Hey pals, thanks for being with us through May. We're excited about all the global stuff we've got coming up in June:
Mexico is bucking the trend of left failure. Juan Rojas talks us through its past and future.
Is India finally tiring of Modi? We talk to the sharpest analyst of Hindu nationalism, Achin Vanaik.
Where are all the Korean babies? And why are its men and women at each oth...
2024-05-31 13:49:06 +0000 UTC View Post
On Zone of Interest and Holocaust film.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We discuss the winner of the Oscar for Best International Feature Film – one that split opinion, among critics and on the pod too!
How does the film fit in the pantheon of Holocaust films? Is it a Holocaust film?
How well does it deal with its obvious subject matter: the banality of evil?
Is the film neutral and detached or preachy, condescending, m...
2024-05-31 07:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
On Zone of Interest and Holocaust film.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We discuss the winner of the Oscar for Best International Feature Film – one that split opinion, among critics and on the pod too!
How does the film fit in the pantheon of Holocaust films? Is it a Holocaust film?
How well does it deal with its obvious subject matter: the banality of evil?
Is the film neutral and detached or preachy, condescending, m...
2024-05-31 07:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post
On Mexico's elections.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Mexico goes to the polls this Sunday with the ruling centre-left MORENA party holding a commanding lead. Anthropologist Roger Lancaster joins us to preview the election and look at outgoing President AMLO's record.
What are the stakes in this election?
Has Mexico bucked the trend of class realignment? Where is the 'Brahmin Left'?
What is "republican austerity" and has this actually combatt...
2024-05-30 17:25:35 +0000 UTC View Post
On Mexico's elections.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Mexico goes to the polls this Sunday with the ruling centre-left MORENA party holding a commanding lead. Anthropologist Roger Lancaster joins us to preview the election and look at outgoing President AMLO's record.
What are the stakes in this election?
Has Mexico bucked the trend of class realignment? Where is the 'Brahmin Left'?
What is "republican austerity" and has this actually combatted cor...
2024-05-30 15:50:49 +0000 UTC View Post
On Futuromania and closing and opening of musical horizons.
We talk to renowned music critic Simon Reynolds about his new book. A counterpart of sorts to his famous Retromania (2011), Futuromania looks at the exciting futuristic music of the past and present. We discuss its themes to try understand whether the culture is still about to throw up something new.
Is talk about popular music stuck between the poles of “rockism” and...
2024-05-28 07:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post
On Futuromania and closing and opening of musical horizons.
We talk to renowned music critic Simon Reynolds about his new book. A counterpart of sorts to his famous Retromania (2011), Futuromania looks at the exciting futuristic music of the past and present. We discuss its themes to try understand whether the culture is still about to throw up something new.
Is talk about popular music stuck between the poles of “rockism” and...
2024-05-28 07:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostHey everyone, just to let know, Alex has been down with dengue fever, so we're going to be a bit delayed on everything. That's why there was no episode as usual on Tuesday. Hope to be back up and running as usual asap, but there will be one less episode than usual this May as a consequence. Apologies.
Death to mosquitos!
-Bunga boys
2024-05-24 13:07:38 +0000 UTC View Post
On Alex Garland’s new film, Civil War.
[Patreon Exclusive]
The boys discuss a film that seems designed to say something in the context of a US election year. But what? We ask:
What kind of film is this: a dystopian fantasy, a war movie, a road movie?
Why the focus on the media? Does the film celebrate or satirise journalists?
Does Garland’s dystopia tell us anything about the landscape of US politics today?
On Alex Garland’s new film, Civil War.
[Patreon Exclusive]
The boys discuss a film that seems designed to say something in the context of a US election year. But what? We ask:
What kind of film is this: a dystopian fantasy, a war movie, a road movie?
Why the focus on the media? Does the film celebrate or satirise journalists?
Does Garland’s dystopia tell us anything about the landscape of US politics today?
On US campus protest, the brutalisation of Gaza, and whether this is an age of war.
Alex, George and Phil debate the matter of the day. We ask:
Is the police repression and associated censorship (the anti-semitism bill) a reflection of the fact the content of the protest unsettles the establishment? Why?
Why is the Left breaking with Biden and the Dems over this and not before?
How do these student protests compare to BLM? And how do they comp...
2024-05-07 07:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
On US campus protest, the brutalisation of Gaza, and whether this is an age of war.
Alex, George and Phil debate the matter of the day. We ask:
Is the police repression and associated censorship (the anti-semitism bill) a reflection of the fact the content of the protest unsettles the establishment? Why?
Why is the Left breaking with Biden and the Dems over this and not before?
How do these student protests compare to BLM? And how do they comp...
2024-05-07 07:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
On the earth-shaking events of the 20th century, through a personal lens.
[This is the full episode, for subscribers only. Paywalled section begins at 01:14:16]
Regular contributor Alex Gourevitch sits down with political scientist Peter Gourevitch to talk about their shared family history.
Why did their grandparents/great-grandparents become Mensheviks?
How did one half of the family leave the USSR and the other half remain?
What was li...
2024-04-30 14:04:45 +0000 UTC View PostHey friends, thanks for being with us as we move into the revamped Bunga schedule. A full NINE episodes in April, including a special interview by contributor Alex Gourevitch with political scientist Peter Gourevitch on his family history of exile, Nazi Germany and the USSR, a real life Casablanca story + more (out Tue 30 April).
We also wanted to remind you that by subscribing to the new $7 tier you get access to at least 4 patreon-only episodes a month. If you're still ...
2024-04-29 19:37:13 +0000 UTC View Post
On saving society from the antisocial-ists. In partnership with Damage magazine.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Trade unionist and researcher Dustin "Dino" Guastella joins us to talk about the deficiencies of a libertarian or antinomian approach to social problems. We start off with Dino telling us about the Teamsters union, before moving on to:
How have American cities developed such problems?
Wha...
2024-04-26 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
On saving society from the antisocial-ists. In partnership with Damage magazine.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Trade unionist and researcher Dustin "Dino" Guastella joins us to talk about the deficiencies of a libertarian or antinomian approach to social problems. We start off with Dino telling us about the Teamsters union, before moving on to:
How have American cities developed such problems?
Wha...
2024-04-26 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
On Euro censorship + your comments and criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We discuss censorship in Brussels and Berlin, and put it in the context of the incorporation of right-populism. How will European politics come to look as national-conservatives become part of the establishment? What's up with these "sovereigntists" who are unserious about sovereignty?
Also we discuss your comments:
If cultural production is already monopolistic, can it be democratically pl...
2024-04-23 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostOn Euro censorship + your comments and criticisms.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We discuss censorship in Brussels and Berlin, and put it in the context of the incorporation of right-populism. How will European politics come to look as national-conservatives become part of the establishment? What's up with these "sovereigntists" who are unserious about sovereignty?
Also we discuss your comments:
If cultural production is already monopolistic, can it be democratically pl...
2024-04-23 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
On the Big Hard Dick industry.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Clinicians and Damage authors & editors, Christie and Benjamin, tell us why the market for penis enlargement and hardness has exploded.
What is the "penis anxiety industry"
How does it serve individual, cultural and unconscious demands?
How does 'Big Hard Dick' provide a brittle solution to a deep social problem?
Is the Freudian analysis passé? Is it phallus-obsessed?...
2024-04-19 16:27:47 +0000 UTC View Post
On the Big Hard Dick industry.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Clinicians and Damage authors & editors, Christie and Benjamin, tell us why the market for penis enlargement and hardness has exploded.
What is the "penis anxiety industry"
How does it serve individual, cultural and unconscious demands?
How does 'Big Hard Dick' provide a brittle solution to a deep social problem?
Is the Freudian analysis passé? Is it phallus-obsessed?...
2024-04-19 16:03:17 +0000 UTC View PostOn melodrama and the bourgeois subject.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We're back with the next installment of our series on the "emotional turn". Alex talks to Catherine Liu about whether politics is staged in a "melodramatic" fashion today.
What is the bourgeois subject, why was it good, and where did it go?
What is melodrama?
Does public crying make us feel connected? Is it all Oprah's fault?
Why is psychoanalysis the solution to,...
2024-04-16 18:04:49 +0000 UTC View Post
On melodrama and the bourgeois subject.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We're back with the next installment of our series on the "emotional turn". Alex talks to Catherine Liu about whether politics is staged in a "melodramatic" fashion today.
What is the bourgeois subject, why was it good, and where did it go?
What is melodrama?
Does public crying make us feel connected? Is it all Oprah's fault?
Why is psychoanalysis the solution to,...
2024-04-16 17:51:41 +0000 UTC View Post
On A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics
[Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive]
Continuing our theme of "the intelligentsia & the public," we discuss German critical theorist Jürgen Habermas's 2023 book, asking what sort of political culture is required for democracy.
What role do the institutions of the public sphere and the media ha...
2024-04-09 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
On President AMLO and rebuilding the working class.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We continue our discussion with anthropologist Roger Lancaster who has lived and researched in Mexico for decades, on the past and present of Mexican radicalism.
How has popular conservatism served as a boost for radicalism and revolution
Is there any basis for a 'romantic' anti-capitalism, in Mexico, or in the Global North?
Is President AMLO synthesising a new...
2024-04-02 06:03:01 +0000 UTC View Post
On Mexico, class, and sexuality.
We welcome anthropologist Roger Lancaster onto the pod to talk about his new book, The Struggle to Be Gay – in Mexico, for Example.
We discuss:
How much is being gay tied to being modern? And conversely, how much of globalized culture is itself "gay"?
On President AMLO and rebuilding the working class.
[Patreon Exclusive]
We continue our discussion with anthropologist Roger Lancaster who has lived and researched in Mexico for decades, on the past and present of Mexican radicalism.
How has popular conservatism served as a boost for radicalism and revolution
Is there any basis for a 'romantic' anti-capitalism, in Mexico, or in the Global North?
Is President AMLO synthesising a new...
2024-04-02 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
On Mexico, class, and sexuality.
We welcome anthropologist Roger Lancaster onto the pod to talk about his new book, The Struggle to Be Gay – in Mexico, for Example. We discuss:
How much is being gay tied to being modern? And conversely, how much of globalized culture is itself "gay"?
Do ...
2024-04-02 06:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
On democratic planning.
[An old episode from January 2019 – we're re-uploading it because it's good, and also to complete our new 'Collections' on Patreon]
Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski propose we look at Walmart and other giant corporations as sites of planning, not of markets -- and that this fact proves planning works. Rather than rely on markets and market actors to manage production and distribution, we should it ourselves. Do advances in computing mean that the ...
2024-03-31 12:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostHey there! We're looking forward to roll into the first month proper of the new, bigger Bunga. Big welcome to all our new subscribers!
You'll have been introduced to our new Contributors in our big anniversary episode 400 (you can read more about the tensions of the next decade here.) ...
2024-03-31 11:51:24 +0000 UTC View PostEveryone who subscribes ANNUALLY to the GRAND CORRUPTION tier by 12 April will be entered into a raffle for one of a dozen Bungacast t-shirts.
By subscribing, you get access to the Bungacast Reading Club, plus 4+ exclusive episodes a month, and a subscription to Damage magazine. Subscribing annually you also get 10% off the $12/mo cost.
All you have to do is message us with your t-shirt size as soon as you subscribe.
2024-03-28 12:00:58 +0000 UTC
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