”Death Itself Is On Sale” - Ali Kadri on The Accumulation of Waste

In this conversation a group of us interviewed Dr. Ali Kadri about his book The Accumulation of Waste: A Political Economy of Systemic Destruction. This conversation was the final discussion in a study group which began last October and involved participants from all over the world. The book provides a theoretical framework which understands waste as a value making process where war-making, the wasting of social classes, and the wasting of social nature become central to capitalist accumulation and to how capital resolves crises in accumulation. The questions in this discussion were those that remained for some of the members upon reading and discussing the work over the last few months. In some cases you will hear members of the group ask their questions directly, in others I ask based on individual questions provided by members or common themes that came up among multiple participants from the group. We get into the imperialist aggression against Iran, the role of patriarchy and racism within Dr. Kadri's analysis, and questions of optimism or hope against the death dealing forces of imperialism.

To gain a further understanding of Dr. Ali Kadri's work, check out the first interview we conducted with him back in 2023, and of course check out his books as well as various interviews available online, we will link some of these in the show description.

This study group was really rewarding once again, thank you to all of our participants and to Dr. Ali Kadri. In our current study group - which is already full - we are discussing Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism.  Our next one will be announced in March, so to ensure you have an opportunity to join us, since they almost always fill up quite quickly, make sure you are signed up on our patreon for as little as $1 a month, all patrons are welcome to join us in these study groups and they are a great place to deepen our knowledge and analysis collectively.

Links:

European Class Struggle Starts at the Bottom of the Sea with Iker Suárez

"War Is the Basis of Accumulation" - Ali Kadri on Genocide, Waste, Imperialism, and the Commodification of Death

Check out Guerrilla History's Ali Kadri archives

Resistance Is Fertile also has some interviews with Ali Kadri