Bungacast

Interviews with Cecilia Lero and Tamás Gerőcs on the rise of right-wing and authoritarian leaders like Erdogan, Modi, and Orban. They discuss the similarities between these leaders and their counterparts in the core of global capitalism, as well as the ability to resolve crises. Topics include hate as a unifying political force, the rise of populist authoritarianism, and the role of the new middle class in right-wing populist movements.

On the politics of consultancy   [Patreon Exclusive. Sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast]   The past 40 years have seen a whole range of things the state used to do itself outsourced to third parties. Now there is a turn against these practices. But can the state actually get stuff done, or is it doomed for its prior reliance on consultants?   It's not just the left the criticises outsourcing - the right now does too. How do these positions differ? And how are these questions related to another critique – that of 'bullshit jobs'?   Readings & Links: In Clover, Laleh Khalili, LRB (attached) The Big Con — the case against consultancies (review of Mazzucatto & Collington), Diane Coyle, FT (attached) Letter: Groundless assertions about a trusted profession (response from a consultant), FT How PwC captured Australia, Shahar Hameiri, Unherd Consultancies Have Been the Handmaidens of Neoliberalism, Nathan Akehurst, Jacobin Radical Centrism: Uniting the Radical Left and the Radical Right, Ashwin Parameswaran, Macroresilience The limits of government outsourcing, Martin Bortz, Pursuit /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel

On the internet being sh*t.   Tech critic, author and blogger Cory Doctorow joins us to talk about his new book, The Internet Con. He tells us his ONE SIMPLE TRICK to fix the internet: interoperability. Breaking down the tech giants' walled gardens is the first step to dethroning them.    How does Big Tech depend on intellectual property to cement their monopolies? How can their grip be loosened? How do we make tech work for us?   In the After Party, the boys debate Doctorow's anti-monopolist arguments, and look at the wider ways tech is affecting everything from agriculture to services. We conclude by asking what the best way to guarantee freedom of expression is.    Links: The Internet Con: How to seize the means of computation, Cory Doctorow, Verso  Pluralistic, Cory Doctorow's blog Big Tech and the Current Challenges Facing the Class Struggle, Tricontinental Institute

On US politics being stuck.   [Patreon Exclusive]   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?

On the 3rd and final part of Jurgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.   [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]   We wrap up this challenging book by debating some key points. Habermas already felt we lived in a post-truth society. How does his notion differ from the contemporary one concerned with misinformation? And is it possible to get beyond the notion of political authority grounded in (arbitrary) rules and laws – to an order rooted in truth and meaning?   Habermas also discusses his Frankfurt School colleagues and 'the end of the individual'. What does this mean? Is there any hope for free, rational, democratic politics?   Reading: Legitimation Crisis, Jurgen Habermas The Return of the Repressed, Wolfgang Streeck, NLR 104, March–April 2017

On the American drug binge.   Forget all the stereotypes – drug use is no longer confined to particular subcultures. US Americans are taking world-historic levels of drugs. Benjamin Fong tells us about his new book, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, which covers everything from morphine to mushrooms, SSRIs to speed, caffeine to cocaine.    Ultimately, is all this drug-taking about reckless abandon, or about control?   For more, go to patreon.com/bungacast   Subscribe to Damage Magazine   Links: Building Big Things, Damage Magazine, Issue 1 Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, Benjamin Y. Fong, Verso Who Deserves Amphetamines, Benjamin Fong, The Point

On Australian and New Zealand at the End of History.   Antipodean political scientists Shahar Hameiri and Tom Chodor join us to discuss the history and politics of Australia and New Zealand. If Australia is the “lucky country”, what about New Zealand? What explains the courses both countries took economically and politically over the twentieth century? And where do the two countries find themselves today - did they escape the end of the End of History?   Part 2: patreon.com/bungacast   Readings: Australian Labor’s hollow victory, Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor, UnHerd Jacinda Ardern still haunts New Zealand, Tom Chodor, UnHerd /136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton

On everyday, private tyranny.      Sohrab Ahmari, one of the editors of Compact Magazine, joins us to talk about his book, Tyranny, Inc. We discuss the sorts of private coercion that are found in the US workplace and marketplace, rather than originate with the state – and how relatively uncommon it is for a conservative like Ahmari to follow that line of critique.    Also: the NY Post's scathing front covers, alliances between socialists and conservatives, the world of JG Ballard's Super Cannes, and critiquing the right from the right and the left from the left.   

On film and left-wing terrorism.   [Patreon Exclusive]   We talk about Uli Edel’s 2008 film The Baader Meinhof Complex, which tells the story of the Red Army Faction in 1960s and 70s Germany. What sorts of myths do films create? Is the attempt to break down myths in fact a way of re-making those myths? Is a Red Army Faction response possible today - and what does terrorism at the End of the End of History look like?   We also discuss the image-sausage-grinder theory of film and reflect on six years of podcast urban guerilla activity. Links: Episode on Berlusconi biopic, Loro: UNLOCKED /87/ Berluscoming   Symptom of the post-political – Terrorism in Contemporary German, British and Hollywood Cinema, Maren Thom (pdf) "The State I Am In", Christian Petzold (2000)

On geopolitical competition over Africa.   This episode was originally for subscribers only. To join, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast   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