S2 Ep51: Who feels secure? Racial capitalism and global security: Arun Kundnani in conversation with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

State of Power

When the word security is mentioned, images of men in uniform, perhaps carrying guns and in armoured cars, come to mind. How did we end up in a place where security is understood in the narrow terms of policing, and inevitably leads to racism? Why does this kind of security fail to make a large part of the population feel safer? And can we imagine a society where my security is not the opposite of your security?

In this thought-provoking conversation, Arun Kundnani speaks with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò about the destructive intersection of racial capitalism and global security, which constitute each other. They discuss how racial hierarchy is fundamentally a hierarchy in security, who benefits from keeping this hierarchy untouched, and how the concept of collaborative security can help us overcome this hierarchy.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University and a frequent writer on issues of climate justice, racism, and colonialism, you may also remember him as a guest from a previous episode on this podcast. Arun Kundnani is a TNI associate and author of The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic War on Terror.
Keywords:
Security, terrorism, militarism, racism, racial capitalism.