Bungacast

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

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

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: /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood

Exploring the shift from neo-liberalism to new political arrangements post-crises and populist upsurges. What are the main agendas and interests behind these changes? Will the new landscape offer more or fewer opportunities for emancipatory politics? Also delving into the emergence of productivism and local investment over market reliance in the post-neoliberal era.

On Martin Hägglund's This Life. [Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive] We begin the 2023 Reading Club with the theme of FREEDOM. In this episode, we examine Martin Hägglund's arguments for secular faith presented in the first half of his book. Is Hagglund right in arguing that much of religious belief, especially in relation to morality, is actually motivated by secular faith? Hägglund's enemy is not so much religion as the "Stoic" attempt to withdraw and detach from the temporal world. Instead we should be engaged and committed to the persons and projects we care about in this life. But does Hägglund underestimate alienation? Is his approach overly demanding? And what about disenchantment? How would we go about re-enchanting the secular world? For local Reading Clubs, email info@bungacast.com Readings: This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free, Martin Hägglund, Profile Books ––Introduction; Chapter 1 (Sections 2, 3, 4); Chapter 2 (Sections 2, 4, 6) From Western Marxism to Western Buddhism, Slavoj Zizek, Cabinet Magazine Vulnerability as Ideology, Peter Ramsay, The Northern Star

On the mainstreaming of racial thinking. We welcome back author and broadcaster Kenan Malik to talk about his new book, Not So Black and White. The book presents a historical account of how racial thinking has accompanied the spread of notions of equality and common humanity.  How is it that many supposed humanitarians in the past were often racists? And how have we reached a point where today, many liberals and supposed anti-racists sustain racial thinking? How have notions of global whiteness/blackness come to dominate the discourse? We also discuss the 'post-liberal' critics of wokeness and their shortcomings, and whether the far right is gaining from the reification of race.   Want more? Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast   Links: Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics, Kenan Malik, Hurst /70/ In Defence of Universalism ft. Kenan Malik

On the app economy.   [Patreon Exclusive]   Delivery apps have taken the world by storm, and the pandemic only deepened our dependence on them. What is the price of convenience – and is there anything wrong with wanting ease? Capitalist keep propping up these money-losing enterprises – why? And can they survive the end of cheap money?   Is the app economy just a battering ram against labour rights? Are delivery apps out to kill off traditional restaurants? And should we defend the petite bourgeoisie and independent bars and pubs?   And does the dream of freedom sold by apps to workers, of being your own boss, work as a legitimating ideology?   Reading: Farewell to the servant economy, FT Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life, Adam Greenfield, Verso Delivering Restaurants to Wall Street, Alex Park, Compact 5 Reasons Marxism Has Nothing To Offer Millennials, Austrian Economics Center Links: /59/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 3 ft. Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski Excerpt: /311/ Reading Club: The Precariat Excerpt: /172/ Three Articles: Elite Production (on Uber)

On The Covid Consensus.   We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnational health authorities dropped pre-pandemic plans in favour of open-ended nationwide lockdowns which were to remain in place until vaccines were developed. Why this course of action?    And how to account for the unprecedented level of policy alignment across the majority of countries: was it coordination, imitation, or coercion?   In part two of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm.     For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast    Links: The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left, Toby Green & Thomas Fazi /213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam Tooze /38/ The Economics of Exit ft. Thomas Fazi

[Patreon Exclusive]   On your questions and criticisms.   A bumper episode as we respond to your points from December through to the end of January. We discuss 'political capitalism', where the left is today, atomisation, degrowth, disciplining the working class, critical cinema, and family abolition.

On the death of the left.   We talk to 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.   Is the left indeed dead, and what killed it? The turn to culture undoubtedly plays a part, but was the left wrong to turn to liberty, as Hall & Winlow argue? How can we turn back to political economy and what would that politics look like? And if there is to be a future radical movement for and by the working class, would social democracy be its lodestar?     Part two of the interview and the After Party are available at patreon.com/bungacast   Links: /65/ Bunga Gets Ultra-Real ft. Steve Hall  /111/ Big Money Talk: The Case for MMT ft. Bill Mitchell /68/ Big Money Talk: The Case against MMT ft. Doug Henwood