Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The Origins of Debt, Money, Slavery and Empire
21 Sep 2011
🖨️ Print Article

Like most of us, you probably learned in school that people invented money to replace barter, markets are guided by The Invisible Hand, and a debt is a kind of sacred promise.  Like much else you learned in school, says anthropologist David Graeber, this is wrong.  Markets are constructed by states, while the appearance of debt, slavery and money in human affairs coincide with the appearance of violent empires, and recede when empires are in decline.  Debts are only sacred, Graeber explains, when the poor owe the rich, and there are key distinctions between debts and promises.  Graeber, the author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years is interviewed by C.S. Soong on KPFA's Against the Grain...

The Origins of Debt, Money, Slavery and Empire

An Against the Grain Interview by C.S. Soong and Sasha Lilley

KPFA.s Against the Grain is consistently one of the best interview shows around.  We at BAR steal ideas from them all the time.  You can find a link to Debt: The First 5,000 Years here.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://www.againstthegrain.org/files/files/atg/atg_2013.01.07_graeber.mp3

More Stories


  • Political Prisoners are the Best of Humanity: Free Them All
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Political Prisoners are the Best of Humanity: Free Them All
    27 Jul 2020
    The Black Is Back Coalition’s upcoming national conference, August 15 and 16, will highlight the demand for freedom for all political prisoners, said Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela
  • Has Covid-19 Initiated the Final, Fatal Crisis of Capitalism?
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Has Covid-19 Initiated the Final, Fatal Crisis of Capitalism?
    27 Jul 2020
    The Covid-19-sparkd global economic depression is “a singular event in the history of world capitalism,” said Duboisian scholar Anthony Monteiro.
  • Who is the Most Dangerous Fascist?
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Who is the Most Dangerous Fascist?
    23 Jul 2020
    Most American leftists are incoherent on the term fascism, and Democrats have utterly destroyed the word’s meaning. 
  • Freedom Rider: Media Silent as Trump Declares Wars
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Media Silent as Trump Declares Wars
    22 Jul 2020
      Donald Trump’s attacks on Venezuela, Syria and Iran are criminal, but Joe Biden vows to be even worse.
  • A New Cold War on China Is Against the Interests of Humanity
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    A New Cold War on China Is Against the Interests of Humanity
    22 Jul 2020
    Ajamu Baraka and Margaret Kimberley join with the No to the New Cold War coalition to demand Donald Trump back off his confrontational stance with China.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us