Bungacast

Latest Episodes:

/334/ Cancellation is Cancelled ft. Norman Finkelstein Apr 18, 2023

Show notes

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 Bridge When I Get To It!

What unites the leading intellectual proponents of wokeness today, people like Ibram X Kendi or Kimberlé Crenshaw? How do they differ from anti-racist and liberationist heroes of the past? What continuities are there between today's cancel culture and the politics of the New Left?

We discuss the definition of wokeness and ask whether we have already reached peak wokeness, and examine the emergence of anti-wokness.

Subscribe to the podcast: patreon.com/bungacast

Readings:

I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It!: Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom, Norman Finkelstein, Sublation

Excerpt: /333/ Aufhebonus Bonus (April 2023) Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

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 Left the real problem?

We also debate what the function of imperialism in Africa is; the 'pro-worker' conservatives in the US; surveillance of app workers; what economic growth is for; and whether to f**k models.

UNLOCKED: /306/ AI Capitalism: Inhuman Power Apr 06, 2023

Show notes

On Inhuman Power.

[Unlocked episode from Bungacast 'Reading Club', originally released 6 December 2022]

Contemporary capitalism is possessed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) question – one of the few areas today in which capitalists still seem to have ambition. Why is this so, and is there something about AI that gets to the nub of what capitalism is, as a mode of production?

Is capitalism without humanity anything more than a dystopian Skynet nightmare? And would the creation of a surplus humanity still be capitalism? Would it be techno-feudal, or something else?

Reading:

Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjøsen and James Steinhoff, Pluto Books

/331/ The Zone (pt. 1) ft. Quinn Slobodian Apr 04, 2023

Show notes

On cracked-up capitalism.

Historian of ideas Quinn Slobodian joins us again, this time to discuss his latest book, Crack-up Capitalism – the vision of a global capitalism with its constituent nation-states perforated by ‘zones’ shorn of any national oversight or democratic accountability. We talk through these archetypal zones encompassing deregulation, investment and sweatshop labour, ranging from the glittering city scapes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Canary Wharf to forgotten zones such as Ciskei in apartheid South Africa as well as the gated communities of California and bit-coin paradise Honduras.

We also talk about archetypal crack-up capitalists such as Peter Thiel, William Rees-Mogg and Milton Friedman’s offspring. How did crack-up capitalism feature in the Tory vision of Brexit? Plus, why is Dominic Cummings the one true Singaporean, and why do crack-up capitalists love medieval LARPing?

For part two, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast

Readings:

Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, Quinn Slobodian
The Ciskei experiment: a libertarian fantasy in apartheid South Africa, Quinn Slobodian, The Guardian
/115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
As special enclaves proliferate, what are the consequences for democracy?, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, The Spectator
Dominic Cummings understands Singapore. The Tories still don’t, Quinn Slobodian, The Spectator
Crack-up Capitalism video trailer, Twitter

Excerpt: /330/ Reading Club: Freedom (2) Apr 02, 2023

Show notes

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 freedom', which can ultimately be seen as a question of what we do with our time. Across the two chapters in question, Hägglund ties together his philosophical vision rooted in the notion of mortality and temporal life, with a social critique that draws on Hegel and Marx. He does this by centring the question of time, the only truly scarce resource.

How can we negotiate anxiety-inducing freedom today? Where do our 'existential identities' come from, and does Hägglund put too much emphasis on identity? And is Buddhist karma a system analogous to the market?

For local Reading Clubs, email info@bungacast.com
Readings & resources:

This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Chapter 4 and 5
On time, work, freedom and necessity: /298/ Working For Freedom ft. Alex Gourevitch
On Hegel and contradiction: /167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
On Sartre: Being and Nothingness (1943) and his subsequent 1946 essay summarising ideas in the book, "Existentialism Is a Humanism"

/329/ Justice Warriors ft. Matt Bors & Ben Clarkson Mar 28, 2023

Show notes

On depicting dystopia.

Acclaimed cartoonists, writers and artists Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson join us for something a little different: to talk about their new comic book, Justice Warriors. Set in a grotesquely unequal world, a police procedural (of sorts) encounters an astrology-based social movement seeking justice.

We talk about how dystopian fiction often serves to manufacture consent and about how fiction can confront us with images of social decline. We also debate free will and determinism in a world that presents few opportunities, social justice warriors and politics that perpetuate the present, and why there is no 'pure' people set against the elite.

Links:

Justice Warriors, Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, Felipe Sobreiro, Simon & Schuster
The Nib - political satire & cartoons

Excerpt: /328/ The New Scramble for Africa Mar 21, 2023

Show notes

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 respective "pitches" are to African countries – what are they selling? And we examine the factors that contribute to Africa's place in geopolitics today: Chinese hunger for raw materials, the global war on terror, the green energy transition, drug and people smuggling, and more.

If the original Scramble for Africa (1884-1914) was driven by an attempt to displace European class war onto another terrain, can we say anything analogous is happening today?

Links:

/303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua
/304/ The Failure of the French Forever War (2) ft. Yvan Guichaoua
Russia in Africa, Financial Times series of articles
Defending Our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity, Tricontinental Institute
Italophone Somalia, Then and Now, Iman Mohamed, The Drift
Emmanuel Macron must reset France’s Africa policy, Sylvie Kauffman (Le Monde editor), FT
Debunking the Myth of ‘Debt-trap Diplomacy’, Lee Jones & Shahar Hameiri, Chatham House
Let’s talk about neo-colonialism in Africa, Mark Langan, LSE blog
/267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

/327/ Capitalism on Edge ft. Albena Azmanova Mar 14, 2023

Show notes

On the crisis of crisis. Bulgarian critical theorist Albena Azmanova joins us to discuss her widely-discussed 2020 book, Capitalism on Edge. We talk critical theory, the paradox of emancipation, her criticisms of Thomas Piketty and why we should be thinking in terms of precarity capitalism, not neoliberalism. Albena also discusses her concept of the ‘crisis of the crisis of capitalism’ - how the current crisis of capitalism fails to augur a new type of society. Albena makes the case that concepts like neoliberalism obscure more than they clarify. We also discuss how far critical theorists can be drawn into providing practical political advice to leaders and governing institutions. Plus, what was it like coming of age in communist Bulgaria at the End of History? Links:

It’s the Economic Precarity, Stupid, Albena Azmanova & Marshall Auerback, The Nation
Uber’s dangerous drive to serfdom, Albena Azmanova, Unherd
Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia, Albena Azmanova, Columbia UP

UNLOCKED! /319/ The Dead Left (II) ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow Mar 09, 2023

Show notes

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 their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again.

This is followed by the After Party, where we debate the extent to which Thatcher 'sold' freedom and what the left's understanding of liberty is.

To gain access to episodes like this that normally remain paywalled, subscribe to our patreon: patreon.com/bungacast

Part 1 is here: https://bungacast.podbean.com/e/318-the-dead-left-ft-steve-hall-simon-winlow/

Links:

Excerpt: /326/ What Did Capitalism Do Next? Mar 07, 2023

Show notes

On what comes after neo-liberalism. [Patreon Exclusive] After 40 years of neo-liberalism, governments are inching their way to some new settlement, under the pressure of repeated crises, as well as populist upsurges. In this episode we try to take a political, not academic, approach to the question. This is not about categorising and labelling, but about understanding what the stakes are in saying a new arrangement is emerging, and grasping how it informs political practice. What are the main "post-neoliberal" arrangements being pushed by different sides of the spectrum? What do they say about the interests of their constituencies? If successful, what sort of political playing field will they present the masses? Will it be a world of greater or fewer opportunities for emancipatory politics? Readings: