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


  • Move 9 are Free – Mumia is Next
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Move 9 are Free – Mumia is Next
    20 Jul 2020
    Born in prison to Move organization members incarcerated in the death of a Philadelphia cop in 1978, Mike Africa Jr. has waited and worked for four decades to see his sur
  •  The Historical Quest for a Black Nation
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    The Historical Quest for a Black Nation
    20 Jul 2020
    Thanks to the New African Independence Movement of the 1970s, today’s Democratic politicians are discussing reparations for Black Americans, said Edward Onaci, a professor of
  • Democrats Will Never Choose Transformative Change – So Give Them No Choice
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Democrats Will Never Choose Transformative Change – So Give Them No Choice
    16 Jul 2020
    An existential political crisis for the racial capitalist order will only happen when the left puts forward a viable political alternative.
  • Freedom Rider: Propaganda Won’t Get Rid of Trump
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Propaganda Won’t Get Rid of Trump
    15 Jul 2020
    The biggest threat to Biden’s chances is the continuing suppression of black votes and the refusal of the Democrats to do anything about it..
  • The Great American Firewall: On the Question of Censorship
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Great American Firewall: On the Question of Censorship
    15 Jul 2020
    It should not surprise anyone that China would take protective measures against the threat of U.S. imperialism in the realm of cyber technology.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us