Blood Work

bloodwork

A show about the Economy of Violence

  1. 1 hr ago

    Warp & Weft: Afghan War Rugs

    We explore the cultural history of rug-weaving in Afghanistan, and how decades of war caused that country’s craft and conditions into a morbid reciprocity. If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Super Smash TV ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week, some light entertainment for you, in the form of recent developments surrounding the Trump administration’s planned UFC fight on the White House lawn as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Sources: Afghan Rug Shop, ‘80cm x 60cm Fall of Afghanistan War Rug’, Afghan Rug Shop Naman P. Ahuja (2019), ‘War Rugs’, Marg Publications, available via academia.edu Max Allen (2008), ‘Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan’, Textile Museum of Canada, available via archive.org Rachel Edman (2020), ‘An introduction to War Rugs’, MacGuffin Magazine, available via Rachel Edman Bettina Gräf (2023), ‘Drone Rugs: Knotted Images as a Reminder of the Cruel Global Present’, Suzanna in the Bath. Essays on Middle East Studies and Public Discourse, available via academia.edu Impart (2025), ‘Afghan War Rugs’, Impart Nigel Lendon and Tim Bonyhady, Rugs of War (Wordpress) RespectableLawyer (2018), ‘THREAD: Afghan War Rugs and the Lossy Compression of Cultural Coding’, Twitter/X, available via Threadreader and archive.today Ron O’Callaghan (2003), ‘Afghan War Rugs: A Sub-group With Iranian Influence’, Rug Review, available via archive.today Kevin Sudeith, WarRug.com Brian Spooner (2011), ‘Afghan Wars, Oriental Carpets, and Globalization’, Expedition (53:1), available at Penn Museum Pamela D. Toler (2021), ‘How Afghanistan’s “Rugs of War” Helped Its Citizens Tell the Story of Conflict’, Historynet Kelly Wilson (2014), ‘Afghan War Rugs’, Art Amongst War: Visual Culture in Afghanistan, 1979-2014 (Exhibition Booklet), The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Art Gallery, available via academia.edu Image: A high quality example of a typical 9/11 war rug, woven and knotted by hand in the aftermath of the 2002 US invasion of Afghanistan

    1hr 12min

  2. 26 May

    Combat 18, Part 3: Crisis of Ladsculinity w/ Gareth Watkins

    This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gareth returns to continue our history of ‘90s Britain’s most notorious neo-nazi gang, recounting the time Will Browning convinced a Scandinavian to mail a package bomb to an Olympic swimmer. Image: Thomas Nakaba marching at a far-right rally in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the 1990s. Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel For more: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Protecting the Organism ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week we’ve got a recent report from the BBC regarding activities by a para-state political organisation in Russia which appears to be assuming ever greater policing and security prerogatives within that state amidst the exceptional situation of the war on Ukraine – and becoming further radicalised and emboldened in the process.

    32 min

  3. 19 May

    Do Your Own Research: Conspiracy, Paranoia & the Drive to Violence w/ Julian Feeld

    Do Your Own Research: Conspiracy, Paranoia & the Drive to Violence w/ Julian Feeld Julian and Gregk discuss the history of conspiracy, lone wolves, mass psychoses, and his new show SUPER STRUCTURE on the power of propaganda, political repression & revolutionary struggle. If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter Image: ‘Pizzagate’ gunman Edgar Maddison Welch being apprehended by police shortly after storming the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington D.C. on December 4, 2016. (Sathi Soma/AP) Follow Julian Feeld on Instagram Learn more about SUPER STRUCTURE at their website or follow the show on Instagram Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Before the Law ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO This week, Gregk presents three separate news stories which each communicate different but interrelated ideas about the relation between law and violence, particularly in our present conjuncture.

    1hr 29min

  4. 12 May

    Valley of Malls: Post-Fordist Cities & Political Repression, Part Two

    This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. We conclude our two-parter with a story that runs through Lewis Powell, Times Square, 9/11 and Occupy, and concludes by considering a vanguard of neoliberal authoritarianism: The Olympics. Image: An interior shot of the amusement park at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel For more: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Cóndor Dos, Águila Moribunda ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter, we’ve got two news stories for you, which are separate, but which are nonetheless connected in a strange, poetic way. Collectively, we think they say something about the current condition of US empire, and what happens when imperial ambitions extend beyond even empire’s grasp.

    31 min

  5. 5 May

    Mean Streets: Post-Fordist Cities & Political Repression, Part One

    In the first of a two-parter, we trace the evolution of the modern city from industrialisation to the 1970s, when a trio of crises laid the foundation for an anti-political backlash If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter Image: A photograph taken on Leyden Street, London, during the 1979 ‘Winter of Discontent’ (Source: Maurice Hibberd/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Even in Death, They Will Still Degrade You ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter, Gregk uses a resurfaced comment by filmmaker Joe Russo from 2023 to provide some commentary on the modern AI craze and the historical ties between technology, pornography, and violence.   Sources: Robert A. Beauregard (2006), When America Became Suburban Jordan T. Camp & Christina Heatherton [eds.] (2016), Policing the PlanetL Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter Peter Eisinger (2000), ‘The Politics of Bread and Circuses: Building the City for the Visitor Class’, Urban Affairs Review [35:3] Antonio Gramsci (1971), Selections from the Prison Notebooks Stuart Hall et al (1978), Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order Margaret Kohn (2004), Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatisation of Public Space Mark Neocleous (2021), A Critical Theory of Police Power Paul A. Passavant (2021), Policing Protest: The Post-Democratic State and the Figure of Black Insurrection

    57 min

  6. 28 Apr

    Intermezzo: Extraction/Consequences

    This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. Gregk and Thomas pause to reflect on some of the topics covered since they last spoke, and meditate on recent events. Image: A still from Werner Herzog’s 1992 documentary Lessons of Darkness Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel For more: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Look What They Made Us Do ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter, we use a recent piece from The New Republic to question America’s flailing attempts to disentangle itself from a war of its own making – in narrative, if not in actuality.

    25 min

  7. 21 Apr

    This is How You Kill Them: Genocide w/ Joe Kassabian

    Joe and Gregk use Gregory Stanton’s ‘Ten Stages of Genocide’ to discuss the tactics & techniques states deploy to legitimise and perpetrate mass murder. Image: Remains of victims of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide retrieved from a mass grave in Huye District in January, 2024. Follow Joe Kassabian on Bluesky Listen to Lions Led by Donkeys Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel If you enjoyed this episode: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Leave a rating or review on your podcast app – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter   THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Blue Danube ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter, enjoy some brief thoughts on the election results which rolled out of Hungary last week, and what it might mean for that country and Europe now that the American right’s favourite lap-dog is hitting the skids. Sources: Gregory Stanton (1996), ‘Ten Stages of Genocide’, available at Genocide Watch

    2h 7m
  8. In So Many Words [PREVIEW]

    14 Apr

    In So Many Words [PREVIEW]

    This is a preview. To hear the entire episode and help Blood Work to survive and thrive, become a supporter on Patreon. We take a foray into the world of euphemisms, turns-of-phrase and the disingenuous world of militarese Blood Work is a Scam Goldin Production This episode was produced by Thomas O’Mahony Our theme song is ‘Dream Weapon’ by Genghis Tron Our artwork is provided courtesy of KT Kobel For more: – Support Blood Work via Patreon – Follow us on Bluesky / Instagram / Twitter THIS WEEK IN VIOLENCE: Stupid Games ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO For this week’s newsletter, we offered some commentary on the (then ongoing) peace talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad, some surrounding issues, and predictions on the course those talks might take. (News moves fast these days.)

    19 min
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About

A show about the Economy of Violence

Information

  • Creator
    bloodwork
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Blood Work

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