/91/ Exhaustion Revealing ft. Leigh Phillips

On environmental protest politics. Extinction Rebellion and the Climate Strike have brought eco protest back to the front pages. But it all seems a bit of a flashback to the 2000s. We examine the protests' alarmism and post-political positioning. After inequality and class have been put on the agenda again, do these protests represent a step back? We also ask what might be done about climate change if we don't go along with these groups' interpretations and demands. 

Excerpt: /90/ Work, Bitch ft. Amber A’Lee Frost

/89/ On the Lam: Hong Kong Rebels ft. Toby Carroll

On the Hong Kong rebellion. Four months of protests is forcing a confrontation with the Hong Kong authorities and the Chinese state. The demands are for civil liberties and some more democracy - but what are the social conditions underlying the protests? How important is colonial nostalgia and Hong Konger chauvinism? How is this playing with mainland Chinese - and what will be the CCP's response?

Reading:

• Hong Kong is one of the most unequal cities in the world. So why aren’t the protesters angry at the rich and powerful?, Toby Carroll, The Conversation
• Four Points on the Hong Kong Protests, Kevin Lin, Jacobin

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Excerpt: /88/ Vouchers for Toxicity ft. Anton Jäger

On post-work. We discuss Anton's review of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs and why it seems to have such appeal, even amongst elites. There is a crisis in the work ethic, but is it an error to counterpose work and leisure and simply opt for leisure? Is leisure even 'ours' anymore, or has it been fully colonised by capitalism? Ultimately, is the problem today more about bullshit in jobs, rather than bullshit jobs per se?

Readings:

• Back to Work: Review of David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs, Nonsite
• Anton's writing in Jacobin

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/83/ Now It’s Syrizous [UNLOCKED]

• Greece’s Long Road Ahead, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacobin
• Defeat and decomposition, Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism
• Syriza’s rise and fall, Stathis Kouvelakis, NLR
• New Democracy Against Democracy, Various (incl. Leo Panitch), Jacobin
• The Radical Left: The Time for its Re-founding, Costas Lapavitsas & Stathis Kouvelakis, Verso blog
• Book Review: The Populist Radical Left in Europe, Anton Jäger, LSE blog

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Excerpt: /87/ Berluscoming

/86/ Monsters of the Interregnum ft. Rune Stahl

Why hasn't neoliberalism died? We talk to Rune Møller Stahl about his paper "Ruling the Interregnum" in which he examines previous interregnums, such as the 1920s or the 1970s, and the forces that led to the establishment of new orders. What points the way forward today: resilient neoliberalism, economic nationalism or left populism?

Reading:

Ruling the Interregnum: Politics and Ideology in Nonhegemonic Times, Rune Møller Stahl

Excerpt: /85/ Reading Club No.1

In our first Reading Club, we discuss Nancy Fraser's The Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born (Verso, 2019) and take readers questions and contributions.

Readings:

• The Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born, Verso
• From Progressive Neoliberalism to Trump—and Beyond, American Affairs

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/84/ How To Fail Better ft. Adam Proctor

Scenario-planning for Bernie: what is success, what is productive failure? We attempt to "dream realistically" with Adam Proctor (Dead Pundits Society): how far can this wave of 'democratic socialism' go? Bernie will fail - he won't bring in socialism, so how do we make that failure something to build on? How do we avoid the risk of demoralisation? And most dangerous of all, how to not interpret failure as success?

Plus bonus stuff on Syriza, Brexit and talking in platitudes. 

Excerpt: /83/ Now It’s Syrizous

• Greece’s Long Road Ahead, Costas Lapavitsas, Jacobin
• Defeat and decomposition, Panagiotis Sotiris, Historical Materialism
• Syriza’s rise and fall, Stathis Kouvelakis, NLR
• New Democracy Against Democracy, Various (incl. Leo Panitch), Jacobin
• The Radical Left: The Time for its Re-founding, Costas Lapavitsas & Stathis Kouvelakis, Verso blog
• Book Review: The Populist Radical Left in Europe, Anton Jäger, LSE blog

Subscribe for the full episode at Patreon.com/BungaCast