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


  • No COINTELPRO in DC
    Pan-African Community Action PACA
    No COINTELPRO in DC
    15 Jun 2022
    April Goggans is an organizer with Black Lives Matter in Washington DC. After years of FOIA requests she has been granted a hearing to determine if the Metropolitan Police Department are required to…
  • The Soweto Uprising’s Unfinished Business
    Mark P. Fancher
    The Soweto Uprising’s Unfinished Business
    15 Jun 2022
    Worldwide outrage over the killing of Soweto youth protesting on June 16, 1976 was a turning point in South African history. But the end of apartheid was not the end of racist oppression or corporate…
  • Leaders of the Americas and the Caribbean Miss Historical Opportunity to Deal Blow to US Imperialism
    Gerald A. Perreira
    Leaders of the Americas and the Caribbean Miss Historical Opportunity to Deal Blow to US Imperialism
    15 Jun 2022
    The U.S. excluded Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the recent Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles. While there was widespread condemnation against the U.S., only six heads of state had the…
  • AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #40
    Black Alliance For Peace
    AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #40
    15 Jun 2022
    The latest Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin provides analysis of the U.S. Southern Command and includes an interview with Ahjamu Uni, organizer with the All African People's…
  • New Bill That Passed House Reinvokes Old Russian Bogeyman as Pretext For More U.S. Intervention in Africa
    Richard Dunn
    New Bill That Passed House Reinvokes Old Russian Bogeyman as Pretext For More U.S. Intervention in Africa
    15 Jun 2022
    Democrats and republicans alike supported a bil to "counter malign Russian influence in Africa." Such legislation is reminiscent of the worst days of the cold war. Now a member of the Congressional…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us