Dr. Kadri deconstructs capitalism and imperialism as interdependent systems of social control, and dissects how the destabilization of the Arab world is not just about “taking the oil,” but the commodification of death and destruction, and the murder and enslavement of the people above the ground to control the resources below. A “killer” episode 😢
When listening to him, I kept thinking about the things we talked about when we read Lenin. That imperialism is not accidental or optional.
We at RP are working to understand capitalism, and most of us live in the imperial core. It’s incumbent upon us to never allow ourselves to overlook the human cost of empire.
“… Imperialism emerged as the development and direct continuation of the fundamental characteristics of capitalism in general. But capitalism only became capitalist imperialism at a definite and very high stage of its development, when certain of its fundamental characteristics began to change into their opposites, when the features of the epoch of transition from capitalism to a higher social and economic system had taken shape and revealed themselves in all spheres…”
“The first process of production becomes the extraction of the lives of the people that live there. The very lives of the people that live above the ground become commodified.” Dr. Ali Kadri
"Imperialism is the epoch of finance capital and of monopolies, which introduce everywhere the striving for domination, not freedom. Whatever the political system, the result of these tendencies is everywhere reaction, and an extreme intensification of antagonisms in this field."
Never have Vlad Ilyich aka Vlad the Illest's words been more relevant over a century later. So long as there are #profits to be made under #capitalism both human life and nature are highly commodifiable and therefore expendable.
Another great episode! Resistance is natural, but it needs a radical program that targets the capital relationship itself. As Kadri searches for the answer to our collective apathy, he reminds us that working-class democracy means realizing that "scarcity is an imposed symbol of power."
I learned a lot from this episode, most of which I would’ve preferred to never have learned. To know that the leaders of capital have such disregard for human life is infuriating… and depressing.
Last time I checked, I’m still above the ground and as long as I am, I’ll be ready to fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat!
This reinforces the idea that oligarchy and unbridled capital inherently need austerity, violence and coercion to maximize profits. It is corrupt and evil in its core - this needs to turned around. If not us, who. If not now, when. The bigger question is: How?
Listening to Kadri's description of human life & nature as the true base commodities of capitalism gave me the same feeling as going to the eye doctor & when they flip the lens thingy you can see just a bit more clearly. He exudes such deep internalized understanding of the topic, not just broad theoretical knowledge. Fantastic episode.
This was AI assisted using Gene Bellinger's AI prompts https://systemswiki.substack.com/ I have been doing Systems Science (esp in Health) for a few decades though
The USA would love to interfere with China, but they can't provoke an enemy that can actually defend itself. So they target the Arab world in the hopes that destabilization will trickle out to their real threat. Theres no way to understand imperialism without closely examining the relationship between the imperialists and the Arab world.
When Dr Ali Kadri said "Capitalism is a destructive social relationship" something intuitively clicked with me. I had never thought of it in those terms but once I did, I was like yeah, capitalism is certainly a destructive relationship.
I know that most of us here know this but in case someone doesn't know ... you can actually LISTEN TO THIS SUBSTACK POST by Real Progressives. This comes in handy when your eyes need a break or if you're busy or just relaxing. Of course reading it is better but it's so nice that listening to it is an option, especially handy for the vision impaired.
Fantastic episode so far! I'm going to go back to finish listening, but I had to stop to comment on the brilliant work here!
Awesome!
homie is legit... great job RP, wonderful interview... Steve Grumbine, best question asker ever!
Dr. Kadri deconstructs capitalism and imperialism as interdependent systems of social control, and dissects how the destabilization of the Arab world is not just about “taking the oil,” but the commodification of death and destruction, and the murder and enslavement of the people above the ground to control the resources below. A “killer” episode 😢
When listening to him, I kept thinking about the things we talked about when we read Lenin. That imperialism is not accidental or optional.
We at RP are working to understand capitalism, and most of us live in the imperial core. It’s incumbent upon us to never allow ourselves to overlook the human cost of empire.
“… Imperialism emerged as the development and direct continuation of the fundamental characteristics of capitalism in general. But capitalism only became capitalist imperialism at a definite and very high stage of its development, when certain of its fundamental characteristics began to change into their opposites, when the features of the epoch of transition from capitalism to a higher social and economic system had taken shape and revealed themselves in all spheres…”
“The first process of production becomes the extraction of the lives of the people that live there. The very lives of the people that live above the ground become commodified.” Dr. Ali Kadri
Fantastic episode as usual.
"Imperialism is the epoch of finance capital and of monopolies, which introduce everywhere the striving for domination, not freedom. Whatever the political system, the result of these tendencies is everywhere reaction, and an extreme intensification of antagonisms in this field."
Never have Vlad Ilyich aka Vlad the Illest's words been more relevant over a century later. So long as there are #profits to be made under #capitalism both human life and nature are highly commodifiable and therefore expendable.
Another great episode! Resistance is natural, but it needs a radical program that targets the capital relationship itself. As Kadri searches for the answer to our collective apathy, he reminds us that working-class democracy means realizing that "scarcity is an imposed symbol of power."
#Revolution #ClassStruggle #Democracy #Marxism #AntiImperialism #MacroNCheese
I learned a lot from this episode, most of which I would’ve preferred to never have learned. To know that the leaders of capital have such disregard for human life is infuriating… and depressing.
Last time I checked, I’m still above the ground and as long as I am, I’ll be ready to fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat!
This reinforces the idea that oligarchy and unbridled capital inherently need austerity, violence and coercion to maximize profits. It is corrupt and evil in its core - this needs to turned around. If not us, who. If not now, when. The bigger question is: How?
Listening to Kadri's description of human life & nature as the true base commodities of capitalism gave me the same feeling as going to the eye doctor & when they flip the lens thingy you can see just a bit more clearly. He exudes such deep internalized understanding of the topic, not just broad theoretical knowledge. Fantastic episode.
Absolutely agreed.
A perfect analogy
Here is a schematic diagram of the talk at https://insightmaker.com/insight/3Uelgn26IjIdqJ21Lvy1pP/Arab-socialism-unmade
Wow that is so cool. Did you make this yourself, or was this AI-assisted? (No judgement, just curious 😀)
This was AI assisted using Gene Bellinger's AI prompts https://systemswiki.substack.com/ I have been doing Systems Science (esp in Health) for a few decades though
The USA would love to interfere with China, but they can't provoke an enemy that can actually defend itself. So they target the Arab world in the hopes that destabilization will trickle out to their real threat. Theres no way to understand imperialism without closely examining the relationship between the imperialists and the Arab world.
Yes. And I appreciate Ali Kadri for reminding me that we need to keep our focus on that relationship.
When Dr Ali Kadri said "Capitalism is a destructive social relationship" something intuitively clicked with me. I had never thought of it in those terms but once I did, I was like yeah, capitalism is certainly a destructive relationship.
I know that most of us here know this but in case someone doesn't know ... you can actually LISTEN TO THIS SUBSTACK POST by Real Progressives. This comes in handy when your eyes need a break or if you're busy or just relaxing. Of course reading it is better but it's so nice that listening to it is an option, especially handy for the vision impaired.