Bungacast

/356/ Land of the Unfree ft. Sohrab Ahmari

08 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On everyday, private tyranny.      Sohrab Ahmari, one of the editors of Compact Magazine, joins us to talk about his book, Tyranny, Inc. We discus...

Excerpt: /355/ F***ing and shooting are not the same

01 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On film and left-wing terrorism.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We talk about Uli Edel’s 2008 film The Baader Meinhof Complex, which tells the story of t...

UNLOCKED /328/ The New Scramble for Africa

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On geopolitical competition over Africa.   This episode was originally for subscribers only. To join, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast   In light of...

Excerpt: /354/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (II)

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]   What made postwar capitalism 'organised'? And why did many ...

/353/ Bunga Sells Out ft. Jason Myles

25 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On music, pop culture, and the politics of the spectacle.   Musician, host of This is Revolution and Sublation columnist, Jason Myles joins us to tal...

Excerpt: /352/ Cold War Marxism, East & West ft. Sean Sayers

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On China, Russia, the US and UK. Professor Emeritus and one of the founders of ‘Radical Philosophy’, Sean Sayers, joins us to talk about Marxis...

Excerpt: /351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the radical right in the global periphery.   [Patreon Exclusive]   Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro, Duterte. Though the latter two are gone...

Excerpt: /350/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (1)

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive - sign up at patreon.com/bungacast]   We are in crisis, no doubt ab...

/349/ The PMC & Their Politics ft. Dan Evans & Catherine Liu

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Live event at Housman's Bookshop.   George Hoare hosts Dan Evans (author of A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie) ...

Excerpt: /348/ Aufhebonus Bonus: June 2023

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On your questions and criticisms.   Bumper edition of Aufhebonus Bonus where we discuss whether we're technologically determinist with regard to a...

Excerpt: /347/ Feminists Touch Grass w/ Amber A’Lee Frost

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On reactionary feminism.    [Patreon Exclusive]   We continue our discussions on contemporary feminism by looking at the diametric opposite of the ...

Silvio Berlusconi: An Oral History

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

RIP Silvio   Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died on 12 June 2023 at the age of 86. In this special episode, we say goodbye to the to...

UNLOCKED: /87/ Berluscoming

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Silvio Berlusconi is no more. In mourning of our evil patron saint's passing, we're unlocking this previously paywalled episode in which we discuss a ...

Excerpt: /345/ Who Is The New Elite? ft. Matt Goodwin

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On power, values and class.   [Patreon Exclusive]   British professor Matt Goodwin joins us to talk about his recent new book Values, Voice and...

/344/ Don’t Do The Work ft. Ben Hickman

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On work stoppages and work-doings. Ben Hickman, published poet and senior lecturer in English at the University of Kent, joins us to discuss his proje...

Excerpt: /343/ Reading Club: Freedom (4)

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Martin Hägglund's This Life. We continue on the theme of freedom by discussing Martin Hägglund's case for 'democratic socialism'. In this episod...

Excerpt: /342/ Maybe Don’t Abolish the Family? w/ Amber A’Lee Frost

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On family abolition. [Patreon Exclusive] Amber A'Lee Frost joins us to talk through recent radical proposals to do away with the family as an instit...

/340/ How to Grow a Backbone ft. Russell Jacoby

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On utopia and individualism. Renowned intellectual historian and critic Russell Jacoby joins us to talk about his lifetime of left critique. We discus...

/339/ Erdogone? People vs Nation in Turkey ft. Alp Kayserilioglu

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Turkey's elections. Alp Kayserilioglu joins us to talk about a crucial election. Erdogan’s rule is seriously threatened for the first time, with...

/338/ The Energy Theory of Everything ft. Matt Huber

09 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On who owns the power. Matt Huber joins us to discuss his article, "Socialist Politics and the Electricity Grid", and how organised labour is central...

/337/ Nigeria Rising Downwards ft. Sa’eed Husaini

02 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Nigeria's 'end of the end of history'. Sa'eed Husaini from The Nigerian Scam podcast joins us to reflect on all things Nigeria: oil, debt, corrupt...

Excerpt: /336/ Reading Club: Freedom (3)

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Martin Hägglund's This Life. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We continue on the theme of freedom by discussing Martin Hägglund's case for 'demo...

Excerpt: /335/ AI & the End of the End of History

25 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On history-ending technology.   [Patreon Exclusive]   The economist Tyler Cowen recently suggested that radical technological change today mark...

/334/ Cancellation is Cancelled ft. Norman Finkelstein

18 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the US cultural climate. Renowned/notorious writer Norman Finkelstein joins us to discuss the themes of his latest and last book, I'll Burn That B...

Excerpt: /333/ Aufhebonus Bonus (April 2023)

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] Is the Left dead? Did the turn to culture really kill it? Or is the nostalgia for the post-war Lef...

UNLOCKED: /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Inhuman Power. [Unlocked episode from Bungacast 'Reading Club', originally released 6 December 2022]  Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the ...

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

04 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On cracked-up capitalism. Historian of ideas Quinn Slobodian joins us again, this time to discuss his latest book, Crack-up Capitalism – the vision...

Excerpt: /330/ Reading Club: Freedom (2)

02 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 freedo...

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

28 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On depicting dystopia. Acclaimed cartoonists, writers and artists Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson join us for something a little different: to talk about...

Excerpt: /328/ The New Scramble for Africa

21 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 respec...

/327/ Capitalism on Edge ft. Albena Azmanova

14 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the crisis of crisis.   Bulgarian critical theorist Albena Azmanova joins us to discuss her widely-discussed 2020 book, Capitalism on Edge. We ta...

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

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the left's understanding of freedom. We continue our talk with Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about th...

Excerpt: /326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next?

07 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On what comes after neo-liberalism.   [Patreon Exclusive]   After 40 years of neo-liberalism, governments are inching their way to some new set...

Excerpt: /325/ Reading Club: Freedom (1)

28 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Martin Hägglund's This Life. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We begin the 2023 Reading Club with the theme of FREEDOM. In this episode, we exami...

/324/ Reifying Race ft. Kenan Malik

28 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 b...

Excerpt: /323/ Tasty Frictionless Convenience

21 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the app economy.   [Patreon Exclusive]   Delivery apps have taken the world by storm, and the pandemic only deepened our dependence on them....

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

14 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On The Covid Consensus.   We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnationa...

Excerpt: /320/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Feb 2023)

07 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive]   On your questions and criticisms.   A bumper episode as we respond to your points from December through to the end of Janua...

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

31 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

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

24 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

/314/ Shallow & Wrongheaded Filmic Squabbles ft. Maren Thom & Alex Dale

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 br...

/312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley

10 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On the achievement of democracy and the 'impartial' state. We speak to sociologist Dylan Riley about his new book Microverses, a series of aphorism...

Excerpt: /311/ Reading Club: The Precariat

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is there a new 'transformative' class?   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We close of the 2022 Reading Club, and the final section on 'Neo-Feudalism...

Excerpt: /310/ Do You Want to De-Grow?

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 'degrowth communism'. [Patreon Exclusive] Why the rage for degrowth now? With deindustrialisation, energy rationing and severe pressure on standard...

/309/ Sack of Potatoes ft. Anton Jäger

20 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On atomisation and association.   Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone came out 22 years ago and the structural changes he identified then – increasing...

Excerpt: /308/ A Balance-Sheet of the Left

13 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the global left after the Cold War. [Patreon Exclusive] Has the left declined, been defeated, or is it dead? Is the continuity with th...

Excerpt: /307/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Dec 2022)

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] We debate what kind of work 'shared-labour socialism' would involve in a complex society, and what...

Excerpt: /306/ Reading Club: AI Capitalism

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Inhuman Power.   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]   Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – o...

/305/ Techno-Feudal Unreason

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On "techno-feudalism". In the Bungacast Reading Club for patrons, we've been discussing various works on "neo-feudalism" - a thesis that tries to expl...

/303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Mali and the Sahel.   French president Emmanuel Macron declared the end of Opération Barkhane on 9 November 2022, bringing to an end to nearly...

OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations (FULL)

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. Previously released in 2021 only to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast, a ...

Excerpt: /302/ Aufhebonus Bonus (Nov 2022)

08 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On your questions & criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive]   The weakness of anti-EU forces; the implications of defending Ukrainian sovereignty; what...

Excerpt: /301/ Reading Club: Neo-Feudalism

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Joel Kotkin's The Coming of Neo-Feudalism  We start off by discussing your points on the last RC, on conspiracy theory. Then we delve into Kotkin'...

/300/ Bunga at the End of the World

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On nuclear exterminism.  To commemorate our 300th episode, we discuss how the world is closer to a nuclear conflict than at any point since the Cold ...

/299/ Micropower & Transcendence in Brazil (Bungazão 2022) ft. Miguel Lago

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On reclaiming populism.   With only a couple of days to go until the decisive runoff between Lula and Bolsonaro, we continue our Bungazão 2022 seri...

/298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch

25 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On shared-labour socialism. Political theorist Alex Gourevitch talks to us about his critique of post-work thought, and how it presupposes the very la...

/297/ Bungazão 2022 (Clean & Godly) ft. Benjamin Fogel

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On corruption & anti-corruption. When Bolsonaro won in 2018, he rode a wave of anti-corruption sentiment. Now he's doled out billions in pork via a s...

Excerpt: /296/ Last-Gasp Neoliberalism (Trussonomics)

18 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Trussonomics.   [Patreon Exclusive]   Having stumbled upon a successful recipe under Boris Johnson which would see greater state intervent...

Excerpt: /295/ Aufhebonus Bonus: October

11 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On who's responsible for prolonging the Ukraine War + your questions & criticisms.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We start off by discussing whether t...

Excerpt: /294/ Reading Club: Conspiracy Theory

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Empire of Conspiracy and agency panics.   [Patreon Exclusive - Tiers II & III]   We focus our discussion on the notion of 'agency panic' that ...

Excerpt: /293/ Goodbye 20th Century (RIP Gorby)

04 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the meaning of Gorbachev.   [Patreon Exclusive]   Mikhail Gorbachev continues to be lauded in Western circles for overseeing the collapse of...

/292/ Bungazão 2022: Unrealistic Pragmatism, ft. Unbridled Possibility Collective

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Brazil's containment of the crisis. We talk to members of the Unbridled Possibility Collective (Fabio Luis B. Santos | Thais Pavez | Daniel Cunha) ...

/291/ The Right Timeline ft. Mattia Salvia

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the Brothers of Italy. We talk to Mattia Salvia, former Rolling Stone Italia politics editor and author of Interregno, about Italy's election last ...

/290/ Cassoulet of Disruption ft. Nathan Sperber

27 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On La Macronie, or Macronistan Is France in perma-crisis? We talk to Nathan Sperber, independent researcher on political economy based in Paris...

Excerpt: /289/ Aufhebonus Bonus (September)

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On your questions and criticisms. [Patreon Exclusive] We discuss the Chinese Dream, speculation and horizontal politics, foreign fighters and spies, ...

Excerpt: /288/ Feudal Limpets (Bunga Goes Royal)

13 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive]   On the death of Queen Elizabeth, a 20th century figure   To our own surprise, we are doing an episode on the Queen of Eng...

/286/ What Was Communism? ft. Branko Milanovic

06 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Communism's historic role.   We talk to renowned Serbian-American economist Branko Milanovic about growing up in Yugoslavia and how, in much of...

/284/ Bungazão 2022 ft. Alcysio Canette

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Brazil's elections and the military.   A month away from the first round showdown between former president Lula and current president Jair Bols...

Excerpt: /283/ Reading Club: Trust & Mistrust

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Anthony Giddens' The Consequences of Modernity (ch.3) [Patreon Tier 2&3 Exclusive] In the second episode of the Cynical Ideology section of the 202...

Bunga Holiday

30 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Just a short announcement about what's coming up, while we're off on summer holidays. Subscribe to the podcast to support us and get two new, original...

/281/ Foreign Fighters, Left & Right (I) ft. Stefan Bertram-Lee

16 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Rojava and Ukraine. We talk to Stefan Bertram-Lee, former volunteer fighter for the the YPG in Rojava, about whom a Hollywood movie is being mad...

Excerpt: /280/ Three Articles: Liberal Nationalism

09 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive] With European liberals waving Ukraine flags, how might the war and escalating geopolitical tensions between major power be ...

/279/ Society of the Speculative ft. Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On our financialised world.  We talk to Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou about his new book, Speculative Communities. How has speculation become the very p...

Excerpt: /278/ Reading Club: Cynicism & Ideology

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Tier 2&3 Exclusive]   On Zizek's "How Marx Invented the Symptom" from The Sublime Object of Ideology.   We kick off the second phase o...

/276/ Broken Promises ft. Fritz Bartel

26 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism. Fritz Bartel talks to us about his new book in which the 1970s crisis and its afterma...

/273/ Eco-Leninism? [UNLOCKED]

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the climate emergency. We are specially unlocking this episode of our monthly Reading Club – the concluding episode of the first half of the 2022...

Excerpt: /275/ Our Reply to Critics: Review of Reviews

19 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On reviews of our book, The End of the End of History   [Patreon Exclusive]   A year since the book came out, and two years since we finished wri...

Excerpt: /274/ Aufhebonus Bonus: July 2022

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive] On your questions & criticisms. We discuss the link between Covid and war in Ukraine and return to the question of who exactly is ...

/272/ As Late As Necessary ft. Alex Gourevitch

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On abortion. After the US Supreme Court ruling, where does this leave women in the US? Political theorist Alex Gourevitch joins us to discuss Roe v Wa...

/270/ Russia vs the West ft. Richard Sakwa

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the endgame to war in Ukraine.   Eminent Russian expert, Putin and Gorbachev biographer and ex-Sovietologist, Prof Richard Sakwa, joins us in a...

Excerpt: /269/ Three Articles: The 90s

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive]   On the whatever decade.   People are turning back to reinterpret the 1990s. Clearly, they were peak End of History years....

Anti-Politics & Beyond (Munich Book Launch - Audio)

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If the End of History was characterised by post-politics, and the 'populist decade' of the 2010s dominated by anti-politics, then how should we unders...

Ruling Class Hysteria (Berlin Book Launch - Audio)

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

To commemorate the publication of the German edition of The End of the End of History, co-author Alex Hochuli was in conversation with David Broder,...

/268/ Emergency vs Emergency ft. Geoff Shullenberger

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Live events in Germany: Berlin / Munich] On emergency politics today. We talk to Geoff Shullenberger about competing emergency politics, left and rig...

/267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On crumbling state authority.   Benjamin Fogel is back on the podcast to talk us through how South Africa has gone from the hopes of post-aparthei...

Excerpt: /266/ Reading Club: Foucault & Biopolitics

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]   On neoliberalism and biopolitics.   In the fifth session of the "Emergency Politics & Control" theme of the...

Excerpt: /265/ Three Articles: Inflation!

24 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive]   On the economic drivers and political choices of inflation.   In the absence of workers demanding higher wages, where is ...

Excerpt: /264/ Aufhebonus Bonus

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive] On your comments & criticisms. We tackle ideological realignments over the use of history; conspiracy theorising; a game-show call...

/262/ The Useless Past ft. Matt Karp

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On liberals' embrace of the past and history wars. We talk to Matthew Karp about his essay, "History As End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the past"...

Excerpt: /261/ Three Articles: Macronistan

03 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive]   We analyse the French presidential election results, the country's geographical and class divides, and what a second term fo...

Excerpt: /260/ Reading Club: Fear II - Furedi

29 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Tier 2 Exclusive] On Frank Furedi's How Fear Works. Following on from last month's discussion of Corey Robin's Fear, we examine a differing...

/258/ Conformist Rebellion ft. Elena Lange & Joshua Pickett-Depaolis

26 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Marxism & the Left. We talk to Elena & Joshua about their new edited collection, The Conformist Rebellion: Marxist Critiques of the Contempo...

/257/ How to Boil a Frog (2) ft. Chris Bickerton

20 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The second part of our double ep on France's presidential election. Ahead of the second round, we discuss how likely a Le Pen victory could be ...

/256/ How to Boil a Frog (1) ft. Charles Devellennes

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On France's presidential elections.   We talk to Charles Devellennes to digest the first round, which saw centre-right Macron and far-right Le Pen...

Excerpt: /255/ Reading Club: Fear I – Robin

14 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Tier 2 Exclusive] On Corey Robin's Fear: The History of a Political Idea.  This is March's Reading Club, the third in the Emergency Politic...

/254/ Three Articles: Ukraine

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

[Patreon Exclusive]   On US proxy wars, Russia's elite, Ukrainian neutrality.   'Three Articles' aims to provide serious political discussion o...

/252/ Technopopulism & Toxic Politics ft. Carlo Invernizzi Accetti

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the fusion of technocracy & populism. Carlo Invernizzi Accetti talks to us about his book, Technopopulism, co-authored with Chris Bickerton. This ...

/250/ Oil & Disorder ft. Helen Thompson

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On energy, the material basis for all our politics? Helen Thompson, podcaster and professor of political economy at Cambridge and author of Disorde...

/249/ Dances with Truckers ft. Ashley Frawley

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the Freedom Convoy, the indigenous question, and 'anti-socialist socialism'(?) Sociologist and commentator Ashley Frawley is back on the pod...

Excerpt: /248/ Aufhebonus Bonus

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In which we respond to listener questions & criticisms. A bumper episode, featuring plenty on Canadian truckers, Swedish populists, ideas of justice, ...