Aufhebunga Bunga posts
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/187/ The Huge Package State ft. Anton Jäger
On cash welfarism and state investment. Plus regionalism in Belgium & the UK.Anton Jäger is back on the pod to discuss the emerging 'transfer state'. We examine Biden's massive trillion-dollar spending plans and ask if this means we're leaving neoliberalism. What are the limitations...
/186/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Lee Jones
On Covid state failure + responses to listeners.We start off by discussing listener points and criticisms –e.g. is PMC a useful category? Is a counterculture a terrible idea? Were we wrong on Deleuze? More on the lockdown debate... – before featuring the second part of our discussion with Lee Jo...
/185/ Discipline-Flourishing Democracy ft. Lee Jones
On the uprising in Myanmar, plus Covid state failure.Southeast Asia scholar (and Bunga recidivist) Lee Jones joins us to talk about the coup in Myanmar (and why the word “coup” can be misleading), and explains the nature of the forces opposing the military, in the context of the country’s rece...
/183/ Acid Bunga Bunga ft. Mike Watson
On memes and the counter-culture.Theorist and curator Mike Watson advances the argument for "acid leftism". What is this, and why do we need a new counter-culture? Is contemporary leftism lacking a utopian imaginary?Plus: slow memes and fast memes; the democratisation of art and media; and g...
/182/ Three Articles: Sporno-Vaxxo-Techno-Populism
In this latest Three Articles, we examine the rise of 'techno-populism', look at the EU's vaccine debacle, and question whether cinema - and popular culture in general - is being desexualised and pornified at the same time.Readings: The rise of the technopopulists, Chris Bickerton, New S...
Reading Club to be livestreamed
As we're starting a new cycle of Reading Clubs, we've decided to give livestreaming them a go, so that you guys can follow along live and make points/ask questions as we go.On Thursday 1 April we'll be discussing Perry Anderson's essay, The European Coup (attached as pdf here).The yo...
/181/ Juche in North Britain? ft. Cat Boyd & David Jamieson
On the socialist case for Scottish independence.David Jamieson and Cat Boyd, writers and hosts of Conter, the Scottish anti-capitalist website and podcast, join us to to talk about the prospects for Scottish independence in advance of the Scottish parliamentary elections in May. Would an independent...
/180/ Bunga Bunga (but Gay) ft. Mark Simpson & River Page
On gay liberation and sexual politics.After big advances over the past decades, we can now ask, did the gays win? And if so, so what? Mark Simpson in the UK and River Page in Florida join us to discuss whether something was lost in that victory.We ponder whether gay politics was the original identit...
/179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
How to address the political problems of leftwing parties today?Liverpudlian historian David Swift argues that the problem is hobbyism - people for whom politics constitutes their identity rather than expressing their interest in social and political change. He joins us to take us through his argume...
Further thoughts on 'Societies of Control'
George responds to the discussion in February's Reading Club with some further thoughts on Deleuze's notion of "societies of control"Subject to ever-greater technological tracking and surveillance while we pass through the city (at least prior to Coronavirus) frictionlessly with our ...
/177/ AufheBonus Bonus ft. Catherine Liu
We respond to your questions and comments from the past two months. Plus a continuation of our chat with Catherine Liu (from 55mins onwards) - on PMC unions, PMC child-rearing and the culture industry.Readings: The PMC Gets Organized, Dominic King, Damage
/176/ The Worst Class ft. Catherine Liu
On the Professional-Managerial Class.Catherine Liu joins us to talk about the worst class in history (the PMC), and how and why they hoard all forms of secularised value. We discuss the development of the PMC as a class, figure out when it stopped being "heroic", and debate who the PMC'S...
Reading Club list 2021
Hi everyone, we've now defined our Reading Club list for the rest of 2021, so you get can planning and reading. The recordings happen at the end of each month, specific dates TBC. It's a good mix of politics, society and culture, and all of the works are accessible. Plus the majority are ess...
Reading: Societies of Control
Reminder that our next Reading Club will be recorded on 25 Feb, on Deleuze's (rather short!) "Postscript on the Societies of Control". The downloadable pdf can be found here https://www.patreon.com/posts/41524278We'll also be announcing the reading list for the rest of 2021 shortly, ...
/174/ Social Ungluing ft. Benjamin Fong
On American breakdown.Editor of Damage Magazine, Benjamin Fong, joins us to talk about the lack of shared narratives in contemporary America. We discuss QAnon and conspiracy theories, Biden's authoritarian liberalism, and "pro-worker" conservatives. We also interrogate the use of psychol...
Reading Club on Brexit this Friday
Our next Reading Club is being recorded this Friday (8pm GMT), on Richard Tuck's The Left Case for Brexit. Please do send us your questions/comments/points about the book.If you haven't had a chance to read it, many of the essays in the book were published separately. If you want to read som...
/172/ Three Articles: Elite Production
On Uber, class war among the rich, and its political consequencesArticles: The real class war is within the rich, Janan Ganesh, FT Uber pays to get rid of its self-driving cars, Pluralistic, Cory Doctorow The radical Left is now extinct, Oliver Bateman & Malcolm Kyeyune, Unherd
/171/ Fukuyama & the End of History ft. Daniel Bessner
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 capit...
/169/ Authoritarian Liberalism and Its Discontents ft. Amber A'Lee Frost & Daniel Bessner
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 scien...
/168/ Corona, Climate, Communism ft. Andreas Malm
On the 'war communism' solutionAs 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 o...
/167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
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...
Reminder: Next Reading Clubs
Our "December" Reading Club is on Wolfgang Streeck's latest book, Critical Encounters. The episode will actually be recorded on 14 January, so plenty of time to read and get your questions in by then. Plus, as the book is a compilation of book reviews, it's a breezy read (and if you&...
/166/ Aufhebonus Bonus (December)
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
On Toussaint L'Ouverture.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...
/163/ Three Articles + Censorship ft. Douglas Lain
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 on...
Bunga Book: Coming 25 June 2021
Info and links here: https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/end-end-history
/162/ Gaming & Politics ft. Jonas Kyratzes
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 politic...
/161/ Culture Is Bad For You ft. Mark Taylor
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 to food guys.Reading:Culture is Bad for You, Orian B...
Next Reading Club: Lasch
Reminder that the next Reading Club will be on Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism. It will be recorded on 3 December, so please get your questions and points in by then. This is a book whose arguments will be familiar to many, even if you haven't read it yourself, so there'll ...
/160/ Enemies of the People (Large & Very Small) ft. Wolfgang Streeck
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...
