Bungacast
Episodes
/246/ Why Isn’t There Revolution? ft. Vivek Chibber
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On class & material self-interest. We talk to Vivek Chibber about his new book, The Class Matrix: Social Theory After the Cultural Turn, which seeks t...
Excerpt: /245/ Reading Club: Emergency Politics II - Agamben
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception (2005). How did a darling of the left during the War on Terror become a resource for the right during Covid?...
/244/ Bunga NYC: Live Debate ft. Adam Tooze
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On The End of the End of History On 22 February 2022, at The People's Forum in Manhattan, Alex Hochuli and Adam Tooze were in conversation on the the...
/236/ Green Nazi Paedos ft. Lily Lynch (UNLOCKED)
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On the German Greens' shady history. Journalist Lily Lynch, editor of Balkanist, joins us to talk about her recent investigations into the Gree...
/242/ Bureaucracy Rules OK ft. Michael Lind
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On class wars, new and old. Michael Lind, Professor of Practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, joins us to talk about what it migh...
Excerpt: /241/ Three Articles: Peace & Social War in North America
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On dovish conservatives, Trumpist coup-mongers and Canadian truckers. - - - Live debate/book launch in NYC, Feb 22nd: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/l...
/240/ Populist Interventions: Örebro Party ft. Malcolm Kyeyune
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The first in an occasional series on new initiatives. We speak to Malcolm Kyeyune of Sweden's Örebro Party about its origins, analysis and goals. I...
/239/ Against Justice ft. Ross Wolfe
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On the critique of egalitarian ideology. We talk to writer Ross Wolfe about his essay "Marxism Contra Justice". Given that struggles for justice have ...
/238/ Reading Club: Emergency Politics I (Extended Excerpt)
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Carl Schmitt's Political Theology (1922). We ask why people are scared of sovereignty – as opposed to state power per se, and analyse what is sig...
Excerpt: /237/ Three Articles: Italy, Ukraine, Matrix
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We take on Italy's election of a new president and what that tells us about permanent crisis, the EU and the curtailing of democracy; we ask how seri...
Excerpt: /236/ Green Nazi Paedos ft. Lily Lynch
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On the German Greens' shady history. Journalist Lily Lynch, editor of Balkanist, joins us to talk about her recent investigations into the Green...
/235/ Political Ritalin ft. Anton Jäger
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On our current attention-deficit and hyperpolitical disorder. In our book, The End of the End of History, we discuss the move from post-poli...
Grand Reset
05 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bungacast is back for 2022, refreshed and reloaded. We've got a completely revamped Reading Club, arranged along three themes: Emergency Politic...
Excerpt: /234/ Three Articles: Restoration?
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Millennial homeowners, the USA falling apart, and restoration in the UK. As better-off 30-somethings start to get on the property ladder, do...
Excerpt: /233/ Aufhebonus Bonus
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 u...
Excerpt: /232/ Reading Club: Cold, Hard / Warm, Soft
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism How has the cold and hard world of bureaucratic, instrumental rationalism p...
/231/ New Class Analysis ft. Catherine Liu
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
Excerpt: /230/ Repetition Compulsion ft. Doug Lain, pt. 2
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 overt...
/229/ Repetition Compulsion ft. Doug Lain, pt. 1
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
/228/ Three Articles: Popular Backlash in Chile, India, Europe
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Excerpt: /227/ Reading Club: All That Is Solid
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On modernity's contradictions. In this month's Reading Club, we discuss the introduction to Marshall Berman's marvellous All That Is Solid Melts...
Excerpt: /226/ Science Says: No Woke
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 Wor...
/225/ Wokeistan & Lebanonworld ft. Karl Sharro
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On sectarianism & identitarianism. Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) is back on Bunga to talk to us about his essay "The Retreat from Universalism in the Mid...
Excerpt: /224/ Three Articles: Labour Revolts?
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
/222/ Nukes 4 Kids ft. Emmet Penney, pt. 1
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the global energy crisis. Nuclear energy advocate Emmet Penney (@nukebarbarian) joins us to discuss the growing energy crunch in Europe, th...
Excerpt: /221/ Reading Club: Truth About Class
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month we discuss GM Tamas' essay "Telling the Truth About Class" published in the Socialist Register. Is Tamas' division between Marxist and Rou...
Excerpt: /220/ Aufhebonus Bonus
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Responding to your questions, comments & criticisms. It's a big mailbag this time round, including plenty on Covid (lockdowns, vaccines, etc), i...
Excerpt: OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations, pt. 5
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The fifth and final part of a series on generational consciousness and conflict. This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bu...
OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 4
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The fourth in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. In this episode, we examine Generation X – the generation...
Excerpt: OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 3
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The third in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. This is an excerpt. For the full 1h40min episode, subscribe at...
/218/ Stability Über Alles ft. Wolfgang Streeck
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 Septembe...
OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 2
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The second in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. In this episode, we look at the emergence of 'youth' as politi...
Excerpt: /217/ Reading Club: Intersectional Stalinism
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month's Reading Club is on Mike McNair's "Intersectionalism, the highest stage of western Stalinism?" from the journal Critique (pdf attached on...
/216/ Goodbye Mutti! Election Preview ft. Dominik Leusder
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Germany's election this week. Merkel has led Germany since 2005, outlasting any number of politicians across the West. What accounts for her longev...
OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 1
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict. In this episode, we look at the current, vexed discourse aroun...
Excerpt: /215/ Organize the Incels?! ft. Alex Gendler
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the long history of involuntary celibates. Alex Gendler talks to us about his essay in American Affairs, "The New Superfluous Men". With growi...
/213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Covid and the end of the end of history. Adam Tooze joins us to discuss his new book, Shutdown. In 2020 everything changed... so that everythin...
Excerpt: /212/ Three Articles: Middle-Class Anxieties
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On net-zero, CCP nanny state, and optimised dating. We start off discussing the HBO series "The White Lotus" before tackling three articles on m...
/211/ Unlocking the Lockdown Left ft. @galexybrane
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On lockdowns, education, and the left. California middle-school teacher and social critic Alex Gutentag (@galexybrane) joins us to talk about the depr...
Excerpt: /210/ Reading Club: Psychoanalysis & Spirit of Capitalism
21 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss Eli Zaretsky's essay, "Psychoanalysis and the Spirit of Capitalism" (also available as a chapter in his book Political Freud). How co...
Excerpt: /209/ Aufhebonus Bonus + Kabul Falls
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the Fall of Kabul, plus responding to your questions & comments. On this Aufhebonus Bonus, we take your critical comments on 'positive biopo...
/207/ Pangolin vs Lobster, pt 1 ft. Paolo Gerbaudo
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What comes after neoliberalism - the protective state? We talk to Paolo Gerbaudo about his new book, The Great Recoil, in which Paolo argues we are n...
Excerpt: /206/ Three Articles: Post-Liberalism
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On post-liberalism: loving the state, crushing the individual? For this 3A, articles from different 'conservative' outlets - but how conservativ...
/205/ The World In One Country: The Final ft. Many Guests
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What country best captures 20th and 21st century history? For our 200th episode special, we posed the question: "If you had to study the history of ...
/204/ Three Articles: People's Republic of Fleeing
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Chinese investment, Swiss democracy, and fleeing from Afghanistan. In this Three Articles, we discuss flight or departure in various ways: China op...
Excerpt: /203/ Positive Biopolitics? ft. Benjamin Bratton
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On pandemic & post-pandemic politics. We talk to Benjamin Bratton about his new book, The Revenge of the Real, and its argument for a "positive ...
Excerpt: /202/ 3 Articles: Clerisy, War, Football
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In our latest 3A, we discuss "the clerisy" and how it relates to the PMC; how the EU is doing forever war just as much as the US; and the hyper-commod...
Excerpt: /201/ Reading Club: The New Class War
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss Michael Lind's The New Class War. Lind identifies new lines in the class war, between working class and managerial overclass, between thos...
/200/ The World In One Country ft. Many Guests
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On world history, 1900-2020. For our 200th episode special, we pose the question: "If you had to study the history of only one country from 1900-2020,...
Excerpt: /199/ Aufhebonus Bonus (June)
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We take your questions, comments & criticisms. This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast On this Aufhebonus Bonu...
/198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On secularism, nationalism and identity politics. India is held up as a model developing country: liberal, democratic, multicultural. Renowned India...
RE-RELEASE: /100/ What Was the End of History? ft. Many Guests
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the lead-up to our 200th episode later this month, we're exceptionally re-releasing our 100th episode special this week. On the 30 years since 1989...
Excerpt: /197/ Reading Club: The Breakaway
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the third and final in the series of Perry Anderson essays on the EU in the London Review of Books, "The Breakaway", and wonder if the EU c...
Excerpt: /196/ Cosmopolitan Dystopia
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On atrocity and sovereignty. This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast The disasters of Iraq, Libya, Syria and ...
/195/ No Shock China ft. Isabella Weber
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On China, economic reform, and the future. While Russia famously succumbed to destructive neoliberal "shock therapy", China managed to avoid it. How a...
Excerpt: /194/ Anti-Politics & Non-Movements
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On global insurrection and identity politics. This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast We discuss an essay by the u...
/193/ The New 20 Years' Crisis
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On liberal idealism and imperial overreach. Why did the winners of the Cold War turn 'revisionist', undermining their own order? How has utopianism co...
Excerpt: /192/ Three Articles: Pandemic (Dis)Satisfactions
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On consequences of the pandemic + important local election results in Spain & UK. We start off by discussing the telling results of some recent ...
Excerpt: /191/ Reading Club: Ever Closer Union?
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the second of Perry Anderson's three LRB essays on the making and unmaking of the EU: "Ever Closer Union?" Our monthly Reading Club is fo...
/190/ Top 5 Fetishes ft. Elena Louisa Lange
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On class reductionism, commodity fetishism, and value theory. To discuss Covid, the state as 'PMC leviathan', and the politics of value theory, we’r...
UNLOCKED /183/ Acid Bunga Bunga ft. Mike Watson
02 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On memes and the counter-culture. Theorist and curator Mike Watson advances the argument for "acid leftism". What is this, and why do we need a ...
/189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Latin America's progressive wave and its discontents. A new book on Latin America argues that 'pink tide' governments tried to treat the symptoms o...
UNLOCKED /179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
25 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How to address the political problems of leftwing parties today? Liverpudlian historian David Swift argues that the problem is hobbyism - people...
Excerpt: /188/ The Huge Package State pt. 2 ft. Anton Jäger
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the end of the End of History and neo-feudalism. This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast In a continuation of our di...
/187/ The Huge Package State ft. Anton Jäger
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On cash welfarism and state investment. Plus regionalism in Belgium & the UK. Anton Jäger is back on the pod to discuss the emerging 'transfer state'...
/186/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Lee Jones
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Covid state failure + responses to listeners. The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast We start off by...
/185/ Discipline-Flourishing Democracy ft. Lee Jones
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the uprising in Myanmar, plus Covid state failure. Southeast Asia scholar (and Bunga recidivist) Lee Jones joins us to talk about the coup in Myan...
Excerpt: /184/ Reading Club: The European Coup
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the first of Perry Anderson's new essays on Europe published in the London Review of Books, which focuses on Luuk van Middelaar - described...
Excerpt: /183/ Acid Bunga Bunga ft. Mike Watson
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On memes and the counter-culture. This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Theorist and curator Mike Watson...
Excerpt: /182/ Three Articles: Sporno-Vaxxo-Techno-Populism
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this latest Three Articles, we examine the rise of 'techno-populism', look at the EU's vaccine debacle, and question whether cinema - and popular ...
/181/ Juche in North Britain? ft. Cat Boyd & David Jamieson
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the socialist case for Scottish independence. David Jamieson and Cat Boyd, writers and hosts of Conter, the Scottish anti-capitalist website and po...
/180/ Bunga Bunga (but Gay) ft. Mark Simpson & River Page
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On gay liberation and sexual politics. After big advances over the past decades, we can now ask, did the gays win? And if so, so what? Mark Simpson i...
Excerpt: /179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How to address the political problems of leftwing parties today? Liverpudlian historian David Swift argues that the problem is hobbyism - people...
/173/ Reading Club: Left Case for Brexit (UNLOCKED)
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've exceptionally unlocked one of our recent Reading Clubs. For access to all the monthly Reading Clubs - as well as our ~2 patreon episodes a month...
Excerpt: /178/ Reading Club: Societies of Control
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss Gilles Deleuze's short essay, Postscript on the Societies of Control and ask whether his understanding, according to which society has chan...
Excerpt: /177/ AufheBonus Bonus ft. Catherine Liu
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We respond to your questions and comments from the past two months. Plus a continuation of our chat with Catherine Liu (from 55mins onwards) - on PMC...
/176/ The Worst Class ft. Catherine Liu
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the Professional-Managerial Class. Catherine Liu joins us to talk about the worst class in history (the PMC), and how and why they hoard al...
Excerpt: /175/ Psychoanalysis Against Adaptation ft. Benjamin Fong
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the relevance of psychoanalysis. In a continuation of our talk with Benjamin Fong, editor of Damage Magazine, we discuss the relevance of p...
/174/ Social Ungluing ft. Benjamin Fong
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On American breakdown. Editor of Damage Magazine, Benjamin Fong, joins us to talk about the lack of shared narratives in contemporary America. We d...
Excerpt: /172/ Three Articles: Elite Production
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Uber, class war among the rich, and its political consequences Articles: The real class war is within the rich, Janan Ganesh, FT Uber pays t...
Excerpt: /171/ Fukuyama & the End of History ft. Daniel Bessner
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast If liberal democracy has been dethroned, what next? Francis Fukuyama...
Excerpt: /170/ Reading Club: Streeck's Critical Encounters
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a sample. Reading Clubs are for patrons $10+. Sign up now at patreon.com/bungacast This month we discuss a book by leading German sociolo...
/169/ Authoritarian Liberalism and Its Discontents ft. Amber A'Lee Frost & Daniel Bessner
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the Biden administration and Trumpist reaction. We discuss the riot at the US Capitol and why it was not a (failed) coup attempt. How serious w...
/168/ Corona, Climate, Communism ft. Andreas Malm
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the 'war communism' solution As we enter the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant turmoil, suffering and lockdown, inevitably ...
/167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On freedom, authority and responsibility. Theorist Todd McGowan joins us to talk about the End of History, what Hegel can teach us about emancipati...
/161/ Culture is Bad for You ft. Mark Taylor (UNLOCKED)
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On “culture”. We discuss who produces culture and who consumes it – and what those inequalities reveal about culture today. Also, we ask w...
Excerpt: /166/ Aufhebonus Bonus (December)
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast We round off the year by previewing The End of the End of History and resp...
/165/ Black Spartacus ft. Sudhir Hazareesingh
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
CLR James’s electrifying 1938 history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins, has long been a staple of many radicals’ libraries....
Excerpt: /164/ Reading Club: Culture of Narcissism
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a short sample. Full episode is available for subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast We re-evaluate Christopher Lasch's hugely influential ...
/163/ Three Articles + Censorship ft. Douglas Lain
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On censorship, platform capitalism and the Left. We talk to Douglas Lain of Zer0 Books about YouTube taking down their video as a result of the algori...
/162/ Gaming & Politics ft. Jonas Kyratzes
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Game writer & designer Jonas Kyratzes joins us to talk about the art of games, the culture of gaming, the gamification of society, and the identity po...
Excerpt: /161/ Culture Is Bad For You ft. Mark Taylor
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast On “culture”. We discuss who produces culture and who consumes it –...
/160/ Enemies of the People (Large & Very Small) ft. Wolfgang Streeck
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On Germany, the hegemon of Europe. We are joined by leading German public intellectual Wolfgang Streeck to discuss the role of Germany at the end of t...
/159/ Biden Time ft. Amber A'Lee Frost & Alex Gourevitch
07 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On the US election, a huge turnout and the end of Trump. We survey the results of the presidential and legislative elections, peer through the exit...
Excerpt: /158/ Three Articles: Cosmopolitan Austerity & Control
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast In this latest Three Articles, we discuss cosmopolitanism, the end of aus...
UNLOCKED /152/ I Can't Believe It's Not Weimar ft. David Broder
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On why anti-fascism is a problem. The Trump presidency and the current protests in the US have led many to argue this is just like the 1930s. Th...
Excerpt: /157/ Reading Club: Emancipation After Hegel
01 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a sample. For full access, go to patreon.com/bungacast This month we discuss Todd McGowan's Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradict...
/156/ Cosmo-Jihad ft. Darryl Li
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Internationalism used to be a defining characteristic of the Left. Globalism is a defining characteristic of neoliberal capitalism. Both seem to be ch...
UNLOCKED /154/ A Reasonably Important Election... Preview ft. Alex Gourevitch
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On the Covid election. Trump has made himself deeply unpopular while the Democrats have tried to demobilise the electorate. What, if anything, are ...
Excerpt: /155/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Benjamin Moser
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Full episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast We start off by discussing the beheading of a French teacher for having shown his ...