A Licence to Kill: Necroeconomic Suffocation by Stealth and the Fight for Life

Abstract

Three decades of austerity in the UK have seen the deterioration of the elemental infrastructures, those that provided a basic level of security for the population. In this article, we analyse the case of Awaab Ishak, who died (age two) when he suffocated from mould in his home in Rochdale, North-West England. We investigate why and how this child was allowed to die in a rich Western European country with a welfare state, and how this case made visible the necroeconomic policies that have made our most intimate spaces for daily living and breathing dangerous. Exploring the relationship between capital and state, we reveal those who profit from slum housing and examine how premature death from indoor air pollution is symbolically legitimated. We argue that the state's invitation to asset managers to take over social housing has granted property owners and managers a licence to kill.