Koki talks with Ramah Kudaimi about U.S. imperialism and state violence, and its reverberations both domestically and abroad. From the global war on terror, to genocide in Palestine, to anti-Muslim policing and surveillance in our communities, we discuss the ways that imperial power, capitalist interests, and Generically used to describe factions of right-wing politics that are outside of and often critical of traditional conservatism. Learn more organizing intersect in ways that compound harm and entrench systems of The use of violence, intimidation, surveillance, and discrimination, particularly by the state and/or its civilian allies, to control populations or particular sections of a population. Learn more .
We discuss the ways in corporations profit not only from war and militarism, but specifically from A form of religious bigotry, with strong racial components, that scapegoats & demonizes Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim. Learn more and anti-Muslim An attitude toward social identities that can be mobilized to justify discrimination, state/vigilante violence, and exploitation. Learn more and violence. Ramah unpacks the concept of “terror capitalism” or the idea that corporations reap massive profits from labeling entire communities as “terrorists,” who then become the test subjects for technologies of warfare (both at home and abroad) that line the pockets of large corporations and continue the war long after ground troops have come home.
We also discuss the modes of resistance available to us and our movements to counter these forces. Ramah Kudaimi works at the Action Center on Race and the Economy as the campaign director of the Crescendo Project, which focuses on researching and campaigning against corporate complicity in Islamophobia and anti Muslim bigotry.
Episode Resources
- How Big Tech Sells War on Our Communities
- “DHS Open for Business: How Tech Corporations Bring the War on Terror to Our Neighborhoods,” a report from Action Center on Race & the Economy, LittleSis, MediaJustice, and the Surveillance, Tech, and Immigration Policing Project at the Immigration Defense Project, 2022.
- Banking on Solidarity CitiBank campaign
- Genocide Gentry, a dataset and analysis of weapons company executives and board members with connections to educational and cultural institutions
- Shattering Justice, an online visual timeline on the War on Terror in the U.S.
