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


  • Julian Assange
    The Real News Network , Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Trump Team Turns On Wikileaks Co-Founder Julian Assange
    26 Jun 2024
    Julian Assange accepted a plea deal in exchange for his freedom from the bipartisan effort to keep him imprisoned and to charge him with a crime for publishing material the state wants to keep a…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio June 21, 2024
    21 Jun 2024
    This week, we learn about a lawsuit by Black and Latino residents over the redrawing of an electoral district map that leaves them without representation. We discuss New York State's…
  • Tulsa newspaper
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Tulsa Massacre Instigated by White Supremacist Media
    21 Jun 2024
    We are joined by Joe Torres to discuss the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the media’s role in instigating the atrocity.
  • Galveston, Texas
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black and Latino Voters in Galveston County Texas Fight for Voting Rights
    21 Jun 2024
    Yurij Rudensky joins us to discuss a lawsuit against Galveston County, Texas, brought by Black and Latino residents over its racially discriminatory district map.
  • Close Rikers
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    New York State Fails to Provide Oversight of Jails and Prison
    21 Jun 2024
    Melanie Dominguez joins us to discuss the conditions in New York State jails and prisons and explain why new legislation to expand and strengthen the State Commission of Correction is needed.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us