Aufhebunga Bunga

In part five, we explore the professionalisation of friendship, by speaking to Dutch director and producer Menna Laura Meijer about her documentary on life coaching, Now Something Is Slowly Changing. The global rise of coaching seems to encapsulate many of the themes we've explored so far: an inward focus on the self, combined with marketisation, and bound together by ‘solutionism’ - quick fixes to deep social problems.     #CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.   Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.   Links: Now Something Is Slowly Changing, mint film office

In part four, we broaden the scope, to talk about the Frankfurt School, the humanities and 'romantic anti-capitalism'. If modernity features a battle between romanticism and rationalism, then the hippies represented an attempt to re-enchant a disillusioned world. But as that spirit was incorporated into market dynamics, it became rationalised and commodified. George and Alex sat down with Catherine Liu and Tyrus Miller (UCI Humanities and expert on Lukacs) to mull over these questions.   #CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.   Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.   Subscribe for full access: patreon.com/bungacast 

In part three, we move from the Californian Ideology to talk about the Californian reality: class, suburbs and social mobility. We meet up with Joel Kotkin to discuss the new Californian class structure and the end of the Californian dream. Also, more bar chat, as friend of the podcast, Tim Abrahams, joins us to chat about the idea of LA, Californian urbanism and mobility.  #CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us. Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series. Readings: The New Class Conflict, Joel Kotkin Californian Feudalism, Joel Kotkin

In part two, we chat about recreational drugs and mental states in a Hollywood bar with friends of the podcast, Amber A'Lee Frost and Alex Gendler. But mostly, we delve deeper into capitalism and depression with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Thomas Williams, Michael Mahoney, Benjamin Kruger-Robins). #CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us. Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.

Special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us. In part one, we talk to Richard Barbrook about the Californian Ideology today before discussing health and mental illness with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Benjamin Kruger-Robins, Michael Mahoney, Thomas Williams). Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series. Readings: Natural Causes, Barbara Ehrenreich The Happiness Industry, William Davies Coming Up Short, Jennifer Silva Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast

Synthesising what we learned about neoliberalism (ep74), discussing some concrete examples and drawing out the broader importance of it all.   -What gets called 'neoliberal' but actually isn't? And vice-versa? -Was the postwar social-democratic state more racialised than the neoliberal one? -Should we bring back 'rationalisation'? -Are Orban, Trump and Bolsonaro 'neoliberals'? -Is the EU peak neoliberal? Is Brexit necessarily anti-neoliberal?   Subscribe for access: patreon.com/bungacast

On the unexpected origins of neoliberalism. We talk to Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists, about how neoliberals look back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the League of Nations. Why does neoliberalism talk about freedom, but promote order? Is neoliberalism about more or less state - or is it about what kind of state? Plus why the genuine neoliberals didn’t care about the Cold War and how Murray Rothbard laid the ground for Trump. Readings: Globalists, Quinn Slobodian Neoliberalism’s World Order, Adam Tooze Why I am not a conservative, F.A. von Hayek The EU is a betrayal of Europe’s exceptionalism, Douglas Carswell Subscribe for access to the Synthesis Session, where the guys discuss the broader implications: patreon.com/bungacast

On 'Fully Automated Luxury Communism'. We talk about being pro-technology without being determinist. Does full automation mean the end of work? How do we craft a practical utopian vision? Plus some stuff about wolves and also Brexit.   Reading: Fully Automated Luxury Communism, Verso Books   Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at patreon.com/BUNGACAST Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

[For the full episode, please subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast] On the European Parliamentary elections. Is this the day the 20th century truly died? Traditional social democratic and conservative parties took a pounding. The Greens surged. The populists didn't surge - but are now entrenched. And the radical and populist Left has not capitalised. What's the meaning behind what are often purely symbolic euro elections? Readings: [pieces by Anton & Catarina coming shortly]

[This is a short preview. For the full episode, please subscribe to our Patreon.]   On 'Fully Automated Luxury Communism'. We talk about being pro-technology without being determinist. Does full automation mean the end of work? How do we craft a practical utopian vision? Plus some stuff about wolves and also Brexit.   Reading: Fully Automated Luxury Communism, Verso Books   Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at patreon.com/BUNGACAST Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

On 'neoliberal order breakdown syndrome' and the media. Glenn Greenwald talks to us about Russiagate and fake news, and is unimpressed with same old propaganda. We discuss about left-wing self-criticism, Bolsonaro and transgression, and ask how to be sceptical without sliding into cynicism.   Subscribe to Aufhebunga Bunga at PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

On migration and identity. The question of migration and borders has become increasingly fraught across different societies. Why has immigration become the means through which grievance is expressed? Where has 'white' identity come from? And how durable is identity politics as a force? Readings: Looking Closer to Home, Kenan Malik on EU and migration  The History and Politics of White Identity, Kenan Malik   Follow us on Facebook / Twitter. Sign up on Patreon: patreon.com/bungacast  

On Peterson vs Zizek. Did the 'debate of the century' live up to its billing? More importantly, what explains Peterson's appeal - and Zizek's? Why did the debate have such an odd, out of time feel?  References: The Fool and the Madman, Jacobin critique of the debate Evaluating the Peterson-Zizek Debate, Doug Lain, Zero Books Enjoy what we do? Chip in to our patreon: patreon.com/BUNGACAST

On Modern Monetary Theory. Doug Henwood joins us to discuss whether MMT offers a fiscal alternative for Left governments. What is monetary sovereignty and do all states have it? What are MMT's prospects for states as different as the USA, Nigeria or Brazil? Is it a suspect economic remedy, too much of a quick fix? Are MMT proponents guilty of avoiding political confrontation?  Readings Modern Monetary Theory Isn’t Helping, Doug Henwood, Jacobin MMT Is Already Helping, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Jacobin Modern Money Theory 101: A Reply to Critics (pdf), Éric Tymoigne and L. Randall Wray  Modern Money Theory (MMT) vs. Structural Keynesianism, Thomas Palley What Is Modern Monetary Theory and Why Is It So Important to the Green New Deal?, Jacob Weindling, Paste Magazine We can't print our own money. So please help us out: PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST

On whether we can salvage anything from postmodernism. Have we left postmodernity - and if so, can can we be properly dialectical about it: see it as progress and catastrophe all at once? Is there a moment of truth to postmodernism amidst all the falsity? We discuss the left intelligentsia's abandonment of materialism; phoney cultural populism; the demolition of Pruitt-Igoe; Knausgaard's six volume 'Min Kamp'; and the end of cultural rebellion. Readings: The Apprentice in Theory: Fan, Student, Star, Catherine Liu & Devan Bailey on Avital Ronell, LA Review of Books Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Frederic Jameson, NLR  Itemised, review of Knausgaard by Jameson, LRB The Myth of Pruitt-Igoe, documentary If you like what we do, please support us. Go to Patreon.com/BungaCast

#BungaLive. Debate on the future of Europe, held at Queen Mary, University of London on 21 March 2019.  Europe After Brexit: Internationalism or Transnationalism? Until now, most debates about Brexit have only considered the question from the viewpoint of Britain itself and the shambolic process overseen by the Tory government. However, Brexit raises issues that go beyond the UK – and beyond the nation-state. How should Brexit be considered from the global vantage point, and what are its implications for Europe as a whole? Should left wing parties and progressive movements seek to remain in and reform the European Union, or is exit the better option? The path to internationalism always led through the nation-state, but European integration seems to open the prospect of transnational solidarity at the continental level, mediated by EU institutions. Does the EU provide the infrastructure for a better, progressive Europe that can be captured and reformed by the left? How viable is the EU as a long-term politic

On 'Corbynomics'. We talk to James Meadway, former advisor to the UK's Shadow Chancellor, about what a Corbyn government could and should do. What is the scope for manoeuver of a Left Government in 2019? What does a British 'Green New Deal' look like? And we talk Brexit, because of course.   #BungaLive is this Thursday (21 March) in London - reserve your ticket now: bungacast.eventbrite.com

On crime and the far-right. Prof Steve Hall explains what 'ultra-realism' in criminology means - and why we need to get beyond liberal idealism. We also discuss the rise of the English far-right, the EDL - and how a narrative of betrayal coheres it. Why do middle-class liberals have such a horror of authority - and why it's essential that the Left reclaim it. How are so many contemporary ideologies no longer fit for purpose? Also: what is 'special liberty' and how does it differ from entitlement? Readings: Interview with Steve Hall, Injustice-Film The Rise of the Right: English Nationalism and the Transformation of Working-Class Politics (book) Steve Hall's academic writing ----- BUNGA LIVE: bungacast.eventbrite.com Patreon: patreon.com/BungaCast Facebook: facebook.com/BungaCast Twitter: twitter.com/BungaCast Instagram: instagram.com/BungaCast Website: bungacast.com  

On the Gilets Jaunes - again. They won’t go away. They won’t be subsumed by other forces or institutions and, after more than three months, they’re not exhausted yet. Have the Gilets Jaunes punctured France’s depression and drift? How has ‘respectable opinion’ demonised them - and is there anything to the anti-Semitism accusations? Now that they have linked up with trade unions, how far can they go? Macron is on thin ice and European elections are coming up. What next for the 5th Republic? Readings: A Season of Discontent, Aurelie Dianara, Jacobin Forgotten France Rises Up, Le Monde Diplo France’s Class War, Le Monde Diplo Macron’s Selective Anti-Racism, Jacobin ------------ We are live in London on 21 March, to debate the future of Europe. Come join us: bungacast.eventbrite.com Like us? We accept tips. Go to Patreon.com/BungaCast Follow us @BungaCast on all social networks.

On the 2019 Academy Awards. Maren Thom joins us again to see what we can learn from the Oscar nominations. We debate when exactly Hollywood's 'end of history' was, and take film criticism to task for its literal-minded desire for representation. Has Hollywood - like so many other liberal institutions - tried so hard to be relevant that it has made itself irrelevant?    Like what we do? Consider giving us money: PATREON.COM/BUNGACAST