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Excerpt: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch Oct 31, 2023

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On NATO expansion and the end of neutrality [Patreon Exclusive - for the full episode, sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast] Lily Lynch is back on the pod to talk about Northern and Eastern Europe and growing hawkishness. We discuss:

Why did Sweden and Finland give up decades of neutrality - and why now?
What happens with an enlarged alliance in light of the conflict in Ukraine?
How does the current moment compare to the apogee of the Non-Aligned Movement?
Why were the realists right?
How is tech mythology helping to build 'digital nationalism'?
Why is there beef over grain between Poland and Ukraine?
And what the hell are the "skin suit of social democracy" and the "Waluigi of neutrality"?

Links:

Joining the West, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
The realists were right, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
The EU’s great power delusions, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
Guns, grain, and history, Lily Lynch, New Statesman
Tech-Mythologies, Lily Lynch, Sidecar
Imperfect Unity, Lily Lynch, Sidecar

Excerpt: /372/ Reading Club: Globalisation (I) Oct 30, 2023

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On Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We discuss the Introduction and Part 1 of this landmark book from 2008 and ask if Arrighi's vision of China, the West and the structure of the global economy was correct. Points discussed:

What's at stake in thinking of East Asian growth as a renaissance, or correction of the historical blip of European ascendency?
How compelling is the account of East Asian success as a fusion of industrious and industrial revolution?
Was Arrighi right to focus on the neoconservative Project for a New American Century?
What do we think about Adam Smith's account of different classes' capacity for political action
What's at stake in the revisionist view of Adam Smith as pro-state Enlightenment thinker rather than patron saint of the free market?

Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century, Giovanni Arrighi, Verso (2008)
The Left Hemisphere: Mapping Critical Theory Today, Razmig Keucheyan, Verso (2010)

/371/ The Milei Massacre Didn’t Happen ft. Ernesto Seman Oct 24, 2023

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On Argentina's historic election. Historian of populism and anti-populism Ernesto Seman tells us what is happening in Argentina amidst severe economic crisis. The radical libertarian madman Javier Milei failed to win, and a second-round runoff will be needed, but politics has changed irreparably. The establishment right has been outflanked, while the left-populism of 'Kirchnerismo' is in crisis. We discuss:

What is 'Peronism' and how does it occupy so much political space?
How does Milei appeal to informal workers using market ideology?
What is distinct about Latin American populism?
How is anti-populism used to denigrate the masses?
What is the role of nostalgia for the golden age in Argentina?

Reading:

In Chile and Argentina, anti-populist politics is failing, Ernesto Seman, FT
Breve historia del antipopulismo (Brief History of Antipopulism), Ernesto Seman
Ambassadors of the Working Class, Ernesto Seman
Javier Milei is not done yet, Alex Hochuli, Unherd
Javier Milei is not a South American Trump, Alex Hochuli, Unherd

Links:

/367/ Don’t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos
/189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis
/93/ Hot Chile and Other Neoliberal Failures ft. Pablo Pryluka

/370/ Dead Ends in Israel & Palestine ft. Alex Gourevitch Oct 20, 2023

Show notes

On violence and the lack of political resolution. Regular guest Alex Gourevitch joins us to discuss why the Israel/Palestine conflict is so intractable – and why it draws so much attention. Alex then explains why, lamentably, there is no side worth choosing. We then delve into various key points:

why Hamas was becoming irrelevant and how the 7 October attack was an attempt to combat that;
why violence is necessary but the Palestinians are in a catch-22;
how the West is implicated in the violence and callousness on show;
why the Palestinians are the most oppressed and forgotten people;
why Hamas is not an anticolonial freedom struggle; and
what is the right way to compare this to Ukraine.

Links:

No end in sight: Israel’s search for a Gaza strategy, Lawrence Freedman, FT (attached)
The House of Zion, Perry Anderson, NLR
Whither Palestine, David Polansky, Strange Frequencies

/369/ Information-War and War-Politics ft. Jacob Siegel Oct 17, 2023

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On the war on disinformation and the war in Gaza. Jacob Siegel, senior editor at Tablet, joins us to talk about Hamas's attack on Israel and Israel's assault on Gaza. We also discuss how the US crusade against 'disinformation' has led it to apply counterinsurgency tactics to its own citizens. Why did Hamas attack when it did? Has it been successful in stopping Israeli-Saudi rapprochement? How much will this change Israeli society? And what does Israel want to achieve in bombing - and soon invading - Gaza? Meanwhile, how has domestic politics become war? The state has meshed with corporate power to create an almighty surveillance apparatus. How can we start dismantling it? And how do we escape the postmodern hall of mirrors in which high diplomacy and low culture-war merge, in which domestic and international, and peace and war, all blur into each other? Links:

On disinformation: A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century, Jacob Siegel, Tablet
A trap has been set for Israel, Jacob Siegel, Unherd
End US Aid to Israel, Jacob Siegel & Liel Leibovitz, Tablet
On data: The Nanny vs. The Nanny State, Jacob Siegel & John Robb, Tablet
Manifesto Podcast, Jacob Siegel & Phil Klay

/367/ Don’t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

On sovereign debt and taking back control. The leading candidate in Argentina's election this month wants to avoid defaulting on the country's debt at all costs. But back in 2001, after a mass revolt, Argentina reneged on its debts – one of the very rare cases over the past 70 years of unilateral default. Why are nations so eager to pay back creditors nowadays, especially when it means endless austerity and little prospect of economic development? We talk to scholar Jerome Roos about his book, Why Not Default? and discuss a range of cases: Mexico, Greece, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Ghana - and of course Argentina. We find that the old free market system used to accept that reneging on your debts was a risk creditors had to take. No longer: transnational institutions make sure that creditors get paid every time. How might countries free themselves from international financial dictatorship? For part two of the interview and the After Party, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links:

Why Not Default?: The Political Economy of Sovereign Debt, Jerome Roos
Memoria del saqueo (Social Genocide), film on 2001 debt crisis and uprising in Argentina (many versions available online)
/83/ Now It’s Syrizous (episode on Syriza's defeat in Greece)
The World in One Country: Greece, Jonas Kyratzes (part of ep.200)

/366/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (IV) Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

On polycrisis. [Patreon Tier II and III Exclusive - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] We reflect back on Jurgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis as a whole, having gone through it section by section in previous episodes, before exploring what the idea of 'polycrisis' is about. Everyone from Adam Tooze to the FT to the World Economic Forum think we're in a polycrisis. How does this notion compare to Habermas' understanding of crisis? We also explore some related themes: cynical ideology and how it deflects criticism; whether we are more or less individualised today, and how you can have less collectivism and less individualism at the same time; and the difference between crisis and emergency. Links:

Why the West's elites invented a permacrisis, Thomas Fazi, Unherd
Welcome to the world of the polycrisis, Adam Tooze, FT
Year in a word: Polycrisis, Jonathan Derbyshire, FT
On the crisis of crisis: /327/ Capitalism on Edge ft. Albena Azmanova
On the structural reasons why the regime survives: /246/ Why Isn’t There Revolution? ft. Vivek Chibber

/365/ It’s So Over (Again) ft. Ryan Zickgraf Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

On the end of politics. Is the craziness of the past years, since 2016, ebbing away? Is the establishment back in charge? Journalist Ryan Zickgraf joins us to argue that, yes, the period of 'hyperpolitics' has passed. Trump has lost his edge, BLM has imploded, boring Biden rules, the Proud Boys are nowhere to be seen. Fewer protests, fewer small campaign donations, fewer news articles shared. What is the implication of this? It seems that people are exhausted by the politicisation of everything. The upsurge in engagement in formal politics may be dwindling. But the culture wars are as hot as ever. And the venues for 'escape' from politics are more politicised than ever. Accelerated social decline means we aren't exactly going back to the 1990s, but is history over all over again? Readings:

America's Politics of Nothing, Ryan Zickgraf, Compact
After Anti-Politics: The Apeiron, Alex Hochuli, Sublation
Everything is Hyperpolitical, Anton Jäger, The Point
/361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker

UNLOCKED: /361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

On US politics being stuck. [This was originally a subscriber exclusive. Sign up now at patreon.com/bungacast] We talk to political theorist Benjamin Studebaker about his new book, The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut. Studebaker holds that hope is a problem because it's used by professionals to keep people engaged in a system that simply doesn't deliver. Hence the culture wars and the focus on various 'vices'. How are both left and right complicit in this situation? What's the solution? Are we dependent on oligarchs going rogue to shake the system? Do we need to hit rock bottom to rekindle our political imaginations?

Excerpt: /364/ The Eternal Sunshine of the Bourgeoisie Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

On satire of the bourgeoisie. [Patreon Exclusive. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast] We discuss Luis Buñuel's "deranged masterpiece" from 1972, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and debate the social ritual of dinner, and why the guests in the film never get to eat theirs. How does this early 70s surrealist film – which in many ways set the template for cinematic satires of the bourgeoisie – compare to more recent portrayals such as The Menu or Triangle of Sadness? Ultimately, who are the bourgeoisie and do they still exist, in a world of distributed ownership and managerialism? Readings:

‘A deranged masterpiece’: why you should watch The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian
What Have the Bourgeoisie Done for us Lately?, Stephan Bertram-Lee, Sublation
A Brief History of the Bourgeoisie, or We Are All Bourgeois Now, David Polansky, Strange Frequencies
The Bourgeois(ie) as Concept and Reality, Immanuel Wallerstein, New Left Review

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