000 UTC
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Syriza lost the last Greek elections after 4 1/2 years in power. What happened to the party that for a time represented the European radical left's hopes? Did it achieve anything in power? Many talk about Tspiras' "betrayal" - is that the right way to look at it? And what are the wider consequences of this defeat - is time up for this wave of "left populists"?
Readings:
2018 saw a strike wave in the US, as anger was given material form. We talk to Eric Blanc about his book on the wave of teachers' strikes in otherwise 'conservative' states. How can this experience be broadened out to other sectors? Is education a site for future struggle? And what is the role of public opinion in trade union victories? We also try to recover some lost radical history of West Virginia and Oklahoma.
Readings:
The first Bunga Reading Club is being recorded this Sunday.
It's on Nancy Fraser's (very short!) book, "The Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born".
Send in your comments, points, arguments, questions to us via email to aufhebungabunga@gmail.com with the subject line "Reading Club 1" (or comment on our post on FB or Twitter)
Here is a link to the book: versobooks.com/books/2937-the-old-is-dying-and-the-new-cannot-be-born
The essay that makes up the first half of...
2019-07-29 18:35:40 +0000 UTC
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In this very final part, the guys undertake some self-criticism and ask, are we right to present all that we've covered as the 'Californian Ideology'? And if so, where does it all go next? Does the phoney spirituality eventually get eaten up by capitalist rationality and bourgeois order? Or does 'wellness' and associated notions become ever more important?
#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ide...
2019-07-25 08:00:01 +0000 UTC
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In part five, we explore the professionalisation of friendship, by speaking to Dutch director and producer Menna Laura Meijer about her documentary on life coaching, Now Something Is Slowly Changing. The global rise of coaching seems to encapsulate many of the themes we've explored so far: an inward focus on the self, combined with marketisation, and bound together by ‘solutionism’ - quick fixes to deep social problems.
#CaliBunga is a special multipart ser...
2019-07-18 15:01:54 +0000 UTC
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In part four, we broaden the scope, to talk about the Frankfurt School, the humanities and 'romantic anti-capitalism'. If modernity features a battle between romanticism and rationalism, then the hippies represented an attempt to re-enchant a disillusioned world. But as that spirit was incorporated into market dynamics, it became rationalised and commodified. George and Alex sat down with Catherine Liu and Tyrus Miller (UCI Humanities & expert on Lukacs) to mull over these questions.
<...
2019-07-11 15:16:58 +0000 UTC
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In part three, we move from the Californian Ideology to talk about the Californian reality: class, suburbs and social mobility. We meet up with Joel Kotkin to discuss the new Californian class structure and the end of the Californian dream. Also, more bar chat, as friend of the podcast, Tim Abrahams, joins us to chat about the idea of LA, Californian urbanism and mobility.
#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New...
2019-07-04 22:27:10 +0000 UTC
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In part two, we chat about recreational drugs and mental states in a Hollywood bar with friends of the podcast, Amber A'Lee Frost and Alex Gendler. But mostly, we delve deeper into capitalism and depression with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Thomas Williams, Michael Mahoney, Benjamin Kruger-Robins).
#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of h...
2019-06-27 12:50:06 +0000 UTC
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Special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
In part one, we talk to Richard Barbrook about the Californian Ideology today before discussing health and mental illness with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Benjamin Kruger-Robins, Michael Mahoney, Thomas Williams).<...
2019-06-20 22:32:36 +0000 UTC
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