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


  • Summit of the Americas in ‘Danger’ as Caribbean States Threaten Boycott Over Cuba and Venezuela Exclusion
    José Luis Granados Ceja
    Summit of the Americas in ‘Danger’ as Caribbean States Threaten Boycott Over Cuba and Venezuela Exclusion
    11 May 2022
    The U.S. has not invited Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua to attend the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California. Other nations threaten to boycott if every…
  • Al Jazeera’s Iconic “Voice of Palestine” Killed During Israeli Raid
    Ali Abunimah
    Al Jazeera’s Iconic “Voice of Palestine” Killed During Israeli Raid
    11 May 2022
    Apartheid Israel continues its shameful tradition of targeting journalists. Al Jazeera's Shireen Abu Akleh is the latest person clearly identified as a journalist who was shot and killed by the IDF.
  • Black Agenda Radio May 6, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 6, 2022
    06 May 2022
    SCOTUS, Roe v Wade and left politics, Racism in UK immigration policy, and Workers' Struggle in Haiti in this week's Black Agenda Radio.
  • Roe v. Wade and American Politics
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Roe v. Wade and American Politics
    06 May 2022
    Pascal Robert is co-host of the This is Revolution podcast. He is also a long-time contributor to Black Agenda Report as well as to Newsweek. He joins us from Miami, Florida to discuss the recent…
  • Racist Immigration Policy in the UK
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racist Immigration Policy in the UK
    06 May 2022
    Glenroy Watson is a Pan-African trade unionist who is Secretary of the Global Afrikan Congress, UK Chapter. He joins us to discuss the continuation of Hostile Environment immigration policies in the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us