Bungacast

On Alex Garland’s new film, Civil War.   [Patreon Exclusive]   The boys discuss a film that seems designed to say something in the context of a US election year. But what? We ask: What kind of film is this: a dystopian fantasy, a war movie, a road movie? Why the focus on the media? Does the film celebrate or satirise journalists? Does Garland’s dystopia tell us anything about the landscape of US politics today? Why is political polarisation between liberals and populists seen in terms of civil war?  What would a civil war look like in geopolitical terms, along the lines Garland suggests? What side would you choose? Links: Where will America's Civil War be fought?, Michael Lind, UnHerd The Civil War Will Not Be Mediated, Nina Power, Compact Civil War is a terrifying film, but Trump: The Sequel will be a real-life horror show, Simon Tisdall, The Guardian

On Isaac Deutscher's classic Stalin: A Political Biography.   [Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive]   We start off dealing with your questions from the first two Reading Clubs of the year, before Phil takes us through the famous biography of the Soviet leader. We discuss: Deutscher's work in historical context Stalin’s parents' experience as serfs and the significance of his boyhood education in an Orthodox seminary How the oppression of the Russian Empire and the promises of Soviet industrialisation shaped young Stalin's lifecourse Whether, compared to other Bolshevik leaders, Stalin would have succeeded anytime, anywhere Was Stalin honest in his commitment to the revolution? Was Trotsky right that Stalin was just a cynic? How did Stalin compare to the other leaders at Yalta, such as the aristocratic Churchill? How do we compare Stalin to Cromwell or Napoleon? And what's behind cheeky internet Stalinism today? Links: Message of the Non-Jewish Jew, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org On Orwell: 1984 - The Mysticism of Cruelty, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org I must start completely alone: Gonzalo Pozo on Isaac Deutscher’s wartime years in London, LRB

Debates focus on US campus protests, police repression, Left's break with Dems, comparisons with BLM and Vietnam protests, responses to Israel's war, risk of regional war, and Palestinian struggle. Discusses crackdowns on dissent globally, evolving Jewish identity, shifting dynamics of anti-war protests, moral demands in foreign policy, political shifts in US foreign policy towards Israel and Palestine, and geopolitical complexities of future warfare.

On the earth-shaking events of the 20th century, through a personal lens.   Regular contributor Alex Gourevitch sits down with political scientist Peter Gourevitch to talk about their shared family history. Why did their grandparents/great-grandparents become Mensheviks? How did one half of the family leave the USSR and the other half remain? What was life like in exile in Berlin before the Nazis took power? And how did the family know to flee? What was distinctive about fascism and the terroristic assault on democracy? How was the escape from Paris just like the film Casablanca? What happened to those who remained in the Soviet Union and how did one member meet death via torture? What is the legacy of Menshevism – and what is the relationship between socialism and democracy? Links: Who Lived, Who Died? My Family's Struggle with Stalin and Hitler, Peter Gourevitch, Dio Press   Full episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast. Members who sign up for $7/mo get 4 original paywalled episodes a month and a free subscription to Damage magazine.

On saving society from the antisocial-ists. In partnership with Damage magazine.   [Patreon Exclusive]   Trade unionist and researcher Dustin "Dino" Guastella joins us to talk about the deficiencies of a libertarian or antinomian approach to social problems. We start off with Dino telling us about the Teamsters union, before moving on to: How have American cities developed such problems? What are the pros and cons of the 'Portuguese Model' of drug decriminalization? What is the problem with harm reduction, and how does it connect to notions of 'bare life'? How are insecurity and precarity changing people's political demands and expectations? Is there something to be learned from the Christian tradition? Should we all be reading Alasdair MacIntyre? How do we build a politics of human flourishing? Links: Making the Present the Enemy of the Future, Dino Guastella, Damage Anti-Social Socialism Club, Dino Guastella, Damage Christianity, Morality, and Socialism, Dino Guastella, Jacobin The left must embrace law and order, Slavoj Zizek, New Statesman After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Alasdair MacIntyre

On Euro censorship + your comments and criticisms.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We discuss censorship in Brussels and Berlin, and put it in the context of the incorporation of right-populism. How will European politics come to look as national-conservatives become part of the establishment? What's up with these "sovereigntists" who are unserious about sovereignty?   Also we discuss your comments: If cultural production is already monopolistic, can it be democratically planned? Should we problematise "mental health"? Is love a dangerous political emotion? What happens if you leave the left? How do we kill the ghosts of the 20th century? Is a generational analysis of left-populism wrong? How do we get beyond a world of media and images? Links: NatCon: are centrists the real threat to free speech?, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd

On the Big Hard Dick industry.   [Patreon Exclusive]   Clinicians and Damage authors & editors, Christie and Benjamin, tell us why the market for penis enlargement and hardness has exploded. What is the "penis anxiety industry" How does it serve individual, cultural and unconscious demands? How does 'Big Hard Dick' provide a brittle solution to a deep social problem? Is the Freudian analysis passé? Is it phallus-obsessed? Does a making your penis bigger and harder help deal with imposter syndrome? Does neoliberal capitalism make us feel "small"? Does the liberal elite want you to accept your smallness? How might we be big – make ambitious, large-scale change – without falling for fake solutions? Links: Size Queen Nation, Christie Offenbacher & Benjamin Fife, Damage /215/ Organize the Incels?! ft. Alex Gendler The New Superfluous Men, Alex Gendler, American Affairs On masquerade vs imposture: How Should a Woman Look?: Scopic Strategies for Sexuated Subjects, Jennifer Friedlander Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday Life, Mari Ruti, Columbia UP

On melodrama and the bourgeois subject.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We're back with the next installment of our series on the "emotional turn". Alex talks to Catherine Liu about whether politics is staged in a "melodramatic" fashion today. What is the bourgeois subject, why was it good, and where did it go? What is melodrama? Does public crying make us feel connected? Is it all Oprah's fault? Why is psychoanalysis the solution to, not the cause of, therapy culture? How is indignation used today? Is the political scene just villains and victims? Links: Emotion Sickness I ft. Nina Power Emotion Sickness II ft. Ashley Frawley Emotion Sickness III ft. Alex Hochuli Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery, Eva Illouz Interview with Christine Gledhill, from the book Melodrama After the Tears 

On President AMLO and the rebuilding the working class.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We continue our discussion with anthropologist Roger Lancaster who has lived and researched in Mexico for decades, on the past and present of Mexican radicalism. How has popular conservatism served as a boost for radicalism and revolution  Is there any basis for a 'romantic' anti-capitalism, in Mexico, or in the Global North? Is President AMLO synthesising a new politics?  Has he “ended neoliberalism” or on the way to it? How socially conservative is AMLO really?

On A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics   [Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive]   Continuing our theme of "the intelligentsia & the public," we discuss German critical theorist Jürgen Habermas's 2023 book, asking what sort of political culture is required for democracy. What role do the institutions of the public sphere and the media have in producing, sustaining or undermining this culture? How does Habermas' account contrast with B. Anderson on print capitalism? Is 'deliberative' democracy a trap? Who sets the rules of deliberation? Is a good media structure a 'constitutional imperative'? How do interests fit into Habermas' model? Do we need to leave our interests at the door?   Links: A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics, Jurgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas is a major public intellectual. What are his key ideas?, Duncan Ivison, The Conversation /362/ Life Doesn’t Have to Zuck ft. Cory Doctorow - on social media