Bungacast

Епизоди

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  Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part four. 22.09.2026 1ч 17мин

  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.
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  Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part three. 22.09.2026 1ч 12мин

  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.
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  Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part two. 22.09.2026 1ч 33мин

  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.
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  Nowhere Everywhere? Place in a Digital World. Part one. 22.09.2026 54мин

  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.
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  /560/ Indonesia's Putin ft. Vedi Hadiz 15.09.2026 33мин

  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  
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  /559/ Global Jihad: 9/11 at 25 ft. Philip Cunliffe 08.09.2026 31мин

  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  
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  /558/ Sewer Socialism, or Left in the Toilet? ft. Ross Barkan 01.09.2026 1ч 11мин

  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
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  /557/ Letters to the Editors: Aug 2026 25.08.2026 35мин

  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  
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  Where's Bungacast? Nowhere...Everywhere 21.07.2026 4мин

  Taking a short break – back in late August.
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  /556/ World Cup 2026: Stick to Politics ft. Many Guests 14.07.2026 1ч 43мин

  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
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  /555/ Who Denies US Empire? ft. Daniel Bessner 07.07.2026 43мин

  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  
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  UNLOCKED: /551/ Reading Club: Mythologies ft. Catherine Liu 23.06.2026 1ч 30мин

  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?
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  /554/ Capitalism Is When the State... ft. Corey Robin 16.06.2026 1ч 14мин

  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  
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  /553/ Energy Sovereignty = Political Independence? ft. Benjamin Bradlow 09.06.2026 41мин

  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
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  /552/ Bunga Live: Is History Back (Baby)? 01.06.2026 2ч 15мин

  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.
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  /551/ Reading Club: Mythologies ft. Catherine Liu 26.05.2026 31мин

  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
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  /550/ The New Dollar Imperialism ft. Costas Lapavitsas 19.05.2026 1ч 14мин

  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
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  History’s back, baby! (Event in London) 15.05.2026 1мин

  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 History, its authors and hosts of Bungacast reflect on a world in a state of accelerated decay, with responses from guests Lee Jones and Nina Power. They say that “nothing ever happens”. Pah! Something ever happens.
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  /549/ Why Has Politics Genderised? ft. Ashley Frawley 12.05.2026 32мин

  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 Magazine Why do young women hate men?, New Statesman, YouTube /394/ Girls, Left / Boys, Right ft. Nina Power (see for additional links) Girls and Boys are becoming very different, Alex Hochuli, Substack  
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  /548/ Post-Legitimate Society ft. Will Charles 05.05.2026 36мин

  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 Shullenberger /547/ What Are the Politics of Stagnation? ft. Dylan Riley