Category Archives: ports

A short op-ed on the Ever Given blockage of the Suez Canal

So on 23 March a massive 400-metre long ship, the Ever Given, blocked the Suez Canal. I wrote a piece for the Washington Post Monkey Cage blog about the event. Big ships were created to avoid relying on the Suez … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, construction, environment, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, political economy, ports, shipping conditions, ships, transport | Leave a comment

Salwa Aleryani’s project on infrastructures and the maritime

Salwa Eleryani is a Yemeni artist and graduate student at UdK Berlin who has been working on a project evocatively called She smiled as though she were squinting at the future through heavy smoke. The project, as part of the … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, construction, empire, imperialism & colonialism, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Middle East, political economy, ports | Leave a comment

Interview with 032c Magazine

An interview I did with Victoria Camblin a few months ago is now up on the site of 032c magazine. I won’t cut and paste as their graphics are pretty cool: https://032c.com/laleh-khalili-sinews-of-war-and-trade

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, free ports/zones, infrastructure, labour, logistics, media, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Brilliantly fun interview with Tank Magazine

Last month the brilliant Thomas Roueché interviewed me on Sinews for Tank magazine. The interview can be found here: https://tankmagazine.com/issue-84/features/the-sinews-of-war-and-trade/ I am not reposting the content, because the piece has such cool graphics on their website!

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, finance and insurance, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Middle East, political economy, ports, shipping conditions | Leave a comment

Guardian piece about the explosion in Beirut

note: I wouldn’t have used the word “lawless” in the title, as the laws in maritime world are carefully devised to facilitate the accumulation of capital. The sea has always been the site of law — and the law has … Continue reading

Posted in bureacuracy, capital accumulation, environment, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, ships | Leave a comment

Ports, ships and the human economy of global sea trade: an interview with Laleh Khalili

Little has been written about the sea trade in the Gulf. Laleh Khalili’s latest book explores the complex realities that drive this massive economy.Tugrul Mende30 June 2020 During the COVID-19 pandemic many workers in ports and on ships have either … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, empire, imperialism & colonialism, free ports/zones, imperialism & colonialism, infrastructure, labour, logistics, media, Middle East, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, transport | Leave a comment

Interview with Diepgang magazine

In January I gave a talk at the Erasmus university in Rotterdam. I was incredibly pleased that a lot of seafarers and people working with seafarers came to see it (and some were also critical of the talk – they … Continue reading

Posted in labour, media, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, ships, transport | Leave a comment

This Is Hell!

So incredibly incredibly excited to be speaking to Chuck Mertz of This Is Hell! We talked a lot about capital and maritime trade — and quite a bit about the effects of COVID-19 on maritime trade. You can listen to … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, finance and insurance, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, transport, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Interstitial Podcast

I spoke with the brilliant David Huber of the Interstitial podcast, which you can listen to here: https://thinkbelt.org/shows/interstitial/sinews-of-war-and-trade-laleh-khalili He asked me to suggest 4 books and I had to think on my feet, so of course I suggested the following: … Continue reading

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, labour, literature, Middle East, political economy, ports, seafaring, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Abandoned Seafarers

Abandoned at Sea: Sailors and COVID-19   The stranded Indian crew members on board MSC Grandiosa, docked in Italy at present (Al Jazeera) On the list of COVID-19 afflicted countries tallied by the Johns Hopkins University Corona Resource Centre there … Continue reading

Posted in labour, logistics, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions | 1 Comment