Bungacast

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 coming, Isabella Weber and Gregor Semieniuk, New Statesman

One battle after another: Netanyahu’s new security doctrine, FT 

/532/ Is This a Paleocon Foreign Policy? ft. JF Drolet

Atlas Shrugged: Decoding Trump's National Security Strategy, Lee Jones, American Affairs

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