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Excerpt: /171/ Fukuyama & the End of History ft. Daniel Bessner Jan 19, 2021

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This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast If liberal democracy has been dethroned, what next? Francis Fukuyama famously declared the "end of history" in 1989. Has he been misunderstood? Should we understand the declaration in a geopolitical sense - liberal democracy triumphant - or in a more philosophical sense? We discuss what capital-H History means and what Fukuyama's career trajectory can tell us about our times. Is it capitalism realism or the end of history?

Excerpt: /170/ Reading Club: Streeck's Critical Encounters Jan 15, 2021

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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 sociologist and public intellectual, Wolfgang Streeck. Critical Encounters is a compilation of book reviews, discussing neoliberal ideas, politics and economy. We start off by discussing the value of reading books in today's noisy, social media-filled, locked-down climate, as well as what makes a good book review. Then we address five themes: the coming of post-industrial society; popular misconceptions about neoliberalism; German hegemony in Europe; Cosmopolitan delusions; and the future of capitalism. Our interview with Wolfgang Streeck from November 2020 can be found here.

/169/ Authoritarian Liberalism and Its Discontents ft. Amber A'Lee Frost & Daniel Bessner Jan 12, 2021

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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 was the event, and what next for Trumpist reaction - will it lead to a split in the Republican Party?

Our guests - journalist Amber Frost and political science academic Daniel Bessner - help us preview what the Biden administration has in store for the US. With Democratic control of both houses, it should be able to pass legislation - but does it have any substantial plans to do so? In foreign policy, we can expect more foreign adventurism and at home, an ominous anti-domestic terrorism bill. Does the alliance of the Democrats with an increasingly domineering Silicon Valley signal the coming-out moment of authoritarian liberalism? Readings:

Riot on the Hill, Mike Davis, NLR Sidecar blog
Render unto Ourselves, What is Ours—or Caesar Will Seize It, Alex Hochuli, Damage
What Experts on Extremism Want From the Biden Administration, James D Walsh, NYMag
Morbid Symptoms Can Persist for a Long Time, Barry Eidlin, Jacobin
Violence in the Capitol, Dangers in the Aftermath, Glenn Greenwald, Substack
The revenge of the blob, Alex Ward, Vox

/168/ Corona, Climate, Communism ft. Andreas Malm Jan 05, 2021

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On the 'war communism' solution As we enter the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant turmoil, suffering and lockdown, inevitably the search for systemic causes and systemic responses grows more intense. Swedish ecologist and social theorist Andreas Malm joins us to discuss one possible response - a crisis communism modelled on the War Communism of early Soviet rule, as discussed in his new book ‘Corona, Climate Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty First Century.’ We discuss the nature of our contemporary crises, and how far the left needs its own distinctive form of emergency politics. Readings:

“To Halt Climate Change, We Need an Ecological Leninism”, Jacobin interview with Andreas Malm
Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty-First Century, Andreas Malm, Verso
Nature Defends Itself, Dayton Martindale, Boston Review

/167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan Dec 21, 2020

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On freedom, authority and responsibility.

Theorist Todd McGowan joins us to talk about the End of History, what Hegel can teach us about emancipation, and why Slavoj Zizek’s reinterpretation of Hegel is so important. If contradiction is the basis of modern politics, what is its link to freedom? And what is the connection between freedom and authority? Are stable sources of authority even possible in modernity? We also put some listener questions to Todd, as we learn that the Right, just as much as the Left, evades authority and is unwilling to take responsibility.

Readings:

/161/ Culture is Bad for You ft. Mark Taylor (UNLOCKED) Dec 18, 2020

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On “culture”. We discuss who produces culture and who consumes it – and what those inequalities reveal about culture today. Also, we ask what’s the ploblem with culture anyway and end up defending “low culture” from Red Hot Chili Peppers (well, sorta) to food guys. Reading: Culture is Bad for You, Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor, Manchester UP

Excerpt: /166/ Aufhebonus Bonus (December) Dec 15, 2020

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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 responding to your questions and criticisms, including Strasserism or left-conservatism, revolutionary memories, more on Covid and lockdowns, and other bits.

/165/ Black Spartacus ft. Sudhir Hazareesingh Dec 08, 2020

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CLR James’s electrifying 1938 history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins, has long been a staple of many radicals’ libraries. But we now know a lot more about the life of the Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint L’Ouverture. How does this new knowledge impact our understanding of the Haitian Revolution, and on revolution in general? Sudhir Hazeeresingh, the author of a gripping new biography based on new archival research, ‘Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, talks with us about about revolutionary leadership and Atlantic history.

Reading:

Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture
‘You never know when it is going to explode’, interview with CLR James, Marxist Internet Archive

Excerpt: /164/ Reading Club: Culture of Narcissism Dec 04, 2020

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This is a short sample. Full episode is available for subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast We re-evaluate Christopher Lasch's hugely influential and prescient The Culture of Narcissism. What conjunctural factors led Lasch to his insights, and to what extent are those still present? Lasch wrote during the collapse of postwar Fordist-Keynesian model – is it the collapse of neoliberalism today that makes the book so evocative? And if narcissism has only increased, does the book suggest any political ways-out?

/163/ Three Articles + Censorship ft. Douglas Lain Dec 01, 2020

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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 algorithm flagging its content – and what this means for free speech. Then, this month's Three Articles on war, conspiracy theory, and Covid (patrons only - sign up at patreon.com/bungacast) Links for part 1:

Why Did YouTube censor us? Doug Lain's blog post
Censored YouTube video: Christopher Lasch, Paul Sweezy, and the Great RESET
Bungacast ep 103 on ethical capitalism
Bungacast ep 112 on ideology of Silicon Valley
Alex Hochuli on Zer0 Books podcast

Part 2: Three Articles

Azerbaijan’s drones owned the battlefield in Nagorno-Karabakh — and showed future of warfare, Robyn Dixon, WaPo
How can Big Tech best tackle conspiracy theories?, Gillian Tett, FT
The Covid-19 blunders drive home a harsh truth: the state has failed us, Larry Elliott, The Guardian

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