Podkast Dead Sirius

On migration, monarchy, and legitimacy. Merouan Mekouar, professor of development studies at York University in Toronto, gives Alex and Lee an in-depth view of a country at the centre of multiple tendencies. –> Subscribe for more like this, at patreon.com/bungacast What actually happened with the stream of migrants at the Moroccan border with Ceuta (Spain)? How much of a pressure valve does outward migration provide in Morocco? What does Moroccan neoliberalism look like? What is elite cooptation? How has Morocco avoided mass protest ,and what does the monarchy's legitimacy rest on? How it Morocco pursuing "polyalignment", between China, US, EU...? What's up with the massive infrastructure push ahead of the 2030 World Cup which Morocco will co-host? Links: Beyond the Model Reform Image: Morocco’s Politics of Elite Co-Optation, Merouan Mekouar, GIGA Doing Research as a Native: A Guide for Fieldwork in Illiberal and Non-Democratic States, Kira D. Jumet and Merouan Mekouar (eds), OUP

On dead ends and new beginnings. Socialist writers, teachers and podcasters, Daniel Tutt and C. Derick Varn, talk to Alex and George about their pamphlet, The People Are Not One: Socialist Strategy After Left Populism, which came out this year. Is left populism not dead and buried? What's wrong with trying to unite people against the elite? What is the 'populist method' of class analysis? Are professionals and managers a class, and are its interests always opposed to the working class? Where did post-Marxists go wrong? Links: The People Are Not One: Socialist Strategy After Left Populism, Revol Press, 2026 Varn Vlog Emancipations podcast

On sovereignty and Brazil's election. Juliano Fiori, Alameda Institute director, talks to Alex about Lula versus (Flávio) Bolsonaro through the lens of internal and external threats to sovereignty. Is this an election about nothing? What is at stake? How did the Left reappropriate the defence of Brazilian interests? What's behind US interference in Brazil? Is it economic or political? How does the state reflect social fragmentation? Does Brazilian territory suffer from a deficit or an excess of sovereignty? For the full episode, subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast Links: Sovereigns of Brazil, Juliano Fiori, Alameda Soberanos de um Brasil fragmentado, Juliano Fiori, piauí At the UN, Brazil's Lula warns against foreign interference in upcoming election, Reuters

A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in order to ask what the future of place is in the 21st century. In part four, we finish off by digging into New York itself to look at the great contradictions of modernism. We conclude by asking what the capital of the 21st century is, and who, if anyone, is planning it. This fourth episode features: Catherine Liu, Professor of Film & Media Studies, UC Irvine Damage summit participants Nick Burns, writer, editor Miodrag Mitrašinović, Professor of Urbanism and Architecture, The New School This documentary was made with the collaboration of our friends at Damage magazine.

A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in order to ask what the future of place is in the 21st century. In part three, we explore the political economy of place: what produces the city, and what the city produces. We also ask whether place-based cultural scenes are still possible. This third episode features: Christie Offenbacher, psychologist Greg Gabrellas, psychiatrist Damage summit participants Pierre d'Alancaisez, critic and curator Matthew Gasda, playwright This documentary was made with the collaboration of our friends at Damage magazine.

A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in order to ask what the future of place is in the 21st century. In part two, we explore "non-places", and ask whether their proliferation presents a challenge to the development of democratic politics. We also inquire into junk spaces and hyper-places. And ask what kind of politics and ideologies a digital life throws up. This second episode features: Amber Trotter, psychologist Damage Summit participants Alex Gendler, writer Joshua Citarella, artist, writer, host, Doomscroll This documentary was made with the collaboration of our friends at Damage magazine.

A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in order to ask what the future of place is in the 21st century. Over this multi-part documentary, we examine public space and non-places; privatisation, gentrification and digitalisation; the role of rent and of local scenes. The ultimate question is, is politics possible without a sense of place? This first episode features: Richard J Williams, Professor of Contemporary Visual Cultures, University of Edinburgh Miodrag Mitrašinović, Professor of Urbanism and Architecture, The New School This documentary was made with the collaboration of our friends at Damage magazine.

On oligarchy and the end of reform. Vedi Hadiz is back on to talk to Lee and Alex about Indonesia, amidst severe economic instability in the country. What does the ascendancy of Prabowo Subianto represent? What is going on with the erratic economic policymaking? How is Prabowo bullying other oligarchs, and is it working? What similarities are there between Prabowo and Putin, or even Trump? – For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Oligarchy and the End of Reformasi in Indonesia: Power Reorganised, Vedi Hadiz & Richard Robison Prabowo’s Clampdown on Indonesian Tycoons Fuels Capital Flight, Bloomberg /391/ The Biggest Country No One Talks About ft. Vedi Hadiz

On the complex connections between globalisation and political Islam. The OG Bunga Boys reflect on the quarter-century since that spectacular terrorist attack, and talk about Phil's recent essay on the waning of Islamism. Whatever happened to 'solving' Islamic radicalism through moderate conservatism? Is the end of globalisation also the end of global jihad? Why? Why did Islamism fail in pursuit of state power? Will the Left back 'Islamopopulism'? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The Man Who Was Friday: Global Islamism after Unipolarity, Philip Cunliffe, American Affairs The Interventionist Future of the DSA, Philip Cunliffe, Compact NOW UNLOCKED: /355/ F***ing and shooting are not the same

On Zohran Mamdani. Writer Ross Barkan, author of The Revolutionary on the New York mayor, talks to Ryan Zickgraf and Alex Hochuli about what Mamdani means for the Left. How did Mamdani mute cultural progressivism to focus concentrate on rent, transport, childcare and food? Is municipal socialism part of a strategy to rebuild national power, or is it a retreat to the cities after the failure of Bernie? Is the New York strategy replicable elsewhere in the US? How is Mamdani different from AOC? Is Mamdani a populist, not a socialist? Is the rentier, rather than the worker, the subject of politics? Links: Zohran Mamdani and the Remaking of American Politics, Ross Barkan Ross Barkan on Mamdani and where DSA goes from here, Current Affairs The New Socialist Revolution, Ross Barkan NYC-DSA endorsement and platform overview How Mamdani used social media to build a movement, The Washington Post Brandon Johnson: Sewer Bill socialist, Ryan Zickgraf

We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month. Key issues: How big a deal, historically, is the US's failure in Iran? Is populism rooted in resentment and/or cynicism? Why is fascism not the right label for Trump? How to debate immigration? Are NGOs and international organisations actually relevant? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: /152/ I Can't Believe It's Not Weimar ft. David Broder Debating the F-Word, Bunk History The National Interest in Women’s Freedom, The Northern Star The Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe, Dylan Riley

Taking a short break – back in late August.

On politics and football. Alex is joined by Karl Sharro, Juan David Rojas, Tim Abrahams, and Euan Marshall to pick over the stories of this World Cup. If the World Cup is a branding exercise for the hosts, what exactly is the USA selling here? And Mexico? Canada? Are conspiracy theories good, actually? Is Argentina evil? Should you support the global South against the colonisers? Are evangelicals responsible for Brazilian failure? Do you need central planning to become good at football? When 23% of players at the WC are foreign born, how can globalisation be ending? >> For more like this, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast << Links: Football won’t rescue the nation, Alex Hochuli, Africa Is a Country Note to Leftists, Do Not Squander The World Cup!, Juan Rojas, Substack Blood ties and opportunity: Why more World Cup players than ever are not representing their birth nations, BBC

On 'imperialist realism'. Daniel Bessner, historian, is back on to discuss the relation between US foreign policy and ideology. He talks to Alex and Lee about his forthcoming book and other writings. Why has acceptance of imperialism accompanied declining support for empire? What is the US's sense of mission and how does this coexist with cynicism? Is US politics stuck between liberal guilt and conservative suprematism? Does nothing ever actually change? Is the US even a democracy? What would an effective anti-imperialist politics look like? The full episode is for subscribers only, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Power without Ideology, Daniel Bessner, The Ideas Letter Imperialist Realism: Politics and Culture at the End of the American Century, Daniel Bessner, Zer0 Books /464/ Decline Under The Donald ft. Daniel Bessner

On Roland Barthes' Mythologies. (This is an unlocked episode from our Reading Club. Subscribe for more like this.) Alex, George, and contributing editor Catherine Liu delve into Barthes' 1957 classic to understand the form of ideology critique it proposes – and particularly as it relates to left and right. If the bourgeoisie generates myth, is revolution a cathartic act that gets us beyond myth? Is the direct producer also unable to speak myth, or is this a romanticisation? What are predominant left-wing myths today? Is "left vs right" a myth of sorts? Is the critic of myths condemned to live a "theoretical sociality"? Should people just be allowed to enjoy things?

On writing the history of capitalism. Political theorist Corey Robin talks to Alex H and Alex G about what is wrong with Sven Beckert's monumental new Capitalism: A Global History. Have historians returned to writing about big themes and grand narratives? Why does Beckert date capitalism's emergence to 12th century Arabia? Is capitalism essentially about free markets and free trade – or about the state, coercion, violence? If capitalism has no beginning and no end, then does that mean we're still at the end of History? Links: The Long Revolution, Corey Robin (review of Sven Beckert), The Nation /481/ Everything is Plausible: Oligarchy – or Worse ft. Corey Robin

On global shortages and their political consequences. Benjamin Bradlow, assistant professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton, talks to Alex and Lee about the world-historic impact of the Hormuz Strait closure. How will shortages – beyond oil and gas – reverberate through global supply chains? Why are markets so sanguine about all this? Are financial economic elites too insulated from consequences? Will China be the big beneficiary as more countries turn to importing its tech for renewables? Do countries want to trade dependency on the Middle East or US for dependency on China? Would a world of energy autarky be more or less peaceful? Are "electrostates" a thing? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The Winners and Losers of the Iran Energy Shock, Benjamin Bradlow, Foreign Affairs The energy crisis may just be starting, Martin Wolf, FT

Audio from the live event held at Verdurin, London, on 28 May 2026. The OG Bunga Boys - Alex, George, and Phil - present their takes, followed by responses from contributing editor Lee Jones and friend-of-the-pod Nina Power - and audience questions.

On Roland Barthes' Mythologies. Alex, George, and contributing editor Catherine Liu delve into Barthes' 1957 classic to understand the form of ideology critique it proposes – and particularly as it relates to left and right. If the bourgeoisie generates myth, is revolution a cathartic act that gets us beyond myth? Is the direct producer also unable to speak myth, or is this a romanticisation? What are predominant left-wing myths today? Is "left vs right" a myth of sorts? Is the critic of myths condemned to live a "theoretical sociality"? Should people just be allowed to enjoy things? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

On world money and war. Costas Lapavitsas, professor of economics at SOAS, London, talks to George and Alex about financialisation, arrested development, and the Strait of Hormuz. What is the state-led stabilisation of finance capital? How does today's imperialism differ from prior versions – even if they also inhibited development outside the core? What is the "liquidity tribute" that developing countries must pay? How is the war on Iran a perfect case of dollar imperialism: "the dollar and the F35"? Why is the talk of "colonialism" today a distraction? London event: History's Back, Baby! Links: A Topography of the New Dollar Imperialism, Costas Lapavitsas, NLR Trump’s Chaotic Imperialism: Economic Warfare, Geopolitical Truculence and Domestic Authoritarianism, Costas Lapavitsas, Socialist Register For forthcoming Monthly Review article, see here /139/ Dollar Empire ft. Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder /142/ Dollar Empire (2) ft. Daniel Bessner

History’s back, baby! Thu 28 May, Verdurin, London Tickets: https://verdur.in/store/historys-back-baby-admission/ It is obvious today that the “end of history”, postulated by Francis Fukuyama in 1992, is over. Liberal democracy as the final form of human organisation? Pah! The arc of history tending towards justice? Pah! Will the end of twentieth-century modernity be the start of something new? The building blocks of the past – political parties, ideologies, and institutions – are decaying around us, and nothing new emerges to take their place. Yet history now has new protagonists: states, corporations, and oligarchs, often acting in synthesis. What if history’s back but not as we wanted it? The stakes are high: the sunset of the US hegemony is in sight and even Fukuyama now agrees on the impending primacy of the “Chinese model”. Yet even such geopolitical shifts aren’t leading to the creation of a new hegemony – disorder is the order of the day. Five years on from the publication of The End of the End of…

On angry young women. Ashley Frawley, sociologist and senior editor at Compact, joins Alex and George to delve more deeply into young people's political polarisation on gender lines. Why is there a lack of mutual understanding or goodwill between young men and women when we have never been more equal? Why do differing political views on anything from Israel/Palestine to Donald Trump cause such interpersonal rancour? Young women are centrally concerned with pain, trauma, and empathy – and see men as lacking. What's behind this? How is the conservative explanation (bad lefty ideas) just as faulty as the lefty one (patriarchy)? What will the political consequences be of gender polarisation? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Revealed: the new radicalism among young women, Scarlett Maguire, New Statesman Meet the Angry Young Women, Emily Lawford, New Statesman Why young women are so angry, Pippa Bailey, New Statesman Don’t panic about “Angry Young Women”, Jack Davey, The Critic…

On the gig economy, big tech, and ideology. Sociologist Will Charles talks to Alex about a form of social organisation that has stopped trying to justify itself. How should the gig economy work and how does it actually work? Is any worker in this economy a 'true believer'? Why isn't digital sophistication a proof of economic efficiency? What's the relationship between secular stagnation, value capture, and rentierism? Do workers hold to a latent moral economy that could provide the basis for revolt? Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up: patreon.com/bungacast Readings: Muskism and the Myth of Productive Revolution, Will Charles Post-Legitimate Society, Will Charles & Ryan Gunderson Muskism Is the Specter Stalking Our Present, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin Relevant episodes: /538/ Muskism ft. Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff /522/ At the Bottom of the Tar Pit ft. Benjamin Studebaker /540/ Welcome to the Apolar and Post-Multilateral World ft. Tom Chodor /546/ Reading Club: Are We All Post-Liberal Now? ft. Geoff…

On political capitalism and divided workers. Sociology professor at UC Berkeley, Dylan Riley, talks to Alex and Lee about economic stagnation, the state propping up capitalism, and class politics. What is "political capitalism"? And is it true that plunder and predation matter more now than exploitation? Why hasn't the ruling class purged the system through mass bankruptcies and unemployment? How does Chinese state capitalism fit into the story of stagnation and excess capacity? What is the difference between economic interests and class interests? How is the working class divided today? Is there a way out of the impasse? What possibility is there of a pro-growth politics? –> For more like this, subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast <– Links: Relevant Episodes /312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley /515/ State Capitalism Is Now ft. Ilias Alami Riley & Brenner Seven Theses on American Politics, New Left Review, 2022 The Long Downturn and Its Political Results, New Left Review, 2025…

On postliberalism, MacIntyre and Gray. How was the 1950s "end of ideology" (Bell, Lipset) different from the Fukuyaman 1990s "end of history"? Is John Gray correct in his characterisation of Alasdair MacIntyre as a prelapsarian? Does hyperliberal individualism lead to a search for meaning, and thus to communitarianism? Is the competition between liberalism and post-liberalism now our political spectrum? Is contemporary liberalism now reducible to professionalisation of the state and civil society? If liberalism has failed – a basic point of this podcast from the start – has post-liberalism now also failed? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The End of History and the End of the End of History, Alasdair MacIntyre How to Save British Liberalism, John Gray, New Statesman What ever happened to post-liberalism, Nicolas D Villarreal, Substack /533/ Reading Club: Illiberalism?

On Hungary's elections. Hungarian political analyst and editor of Partizan, Szilard Pap, talks to Alex about the end of 16 years of Fidesz in government. What is the scale of Fidesz’s wipeout? Who is Péter Magyar, and is he actually to the right of Orban? What was Orban’s rule built on, and what parts of it have been rejected? Does Orban mark a shift from national-populism to radical conservatism? From anti-politics to hyperpolitics? What is the impact on global radical right? Was there a global Orbanism, and is it over? How will this impact European “unity” and will Orban's defeat lead to escalation in Ukraine? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: The Mittel Man, Ivan Krastev, Equator Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian Model Has Collapsed, David Broder, Jacobin

On the brave new world we have entered. Historian Arash Azizi is back on the pod, talking to Alex H and Lee Jones about the ongoing war. We try to draw out some firm consequences, beyond the immediate situtation. Why did Trump go to war? Is this Netanyahu's war? And will he continue it regardless of the US? Will the Islamic Republic become more conservative now? What has the war revealed about asymmetric warfare? About US vulnerability? What is the state of the Hormuz weapon now? For more like this, join us at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Arash Azizi: Reasons to be Hopeful in Iran, Arash Azizi, The Atlantic /24/ #IranProtest ft. Arash Azizi /150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi /444/ Opportunism & Revenge in the Middle East ft. Karl Sharro & Arash Azizi Analyses: How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, NY Times Netanyahu’s Iran War Is Also the War of Global Neocon Elites, Nimrod Flaschenberg, Jacobin Trump's War, Daniel Luban Dissent Magazine The world energy shock is…

On abolishing queer theory. Ran Heilbrunn talks to Lee Jones and Alex Hochuli about his chapter, "Abolish Queer Theory!" in the edited collection Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual. What is queer theory and why should it be abolished? What is the meaning behind the shift in terms: invert, to homosexual, to gay, to queer? How does queer theory politicise sex and why is this bad? Do our libidos care about social inclusion? Can they? Is identity okay but identity politics bad? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual, Aman Namaman and Pierre d’Alancaisez (eds.), Verdurin, 2025

We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month. Key issues: The difference between radical conservatism and the far right Racism in class society in decomposition Tech bro übermenschen (or just Uber men) Who is doing the work of justifying this order? And Ursula, the villainous Cecaelian sea witch, about whom songs must be sung For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: To Keep and Bear Arms, Garry Wills, The New York Review David Graeber vs. Peter Thiel: Where Did the Future Go? /495/ Heritage America vs the World? ft. James Pogue

On Amazon, labour & logistics, and trains. Benjamin Fong, of ASU's Center for Work and Democracy, as well as an editor at Damage and co-author of the substack On The Seams, talks to Alex and George about organising workers in locations of corporate vulnerability. We also preview the forthcoming print issue of Damage, Trains, by discussing modernity and its avatars, and development and de-development in Brazil. Why target Amazon above all else? What are the "seams" and why are they important? Can labour still "go after the big targets"? Do these still exist given the dispersion of production and distribution? How much public appetite is there for blockages at pain points? Links: On the Seams, Substack The Labor Movement Must Go All In on Organizing Amazon, Benjamin Y Fong, Jacobin Organizing Logistics Chokepoints: Hitting Them Where It Hurts, Benjamin Y Fong, New Labor Forum The Apotheosis of Point of Sale Data, Benjamin Y Fong, Phenomenal World

On "non-hegemony" and world disorder. Tom Chodor, IR & politics scholar at Monash University, joins us to talk about a world that still retains the formal shells of multilateral institutions but whose contents have been hollowed out. What is "multilateralism"? Why is it an important concept to capture the US-led order that is now falling apart? If multilateralism was always in crisis, what is new today? Is the emerging (dis)order multipolar or apolar? What's the difference? Is multilateralism the historic exception that we wrongly take to be the norm? Why is there no going back to the post-1945 – or post-1991 – order? What are the prospects for a new hegemonic order? Isn’t prolonged chaos and decay more likely? The full episode is for subscribers. Join at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Non-Hegemony, Tom Chodor, Jack Taggart and Ilias Alami, Phenomenal World /377/ The Locked-Up Country ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor /357/ Lucky, Meaty Nations ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor

On the slowing rate of technological progress. Alex, George and contributing editor (and science writer) Leigh Phillips discuss David Graeber's 2012 essay, Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit. This builds on two of this year's themes: state capitalism (how planning and growth – or their absence – intersect with technology) and the pre-political (how technology shapes •⁠ ⁠Were we right to expect jetpacks? And are we looking in the right place for technological advances today? •⁠ ⁠⁠Has technical progress actually slowed in the way Graeber says? •⁠ ⁠⁠Are the explanations he gives for slowdown correct? •⁠ ⁠⁠What political tasks does this reality impose on us? •⁠ ⁠⁠What is the role of geopolitics and war in the rate of technological development? Links: Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit, David Graeber, The Baffler Science Is Getting Less Bang for Its Buck, Patrick Collison & Michael Nielsen, The Atlantic /59/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 3 ft. Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski Progress is…

On the operating system of the 21st century. Historian Quinn Slobodian and tech writer Ben Tarnoff talk to Alex Hochuli and Alex Gourevitch about their new book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, and why we should ask "what is Musk a symptom of?" If Fordism characterised the mid-20th century, are our times those of Muskism? What are the touchstones of Muskism that the authors identify: fortress futurism, financial fabulism, state symbiosis? Who is the real Musk, that of vehicles, energy, infrastructure, or that of the post-industrial stuff of social media, finance, AI? What does Muskism promise people? How does it legitimise itself – if at all? Is the state actually dependent on Musk, or is Musk dependent on the state? How much of Musk's right-wing turn is necessary to Muskism, and how much is contingent? Is the racial component central? Links: Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff, Harper Collins /57/ Übermenschen of Capital Pt. 1 ft. Alex Gourevitch

We deal with your questions, comments and criticisms from the past month or so. Key issues this month are: What are the wrongs of the postmodern right – aand left? Will the civilisational paradigm become hegemonic? Is Trump's foreign policy techno-populist? Whether, and how, to protest anti-immigration policing To defend or to smash the professions? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

On anti-racism, communism, and philosophy. Alex Gourevitch talks to political philosopher Paul Gomberg about his original and deep Marxist arguments for what makes racism wrong, why racism cannot be eradicated without overcoming capitalism, and the limits of many contemporary anti-racist arguments. What does it mean to "alienate" race? What is the harm in racism? How does it harm everyone, not just its obvious victims? Why does Gomberg argue that can racism cannot be overcome in capitalist society? Has official racism been replaced by official anti-racism in the neoliberal era? What does it mean to understand anti-racism as communism? How did Gomberg's communist militancy impact his philosophy? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Anti-Racism as Communism, Paul Gomberg, Bloomsbury How to Make Opportunity Equal: Race and Contributive Justice, Paul Gomberg, Blackwell

On postmodern conservatives. Matt McManus talks to Alex and George about a Right increasingly shaped by the parameters of postmodern culture – and his Damage article on this. Who are the key thinkers of postmodern conservatism? Does truth matter anymore? Is "flooding the zone" an act of post-truth politics? Does all that is solid melt into advertising – and is it Charlie Kirk's fault? Is postmodern conservatism an adequate response the dissolution of the traditional “sources of the self”? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Conservativism as Postmodernism, Matt McManus, Damage Why only Socialism can redeem Conservatism, Maurice Glassman, Together For The Common Good

On Trump and Rubio, Venezuela and Cuba. Writer Juan David Rojas talks to Alex and Lee about the abduction of Maduro, what next for Venezuela, and Trump's "hemispheric" foreign policy. What is the Trump administration's policy toward Latin America? Is the attack on Venezuela a war for oil? Or a war vs 'narcoterrorism'? What are the internal divisions in Venezuela, and could it fall into civil war? What are the armed groups in the country? Who's calling the shots in Washington: neocons or paleocons? Is the US open-border policy for Cubans going to cause a rift within the Trump admin? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: How Maduro Sealed His Own Fate, Juan David Rojas, Compact Atlas Shrugged: Decoding Trump’s National Security Strategy, Lee Jones, American Affairs From Rogue State to Failed State?: The Perils of Intervention in Venezuela, Juan David Rojas, American Affairs Trump’s Venezuela Actions Are About More Than Oil, Matt Huber, Jacobin

On "thin ideologies" in a postmodern age. The Reading Club kicks off with an exploration of illiberalism, a "new ideological universe" that exists in "a permanent situational relation to liberalism." For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership What are examples of this backlash against liberalism? How is illiberalism different from populism, conservatism, or the far right? What is a thin versus a thick ideology? Are we condemned to a 21st century of only thin ideologies? Is 'illiberalism' a useful term to describe what is going on in politics today? Is liberalism versus illiberalism just a terminal culture war? Links: Illiberalism: a conceptual introduction, Marlene Laruelle, East European Politics (2022) /114/ Reading Club: The Light That Failed | Patreon

On Trump & radical right ideology. Jean-François Drolet, a leading researcher into the 'World of the Right', talks to Alex and Lee about Donald Trump's coveting of Greenland, and puts the move into its ideological context. What is the paleoconservative worldview, how is it different from the neoconservative one, and which is more influential in the Trump regime? How does paleoconservatism translate into actual foreign policy? What's in Trump's new National Security Strategy? Are we back to a 19th century-style 'spheres of influence' arrangement? Does the radical right's foreign policy lead back to a populist kind of isolationism – or to a 'civilisational nationalism'? Will Trump solidify the transatlantic alliance, or generate a rift? Links: /461/ Welcome to the World of the Right ft. Michael C. Williams World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and World Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024). International Relations and the Geopolitics of the European New Right, European Journal of…

On ICE, Minneapolis – and your questions & comments. Contributing editor Ryan Zickgraf is back from Minnesota and tells us what is happening on the ground. We also discuss: If this was Trump picking a fight, why Minnesota? Do the slayings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti mark a step-change in who can be killed in the US with relative impunity? What are the implications for the 2nd Amendment and will this divide MAGA World? Does a hard border necessarily entail a hard, militarised society too? Is the interiorisation of the border inevitable? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast We then discuss listener questions on: What is important that Bungacast cover? The benefits of citizenship Capitalists paying themselves for labour The post-doomer personality Readings: South Minneapolis has had enough, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd Enforcement Regime, Michael Macher, Phenomenal World Minneapolis Is a Second Amendment Wake-Up Call, Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic ICE unloads, Ken Klippenstein, Substack

On the social turn in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysts Christie and Ricky talk to Alex and George about their article in issue #5 of Damage, on ill-fated attempts at solving social problems through therapy. What is the 'social turn' and is it another case of immediacy? Why are the social problems to be dealt with treated as both urgent and impossible to resolve? Is this a case of hyperpolitics? Is psychoanalysis actually white supremacy? Do the professions need defending? Do they need to accept their limitations? Subscribers to this podcast get 15% off print subscriptions to Damage magazine – and access to to this episode. Go to patreon.com/bungacast Links: The Regression in Psychoanalysis’s “Social Turn”, Christie Offenbacher & Ricky Levitt /210/ Reading Club: Psychoanalysis & Spirit of Capitalism

On Southeast Asia's scam compounds. Mark Bo, organised-crime researcher and co-author of Scam, talks to Alex and Lee about his book, his experiences and why this fusion of gangsterism and speculation has taken root in the contemporary economy. What is the scale of the scam industry? How do scams like pig butchering, fish butchering, or law-enforcement impersonation work? How does organised crime structure itself on corporate lines? How does this fit with modern slavery? Do illicit zones signal the coming of a kind of "compound capitalism"? Is scamming a symptom of the death of the developmental state? The full episode is only available to subscribers. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds, Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li, and Mark Bo, Verso

On the making of independent India – and its lessons. Assistant professor of politics at The New School, Sandipto Dasgupta, talks to contributing editor Alex Gourevitch about this new book, Legalizing the Revolution: India and the Constitution of the Postcolony. Why was the postcolonial movement insufficiently anti-colonial? What is the difference between the legal and political meaning of popular sovereignty – and why does it matter? What was the hidden, repressive element to the Indian Constitution? Did post-colonial leaders create something novel, even heroic? Or did they fail even on their own terms? Where do the democratic and counter-revolutionary aspects of the Indian revolution express themselves? How do symbolic substitutes for genuine popular participation play themselves out in Modi's India? Links: Legalizing the Revolution: India and the Constitution of the Postcolony, Sandipto Dasgupta, Cambridge UP /198/ Universal India ft. Achin Vanaik /417/ Has India passed peak Modi? ft. Achin Vanaik

On the collective subject at the end of the End of History. Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism editorial board member and assistant professor at the University of the Aegean, talks to Alex and Lee about class and the "national-popular". Is the way to recover popular sovereignty to "return" to the nation? Is there a contradiction between this and declaring oneself to be "in favour of open frontiers for migrants and refugees"? What is the meaning of citizenship in this case? What's the difference between Gramsci's conceptions of people-nation and nation-rhetoric? Does the radical right's "civilisational nationalism" offer the left an opportunity to reclaim a popular notion of nationhood? Links: Rethinking the “We” of Emancipation, Panagiotis Sotiris, Communis /471/ Reforming the Deformed ft. Nathan Sperber & George Hoare

On US derangement on screen. The OG Bunga boys get togther for the annual end-of-year film episode. We discuss Ari Aster's Eddington, as well as a bit of Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another and Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia: the three films that together marked 2025, and which deal with paranoia, conspiracy, disinformation and unmoored political activity. Is this hyperpolitics on screen? Do these films serve any critical purpose? Is Eddington a faithful depiction of the society of immediacy or is it guilty of immediacy itself? Are we all fkin r*****ed? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: /520/ Conspiracy Culture & Paranoid Styles ft. Catherine Liu Hell in Ari Aster, Tara Heffernan & Felix McNamara, Corporate Total Art /458/ The Society of Pure Vibe ft. Anna Kornbluh (on 'immediacy') America’s Unraveling on Screen, Monica Marks, New Lines Magazine

On homoploutia and national market liberalism. Branko Milanovic, Research Professor at City University of New York, talks to Phil and Alex about his most recent book, The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World. What unites the political trajectories of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump? How is global inequality, growth and political conflict evolving in the aftermath of globalisation? How are hierarchies of global income shifting as the world rebalances towards East Asia? What kind of political theories can we use to model the emergence of this new multipolar world – Adam Smith, Lenin, Luxembourg or John Rawls? And what is Homoploutia? Links: The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World, Branko Milanovic Global Inequality 3.0 and More, Branko's substack An Economist’s Case for Open Borders, Branko Milanovic, Dissent Magazine The ‘homoploutic’ elephant, with Branko Milanović, FT

On overmedicalisation and the crisis of authority. Amber Trotter, practicing psychologist and an editor at Damage magazine, and George Hoare tell Alex about their co-written article in the print issue of Damage on "the pre-political". What is driving the explosion in mental health diagnoses? Why are people seeking diagnosis? How is it the product of the subjective and the purely scientific? Does capitalism make us ill? Is blaming 'capitalism' abstractly part of the problem? What is the crisis of authority? Whose authority? Can we solve pre-political problems with politics? And political problems with pre-political approaches? Damage, Issue 5: The Pre-Political

On post-woke strategies. Ryan Z is back on, talking to Alex and George about the US Democrats' attempt to respond to Trump/MAGA. In association with Damage magazine. Can the Democrats escape the shadow of woke? Is Big Woke dying? Everywhere? Who are the groups and think-tanks pushing for a reorientation, and what are they proposing? Will the Dems adapt to Trump’s challenge or pretend nothing is happening? We then take listener questions and comments on transport infrastructure, left-wing gatekeeping, and the crisis in education everywhere, high and low. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Can the Democrats Escape the Shadow of Woke?, Ryan Zickgraf, Damage Inside the Democratic identity crisis, Ryan Zickgraf, UnHerd

On legitimacy and chronic crisis. Benjamin Studebaker talks to Alex and Lee about his book, Legitimacy in Liberal Democracy – and why the absence of the threat of revolution makes the crisis drag on. What's wrong with 20th century accounts of legitimacy crises? What's changed? Why is contemporary politics so stuck? Is it inescapable? How does the breakdown of consensus make the emergence of a social majority so difficult? Is there no common programme we can agree on, focused on bread-and-butter issues? Do we need to stare despair in the face? Is catastrophe the only way out? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Legitimacy in Liberal Democracy, Benjamin Studebaker, Edinburgh UP UNLOCKED: /361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker Debilitated democracy: When the legs get ripped off, Dirk Jörke and Benjamin Studebaker, European Journal of Social Theory

On the crisis in literacy. Poet, podcaster and teacher, C. Derick Varn – who has taught in Mexico, Korea, Egypt and the US, at various levels – joins Alex and George to interrogate the coming "post-literate society". What do we mean when we say 'post-literate'? This seems a global problem – so is it a problem of the education system? Is it as simple as blaming smartphones? How else has education become degraded? How have progressives and conservatives combined to do this? Are we becoming on oral culture again? What are the consequences? For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast Links: Are we becoming a post-literate society?, Sarah O'Connor, FT Have humans passed peak brain power?, John Burn-Murdoch, FT Visible Learning (synthesis of meta analyses), John Hattie Why Knowledge Matters, ED Hirsch, Harvard Seven Myths about Education, Daisy Christodoulou Insensitivity Readers!, Nina Power