/485/ Can Games Teach Us Agency? ft. Pawel Kaczmarski
On the promise of videos games.
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Pawel Kaczmarski – a literary critic who teaches modern and contemporary Polish literature at the University of Wrocław – talks to George and Alex about his piece in Damage, "The Promise of Video Games".
How are things gearing up for Poland's election later this month?
Are video games moving culturally "upstream"?
How does a game like Helldivers 2 promise to teach us agency but fails?
Is the problem with video game criticism, and literary criticism, not so much their difficulty but rather that they are boring today?
Has anyone managed to write a good "novel of the internet"?
Links:
The Promise of Video Games, Pawel Kaczmarski, Damage
/162/ Gaming & Politics ft. Jonas Kyratzes
Gospels of the Flood
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23:32
/484/ No Justice in Politics ft. David Broder
On the charges against France's Marine Le Pen.
[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]
Alex and George discuss some main stories from the past month. After the death of Pope Francis, what's behind left-wing sympathy for the late Pope – and more widespread appreciation for Catholicism? Why do we want a progressive Pope, and would a reactionary one be better for us? Why is the US deporting people to Nayib Bukele's Salvadorian prisons, and what makes this so dystopian?
Then Alex calls up Jacobin's Europe editor David Broder to understand the charges against Marine Le Pen.
Is Marine Le Pen a victim of lawfare, or has she been hoist by her own petard?
What are the consequences for the Rassemblement National, and for French politics?
What has the European radical right's response been to Trump II so far?
And we respond to your questions and comments from the past month on:
Holding politicians to account on free speech
Listening to poetry
Redistribution as the obvious solution to the crisis
Clientelism and hyperpolitics
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30:44
/483/ Reading Club: Why Invent Traditions?
On the mass-production of loyalty.
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We are exceptionally making this episode of the Reading Club freely available. See the full syllabus here: 2024/25 Reading Club. If you'd like to join, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership.
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The second reading in this block on Inter/Nationalism in the 21st Century is The Invention of Tradition (eds. Eric Hobsbawm & Terrence Ranger, 1983), specifically Hobsbawm's chapter "Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe 1870-1914".
How much did ordinary people buy into invented national traditions?
Why did industrialisation allow for mass-producing traditions?
Does the sense of belonging fostered then still exist today?
If nation-states don't require active participation any more, what does this mean for the mass-production of loyalty?
Are things like social media campaigns, national holidays for diversity, or even global events like the Olympics the new “mass-produced” traditions?
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1:22:46
/482/ The Philippines' Dynasty & Duterte's Arrest ft. Walden Bello
On Filipino politics and geopolitics.
Renowned public intellectual Walden Bello talks to Alex and contributing editor Lee Jones about his recently published memoirs, former president Rodrigo Duterte's arrest, warring political dynasties and more.
What's behind Duterte's arrest? Is it lawfare?
How did the Philippines comes to be an ‘anarchy of families’?
What are the barriers to doing left-wing political work in the Philippines?
How has Walden been involved with the social-democratic party Akbayan?
What does China's rise mean for developing countries and the global South?
What are Walden's key lessons for the ‘end of the End of History’?
Links:
GLOBAL BATTLEFIELDS: Memoir of a Legendary Public Intellectual from the Global South, Walden Bello, Clarity
Duterte Is Right to End the U.S.-Philippine Military Exercises, Walden Bello, NYT
/52/ Duterte’s Despotism ft. Nicole Curato
/351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs
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1:23:05
/481/ Everything is Plausible: Oligarchy – or Worse ft. Corey Robin
On Trump's government, his motives and his modus operandi.
Political theorist Corey Robin talks to Alex H and contributing editors Lee Jones and Alex Gourevitch about Trump II from a domestic perspective. We look at the three main things he's done so far: cutting the civil service, imposing economic sanctions domestically, and his immigration terror politics.
Is Trump a strong president? Does the reliance on executive orders indicate weakness?
What happened to the #Resistance?
Why has the tariff issue, instead of uniting Republicans as in the 19th century, divided them?
Is the bond market the main force limiting Trump's agenda?
Has Bernie Sanders' prediction come true – this is now an oligarchy?
Does Trump just represent patrimonialism and even gangsterism? A degradation of democracy?
What does reaction looks like when there’s very little left to react against?
Links:
/129/ The Right Is Weak ft. Corey Robin | Bungacast
Notifications, Corey Robin, Sidecar (on Trump & tariffs)
Corey Robin's facebook posts
The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics, Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld, Princeton UP
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