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/162/ Gaming & Politics ft. Jonas Kyratzes Nov 24, 2020

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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 politics of gamer culture. How far has Jonas’ own philosophy influenced his writing for games, such as “The Talos Principle”? We also talk politics in both Greece, focusing on Syriza failure. Plus, could Bunga co-host Philip Cunliffe’s book ‘Lenin Lives!’ ever be made into a game?

Readings:

Games & Politics, Centre for Art & Media, Karlsruhe
Jonas Kyratzes website

Excerpt: /161/ Culture Is Bad For You ft. Mark Taylor Nov 17, 2020

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Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast 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

/160/ Enemies of the People (Large & Very Small) ft. Wolfgang Streeck Nov 10, 2020

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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 the End of History. How is it and the EU faring under the assault of Covid-19? We cover Germany’s economic miracles - postwar and post-2008 -, Merkel’s tactical brilliance and strategic ignorance, and how France retains more of a sense of history.

Also: why democracy sometimes needs an AK47.

Readings:

Critical Encounters, Wolfgang Streeck, Verso (2020)
Letters from Europe, Wolfgang Streeck (in EN & ES)

/159/ Biden Time ft. Amber A'Lee Frost & Alex Gourevitch Nov 07, 2020

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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 polls and discuss some counterintuitive facts: Florida goes Trump but opts for a $15 minimum wage; California goes Biden while Uber gets its way; Trump did protectionism but it didn't help him win the Rustbelt; the Republicans win over more Latinos – but do Latinos even exist?

And the big questions: Will Biden and the Democrats have any authority now that they don't have anti-Trumpism to drive them? Is a Biden administration to be a Silicon Valley dictatorship? And will the GOP be Trumpism without Trump? Readings:

Are the Democrats losing on purpose? Amber Frost & Daniel Bessner, Jacobin

Excerpt: /158/ Three Articles: Cosmopolitan Austerity & Control Nov 03, 2020

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Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast In this latest Three Articles, we discuss cosmopolitanism, the end of austerity (maybe?) and social control in the pandemic. Readings:

Is cosmopolitanism our destiny?, Aris Roussinos, Unherd
Meet the Philosopher Who Is Trying to Explain the Pandemic, Christopher Caldwell, NYT
Global economy: the week that austerity was officially buried, Chris Giles, FT

UNLOCKED /152/ I Can't Believe It's Not Weimar ft. David Broder Nov 02, 2020

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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. The implication is that fascism is rising and the Left must join up with liberals to oppose this evil. Why is this historical analogy so wide of the mark? Was the Left really culpable for the fascists rise to power? And anyway, our age is vastly different to interwar Europe. So what is the real function of calls to anti-fascism? Readings:

We Don’t Live in Weimar Germany, David Broder, Jacobin
The Trap The Democrats Walked Right Into, Andrew Sullivan
The End of Anti-Fascism, David Broder, Jacobin
What Is Trump?, Dylan Riley, NLR

Excerpt: /157/ Reading Club: Emancipation After Hegel Nov 01, 2020

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This is a sample. For full access, go to patreon.com/bungacast

This month we discuss Todd McGowan's Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution - an introduction to, defence and radical re-interpretation of Hegel emphasising the importance of contradiction to thought and being. We try to tease out the political consequences of the book, focusing on authority, freedom, and identity.

/156/ Cosmo-Jihad ft. Darryl Li Oct 27, 2020

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Internationalism used to be a defining characteristic of the Left. Globalism is a defining characteristic of neoliberal capitalism. Both seem to be characteristic of Islamist jihadism. How did Islamist reaction become globalised? How far does Islamist globalism connect to radical legacies of Third Worldism, internationalism and radical solidarity? Political anthropologist Darryl Li, author of The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity joins us to discuss the transnational history of jihad over the last 30 years.

Reading:

The Universal Enemy - Book Forum, The Immanent Frame, Various Authors

UNLOCKED /154/ A Reasonably Important Election... Preview ft. Alex Gourevitch Oct 23, 2020

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On the Covid election.

Trump has made himself deeply unpopular while the Democrats have tried to demobilise the electorate. What, if anything, are the two parties selling? Are they coherent entities? And what is likely to happen? Plus: we discuss a potential political realignment in process and what foreign policy would look like under a Biden presidency.

Excerpt: /155/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Benjamin Moser Oct 22, 2020

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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 pupils the Mohammed cartoons in a class on free speech. Then we discuss your points, questions and criticisms from September and October (on class politics, antifa, Covid, unemployment and more). Finally, 25 minutes of bonus content from our chat with Sontag biographer Benjamin Moser on the 1619 Project, identity politics, literature, and cosmopolitanism and empire.

For the rest of the original episode with Moser, that's number 147: Podbean / Patreon

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